+2 this thread is ridiculas

 

This is why you want to always use a torque wrench and cross torque the lug nuts by hand. Any shop that uses any kind of impact wrench on your lug nuts should not be working on cars.

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/...jsp?techid=107

 

+1... The only time I've ever broken a stud, was because the shop cross-threaded the lug. That's why I keep a torque wrench in the trunk, so I can check the lugs in the parking lot when I pick up the car. That way if the stud breaks, I can walk over and make them replace it...

Otherwise, I try to avoid having anybody touch my wheels but me... So if you go to a tire shop, and you see some fool rolling 4 wheels by hand to have the tires replaced, that fool would be me.... But you'd be surprised at how suuuuuper careful they are with your wheels, when you roll them in by hand

 

Agree. 15+ years and i've never broken a stud either. Sounds like a combination of improper torquing and cheap grade (I.E autoparts store) replacement studs.

 

Lord, I have never broken a stud. Every time I get the tires changed or rotated, I pull out my torque wrench and set them to 85 ft/lbs and I have never had a problem.

 

but what if they overtightened it? wouldn't your torque wrench click if they tightened it to 100lb/ft

 

While damage from over torquing lug nuts doesn't happen often, it is a safety concern that IMO too many people here take too lightly. But hey, it's your car...

If it's set to 85 lbs, it'll click at 85 lbs... I think TexasScout meant for them to use your own torque wrench on your car.

 

My biggest problem with tire shops isn't that they over-tighten the lugs. That's easily correctable in the parking lot, as I'll loosen and re-tighten the lugs by hand with my torque wrench... My beef is with guys at the shop that are too lazy to thread the lugs by hand, and cross-thread them, then zip them on with an impact wrench, thinking their torque-stick will make sure they don't overtighten.... I have no problem with torque-sticks if they use a smaller one then necessary, then use a torque-wrench to hand-check the torque.... But that won't help if the lug is cross-threaded, cuz when you go to remove the lug, you will more than likely snap the stud.

This is why I always put my car on jackstands at home, and I"ll bring the wheels in by hand. That way they install the tires, and I install the wheel back on my car... 0% chance the lugs will be overtightened or cross threaded.

 

Not true!
If it gets overtightened, the stud has been overstressed.
Loosening & re-torquing does not correct that.

Also, the correct procedure is to torque a few pounds under spec,
then re-torque to spec after 50miles (aprox)
When torqued, the alloy wheels flow & seat themselves in the first few miles.

 

When I said overtightened, I didn't mean overtightened to like 300 pounds. I've NEVER seen a shop not use a torque stick with their impact wrench. I meant overtighten as in they used a 100 pound ft stick instead of 80 pound ft or whatever, so when they use the torque wrench, it just clicks right away That's not going to overstress the stud. I have an impact wrench at home, and I use an 80 pound ft torque stick, so I can verify that it does indeed work, as the 80 pound/ft stick tigtens the lugs to about 70-75 ft pounds, and I'll go the rest of the way by hand with a torque wrench.

Cross-threading on the other hand.... Like I said, I've never seen a shop over-tighten the lugs too often. However, I've seen them cross thread the lugs EXTREMELY often.

But like I said, that's why I always bring the wheels in by hand... That solves BOTH cases

 

yes.. but what i am saying is.. if the shop overtorqued the nut to 100lbs..
and you bust out your torque wrench and set it to 85lbs.. it'll click.. the nut is still at 100lbs..

so in this case.. your nuts/bolts are overstressed.. happened to me once.. discount tire/america's tire messed it up.. cost me $120 at infiniti to replace the bolts/nuts..

the manager at discount tire said they set the impact wrench to 70lb and tightened with torque wrench.. i watched them do it.. they don't.. the wrench clicked right away..

i hate to be **** about my "old" car.. but i cant trust anyone these days.

 

200-300 ft/lbs will not stress a stud. If it does, they are crap. What messes them up is driving on them and the heat generated by braking that increases that stress to well over the breaking point. if you reset them in the parking lot by loosening and then torquing them in the proper order, you will have no problems.