PSA: Always re-torque your lugnuts to factory specs after getting new tires!

onza

Diamond Member
Sep 21, 2000
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reviews.ragingazn.com
PSA: Always re-torque your lugnuts to factory specs after getting new tires!

Had my tires serviced since I needed new tires.

I went to check the lugs and two were on so tight I had to bust out a breaker bar to loosen it. It had to be over 100lbs+ from the impact gun.

I know this is probably common knowledge and everyone on here does it but it's just a good reminder and a good practice to prevent your rotors from warping!

Torque Specs for most cars:
http://www.discounttire.com/infoCenter/infoWheelTorque.html
 

sgrinavi

Diamond Member
Jul 31, 2007
4,537
0
76
PSA: Always re-torque your lugnuts to factory specs after getting new tires!

Had my tires serviced since I needed new tires.

I went to check the lugs and two were on so tight I had to bust out a breaker bar to loosen it. It had to be over 100lbs+ from the impact gun.

I know this is probably common knowledge and everyone on here does it but it's just a good reminder and a good practice to prevent your rotors from warping!

Torque Specs for most cars:
http://www.discounttire.com/infoCenter/infoWheelTorque.html

I think the spec on my C6 is 100 lbs which is not terribly difficult to get loose - Although I do agree, the stealer-ship tends to put them on way too tight.
 

rsutoratosu

Platinum Member
Feb 18, 2011
2,716
4
81
i remember when i had a taurus sho, i gotten new tires and ignore the message to check the lug, a few days later, I heard this rattling, right passenger front tire. 2 nuts were loose the wheel was wobbling.. luckily i had a torque wrench in the car, tighten that up.. my tire could have fallen off on the highway, and my car go crashing into the wall
 

JackBurton

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
15,993
14
81
I just throw this in my trunk. Over tightened lugs shouldn't be a problem if I have a flat. Now loose lugs could be a problem.
 

Vdubchaos

Lifer
Nov 11, 2009
10,408
10
0
a) stay away from shitty tire shops
b) any decent shop will not only torque your wheels proper, they will also ask you to come back within 500-1000 miles or so for a retorque

Lesson learned
 

JCH13

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2010
4,981
66
91
IMO always re-torque after applying anti-seize to the studs and hub face. Nothing quite like getting the lugs nuts off to find out you can't even break the wheel off of the hub... let alone not being able to get the lug nuts off.
 

evident

Lifer
Apr 5, 2005
12,095
708
126
the dealer f'ed up one of my rotors i think because they over/under torqued my lugnuts. screwed my rotor up right away.
 

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,119
613
126
IMO always re-torque after applying anti-seize to the studs and hub face. Nothing quite like getting the lugs nuts off to find out you can't even break the wheel off of the hub... let alone not being able to get the lug nuts off.
Salt problems...what's salt?
 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
0
PSA: Always re-torque your lugnuts to factory specs after getting new tires!

Had my tires serviced since I needed new tires.

I went to check the lugs and two were on so tight I had to bust out a breaker bar to loosen it. It had to be over 100lbs+ from the impact gun.

I know this is probably common knowledge and everyone on here does it but it's just a good reminder and a good practice to prevent your rotors from warping!

Torque Specs for most cars:
http://www.discounttire.com/infoCenter/infoWheelTorque.html

Last time I had tires balanced, the place torqued it down so much i struggled with 3ft breaker bar...
 

PottedMeat

Lifer
Apr 17, 2002
12,363
475
126

whoa

Carrera GT 2004-05 407 ft-lbs

http://www.yotatech.com/f116/lug-nut-torque-specs-164795/

Oh its correct. Its because the Carerra GT doesn't have a lug pattern, it has a large single hub that screws on like an F1 car. The car comes with a special little gearbox wrench that attaches to the wheel and multiplies your torque, so you can put out enough torque to attach the wheel properly.
 

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
5
0
Too tight is better than too loose, as long as they don't go nuts.

...some people go nuts. But I wouldn't shit a brick over your lug nuts being 120lbs instead of 100.

