Vadim-93GXE

Hey.. Today my dad was checking my car out and we took the wheels off to give my brakes a visit. But before we took them off, the nuts were torqued to 150+ foot pounds of f-- torque! I read that factory specs require only 80 ft lbs.. This is the first time I actually get to do my own work on the car, and before this, the work would usually done by cheesy mechanics who don't really care about my car. They just take their stupid little air gun and torque away. A few months ago I had a flat, and because they tighten these nuts so crazy, I broke 2 lugs and pulled my back. Never got the wheel off, and drove home with a flat. My dad also told me that it's not good to overtighten the nuts cause it doesn't have a good effect on the car. I can't seem to remember why he said it was no good, but just wanted to know if you guys torque to specs or just torque like what ever. Thanks.

Wiking

Never let those airgun servicemen free... They have an torque adjuster, but hahaha will not use it.

Hand tighten after tire change, and after driving few miles, check. Works. Make an extension pipe for your tool in trunk, make sure its heavy duty caliber.

Maxmus_X

iTrader: (5)

are you sure it's just to 80?

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Does anyone read the stickies?????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...3d801f5851.jsp

Vadim-93GXE

Sounds good. So what are the benefits of torquing properlly? If not torqued to specs, maybe car rides like shi- or could be parts wear out much faster?

Cliff Clavin

iTrader: (11)

you can warp your rotors, car will wobble, etc

Vadim-93GXE

Thanks Jeff! Out of all the people you come and save the day!
Actually I was looking all over the stickies, but couldn't find anything about Torqueing wheels! I even tried using the search provided on this website, but for some reason it's "out of order". Only for use to Donating members!

No but really, thanks alot. Thats just what I needed. Maybe we are checkin out different stickies. When you say read "Stickies", you mean the first few posts on the "3rd Generation Forum" that are marked "Sticky"? This is were you get your basic info from?

Vadim-93GXE

Okay.. Got it. Thanks guys.

Wiking

So what are the benefits?
- careful car care always save$ money, time
- you can be sure what whas done, evenly

Mind u: test u hand tightening. You'll find quite soon you can do pretty good near the req = it is done properly. Moste important is here is even torque, on engine parts use torque tool if u are not sure. Heads etc, tool is a must, tires not as critical.

Vadim-93GXE

Mind u: test u hand tightening. You'll find quite soon you can do pretty good near the req = it is done properly. Moste important is here is even torque, on engine parts use torque tool if u are not sure. Heads etc, tool is a must, tires not as critical.[/QUOTE]

Yeah thanks. But 'hand tighten'? You really think I can even get close to the requirment 80 ft lbs. of torque with my fingers? I don't know, feels weird hand tightening and driving around like that. Anyway, so to summarize this thread, it's not good to over-torque because you can warp your rotor, stretch the wheel studs, and the car will wobble. Thanks.

Wiking

Yeah thanks. But 'hand tighten'? You really think I can even get close to the requirment 80 ft lbs. of torque with my fingers? I don't know, feels weird hand tightening and driving around like that. Anyway, so to summarize this thread, it's not good to over-torque because you can warp your rotor, stretch the wheel studs, and the car will wobble. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Hehehe. Surely would be weird... as tires start to roll.

With hand tighten I do NOT mean u sing fin gers... Use the appropriate tool [maxima had one] plus u hands, get tight ok, cannot warp. With pneumatic tools anybody can warp (using fingers), especially sloppymen do it for every customer... But not ever heard small cars to wobble because of that, ...still a lot happens me never hea-ring...

For opening find a long enough thick steel tube fitting on the maxima tool [more length =torque to open] as the bolts usually tighten themselves.

MrGone

iTrader: (30)

If they are using an impact wrench to do the final torque, they should use a torque stick.
Generally I just hand thread the lugs on for the first few threads which will prevent almost any chance of cross threading, then I just tighten them on setting 1 which gets them tight enough then I lower the car and hand torque them.

My Dad had Big O fix a flat in the rear driver tire on his Durango a year ago (we bought the tires there). I found they cross threaded a stud on the rear. I was just going to replace it myself but I couldn't get the bolt off so I said screw it, took it down there and now we get 15% off all future purchases (However costco was cheaper this time around so we just went with them. Just got new tires about a week ago )

white90se

iTrader: (1)

but torque sticks still arent as good as using a torque wrench...torque sticks are not very accurate...they will be close to the torque needed but they could be more...and they also depend on the impact gun you are using...compare using an impact gun with 750 ft/lbs of torque to one with say 250 ft/lbs of torque...im pretty sure the 750 ft/lbs one will over tighten the lug nuts by a significant amount even using a torque stick...its always best to use a torque wrench this way it is exact

the most noted drawback to having lugnuts that are not properly torqued is warped rotors...if the lugs are torqued differently...the rotor will expand and contract at each wheel stud differently...over time this will lead to warpage

Bman

As I understand it anyway, you can probably count on one hand the number of places in any given city that actually uses a torque stick....

Check both the nuts and studs for damage to the threads or anything unusual. So far for me, I've never run into a case where insane overtightening has damaged the threads, which is a testament to how over-engineered those things thankfully are.

Best thing to do is either tell them to hand tighten the nuts, or do your own wheel changing whenever possible. I suggest buying: 1) crossbar type tire iron (X shaped) 2) 1/2" drive torque wrench. Even a cheap torque wrench you buy for like $20 will do this job.

Overtightening lug nuts really ticks me off mainly because of the fact that it can be nearly impossible to remove them without very large tools. I've never experienced damaged parts from overtightened lugs, but it's certainly possible. Also just think of all the people driving around with nothing but the tire iron that came with the car, and then finding out to their dismay that when they get a flat they can't force off the nuts that some idiot mechanic zipped on to 10000000 ft-lbs!

Vadim-93GXE

Hahaha.. Yeah, idiot mechanics overtighten cause they know most of their customers don't even know what a torque wrench is. Customers think, that if the mechanic is using a mechanical tool that makes things faster, it's automatically better. Little do they know they are shortening their rotor life and won't be able to get the wheel off if they get a flat.

By the way, because my wheels were torqued to "1000000 ft-lbs" for the majority of my cars life, my rotors do not have a flat surface anymore. And the nuts that were torqued extra hard in some area's, warped those area's on the surface of the disk. So theres some damage for you from overtightening.

Maxmus_X

iTrader: (5)

Well I went out today and retorqued all of my wheels, had to get my breaker bar to loosen those nuts. It drives very differently now. Next time I get my tires rotated, I'm gonna ask them to torque it correctly. If not I can do it myself.

Car turns easier and no more pedal shaking while goin on interstate.

Vadim-93GXE

Yeah, the car does feel alot different. Much more stable.