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Showerthought: I torqued lug nuts to 150 ft-lbs for 4 years before a customer's wheel almost came off on I-95
Had a car in last Tuesday with a vibration complaint, and when I pulled the front wheel I noticed the studs were stretched. Turns out I had been hitting every lug with my impact on the highest setting and calling it good, never once grabbing my torque wrench. I finally checked the spec on a 2019 Civic that came through and it was 80 ft-lbs, not the 150 I had been guessing at for 4 years. The customer said the wheel felt loose on I-95 near the Fort Lauderdale exit, and that sentence is gonna stick with me a while. How are you guys training new techs on torque specs when the impact gun makes everything feel tight?
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holly7091mo ago
Trained a kid last year who thought the torque wrench was just for show because the gun "always gets it tight enough." Made him torque a set to 80, then hit one lug with the gun on high for two seconds and recheck it. It spun right past 80 like nothing, probably closer to 200 by the time the socket stopped. That number on the wrench is what keeps a wheel on the hub, not how loud the gun sounds when it quits. Start them on a torque stick matched to the spec so they feel where it should stop, then make them finish every wheel by hand for their first six months. The impact feels the same whether you're at 80 or 300, and that's the whole problem.
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