Changing tires - right torque?

[articsteve]

imagine being stuck in the boondocks in Winter with a flat ...and ya can't remove a wheel to put on the spare

That would apply to a majority of vehicle.

[EV Dan]

I believe you can use a torque stick on your impact wrench to tighten your nuts to specs.   Overtighten can also warp your brake rotors.   It is best to use the car manufacturer's specs. 

O-Ouch!!!! 

[Shnak]

Alright well I've switched all my tires around (so that they rotate in the proper direction!!). Two of the lug nuts were way too tight, took a few seconds for even the impact wrench to untighten them.

Anyways, I used the impact wrench to untighten (obviously) and also to screw the lug nuts until resistance is met. Then, I just have to finish with the torque wrench (approx 100 lbs-ft), with a turn of only about 90º left.

[articsteve]

with a turn of only about 90º left.

That sounds about right.

[ktm525]

I am not sure that overtightening will "warp" brake rotor hats . It will however stretch the lug stud, weakening it.

[wing]

One big problem here is putting the lugs on with any tool other than your fingers.  I've cross-threaded a few lugnuts in my times because of laziness.  Not worth the hassle!

[ktm525]

imagine being stuck in the boondocks in Winter with a flat ...and ya can't remove a wheel to put on the spare

That would apply to a majority of vehicle.

I carry a large star lugnut wrench in the truck but for the car I bought a telescoping lug wrench with a proper 6 sided socket. With the 24" handle if the lug won't come off there is biger problems...

[Shnak]

One big problem here is putting the lugs on with any tool other than your fingers.  I've cross-threaded a few lugnuts in my times because of laziness.  Not worth the hassle!

Not a problem if you do the first couple of rotations by hand, then switch to the impact wrench until you hit the wheel, and finish with the torque wrench.

[wing]

You would be surprised.  Make sure you put them on a good amount by hand.  Sometimes they spin nice and free until they get off kilter half way down then you jam them on and tada, new studs on order.

[safristi]

..new studs on order................ ..............DONGINOES...30 inches of torque  OR FREE...........

[Roddy]

To do the job right you always hand torque wheels. Even with a torque stick, there can be a significant amount of variation in torque between the lugs which can lead to rotor warping or even safety issues.

[ktm525]

despite having one of 'em "star"cross NUT PULLERS (ouch)........couldn't get one wheel off
 to put on my son's winters....stood on the lug wrench and NOT a peep of a movement!!!! ...........he'd just had some work done @ a VW dealership in London (Leavens VW..winners of  VW service award for Ontario!!!) and the wheel that was OVERTIGHTENED was the one they removed for service.............wdf!!!.............to me (and i did complains..."we will pass that along " response garners nothing i'm sure) to me the correct torquing of TYRES should be a NO FAIL ISSUE.................imagine being stuck in the boondocks in Winter with a flat ...and ya can't remove a wheel to put on the spare.BLOODY STUPID.....next time I'm gonna make a BIG FUSS.....and see the torque is right and the tyre removable by a 100 lb weakling (any takers on here?  ).to me this is a BIG DEAL wot say U 1010 Tyre Guy........?

You need one of these telescoping lug wrenches from C-Tire.......Weakling.

[PJungnitsch]

We took one of our old heavy hauling trucks to the tireshop, the guy running the air wrench snapped off a few lugs in a row before we grabbed him and pointed out the wheels on the drivers side of the truck was all left hand thread, something fairly common in vehicles made before 1970.

[Leviathan]

despite having one of 'em "star"cross NUT PULLERS (ouch)........couldn't get one wheel off
 to put on my son's winters....stood on the lug wrench and NOT a peep of a movement!!!! ...........he'd just had some work done @ a VW dealership in London (Leavens VW..winners of  VW service award for Ontario!!!) and the wheel that was OVERTIGHTENED was the one they removed for service.............wdf!!!.............to me (and i did complains..."we will pass that along " response garners nothing i'm sure) to me the correct torquing of TYRES should be a NO FAIL ISSUE.................imagine being stuck in the boondocks in Winter with a flat ...and ya can't remove a wheel to put on the spare.BLOODY STUPID.....next time I'm gonna make a BIG FUSS.....and see the torque is right and the tyre removable by a 100 lb weakling (any takers on here?  ).to me this is a BIG DEAL wot say U 1010 Tyre Guy........?

You need one of these telescoping lug wrenches from C-Tire.......Weakling.

Now now, he won't put down the scotch and doesn't want to mess his hair so he's only using one hand...

[safristi]

   CRANKER WANKER....................i just rubbed my arse on the "rug" i wanted strawberry blond......it takes two POODLES to yank it off!!!!! torque about embarassing...amongst yerselves....


 i'm orff ta Hilton Heads UP fer a lil  arff & arff............keep sniffin the arses fer me till i gets back

[No H2O]

If your torque wrench is any good then 100 lbs. on steel wheels is pretty well the standard.

And not that I ever read it anywhere, at least not in my factory manuals for torquing wheel bolts, I go up in stages.

on my vehicles: 80 lbf.ft. on my CR-V steels, 96 lbf.ft. on my Carrera alloys.

[Rupert]

Yeah, you need different tightening torques for steel and alloys. It should be noted that different torques are needed between lubricated and dry also...a tougher call. Alloys can be tough to remove because of corrosion.
A tip I posted before I think...save the chrome tubes from any old vacuum cleaner that you are throwing out and put one in your trunk. They are light and fairly tough and will slip over the spokes of a star wrench, giving much more leverage for removal. Saved a situation for a guy on a works parking lot one cold winter night using a vacuum tube.

I bought one of those extendable handle wrenches from CT and find them great also. It came in a nice plastic box with several sizes of socket. If you are towing a trailer, make sure that one of the sockets fits the wheel nuts on it.

[wing]

I carry the impact gun shnak bought in my truck, works wonders haha

[dr_spock]

I finally got a chance to try out my new breaker bar this afternoon installing the winters for my vehicles.  It was much easier untightening lug nuts/bolts with it than my old cross shaped tire lug wrench.  I didn't even have to use an extension pipe for extra leverage.  Not sure how I survived this long without a breaker bar. 

[Rupert]

That looks like a lot of stuff just to tighten a nut on the odd occasion. The wrench that comes with the car and a piece of tube about 2 ft-6ins long works for me. A torque wrench is nice. The difference between dry and lubricated and deciding which is the case is enough to throw off tightening specs. I don't like the chromed acorn nuts that seem to be the style now...soft and easily deformed. The media on my trailer for holding the wheesls on are conical seated removable chrome bolts. Why I don't know. Very hard to hold the wheel in place over the tapped holes and poke the bolts through.
There must be a reason for varying from the simple retained stud and conical seated nut but I dont know what it is. I suppose that the chromed acorn nuts are for appearance ...hmmm.