Was 15 years into my career before I realized I was torquing lug nuts all wrong

I always thought tighter was better on those aluminum rims, just cranked them down with my impact gun like everyone else. Then a customer came back with a wobble at 55 mph and I found three studs had stretched on his Accord. Anyone else have a basic habit they had to unlearn after years of doing it the same way?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencer_gonzalez112d ago

Three studs had stretched" - man, that's rough. I actually read a post on a car forum a while back where a guy tested lug nut torque with a beam wrench vs a click type and the difference was wild, like 20 ft-lbs off on some. I always figured a good grunt was enough, but then I started researching wheel bearing life and saw how much overtorquing kills them, especially on FWD cars. So I bought a cheap torque wrench at Harbor Freight and started doing it by the book (you know, star pattern) and it honestly feels weird not just zipping them on with the impact. But I guess the wobble is the real teacher, right?

ramirez.vera12d ago

My buddy stripped all four studs on his Civic doing exactly that.

henry_ross12d ago

Guess his buddy learned the hard way that "tight enough" is a moving target depending on who's doing the grunting. Never met a stripped stud that felt like a good life choice, always seemed like a shortcut to a bad afternoon. At least now you've got a story to tell while you're doing it the right way with a torque wrench.