Tire places need to mandate torque sticks. Most will let their tire goons go to down with a straight socket; it's much harder to tighten lug nuts to the point of being destructive if you have some kind of extension. I use a 3" or so extension with a flip socket.
 

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
106
Too tight is better than too loose, as long as they don't go nuts.

...some people go nuts. But I wouldn't shit a brick over your lug nuts being 120lbs instead of 100.

Tire places need to mandate torque sticks. Most will let their tire goons go to down with a straight socket; it's much harder to tighten lug nuts to the point of being destructive if you have some kind of extension. I use a 3" or so extension with a flip socket.

Discount Tire here used an actual torque wrench after they replaced the TPMS sensor in my CTS-V. I was pleasantly surprised.
 

BUTCH1

Lifer
Jul 15, 2000
20,433
1,769
126
Discount Tire here used an actual torque wrench after they replaced the TPMS sensor in my CTS-V. I was pleasantly surprised.

I use Discount as well, few months ago had a nail in one, they fixed it, rebalanced all 4 and rotated all 4 for free (and I didn't buy any warranty), I always check the torque when I get home it's always spot-on@100lbs, I won't even think about shopping anywhere else now.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
When I was a bit green under the hood with cars, I knew about torque specs, but I honestly never thought about them when it came to the lug nuts. So, when I was done repairing my first car ('91 Eagle Talon TSi AWD -- Go DSM!), I tightened up the lug nuts to what I thought "felt tight", and took it for a quick test drive down the road. Now, I lived in the country, so it was a fairly slow and short test drive, but as I was coming back, something felt wrong. I pulled into the driveway and noticed that my front, driver's-side wheel had lost most of its lug nuts! :eek:

Of course, sometimes it feels like I never learn my lesson. So, about a month ago, I didn't see some debris on the road (I was focused on the car in front of me braking to avoid said debris :p), and I hit it with my front, driver's-side tire. (I must not like that wheel....) After I ran over it, I just thought to myself, "Please don't go flat! Please don't go flat!" Everything felt alright overall, but about half a mile down the road, my TPMS light came on. I pulled slowly into a Barnes & Noble parking lot that was nearby, changed my tire, lowered the car, and went into the store to wash my hands. Well, I set off to find another tire (side note: first year of a new model with a new tire size = good luck with that), but something hit me really quickly (and I hope someone noticed this with my list of events)... in my rushing around, I never fully tightened the lug nuts! :eek: Luckily, I hadn't actually left the parking lot yet, so I parked (again) and tightened them down.
 

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
5
0
Discount Tire here used an actual torque wrench after they replaced the TPMS sensor in my CTS-V. I was pleasantly surprised.

They gotta not hammer the piss out of them before they click them off, though. If the guy clicks off all the lugnuts without any of them actually moving, he hasn't done anything differently. :p

Most chain shops have a set of pre-set torque wrenches (80, 100, and 120 covering most things) or the mentioned 'torque sticks,' which are extensions that have a certain length and thickness that limits impact torque to 'x' amount. Supposedly. I'm sure torque still goes up incrementally if you keep hammering, or have an unusually strong impact (or high air shop pressure).
 

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
22,635
5,743
146
I use the calibrated arm method. My impact is quite wimpy so it is perfect for pre-torquing.
 

cbrsurfr

Golden Member
Jul 15, 2000
1,686
1
81
I don't trust anyone. Even if I see them torque them I still stop in the parking lot and re-check for myself. Also lets you know if they f*cked up a wheel stud so you can roll it right back in there and make them fix it.
 

XavierMace

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2013
4,307
450
126
Or just go to a better tire shop ;)

Family had a Big-0 strip out two lug nuts and they didn't even bother to say anything. We found out when we got a flat about 60 miles out side of LA and found we couldn't remove said flat tire.
 

onza

Diamond Member
Sep 21, 2000
8,937
0
0
reviews.ragingazn.com
Discount tire has been pretty rock solid from my experiences. They tend to go over the top for most of their services, lots of freebies etc.

I took it to a mom/pop shop thinking they would have done things correctly but I guess I was wrong. Tried to support the local businesses around me.