RenGen

i changed my wheels for winter by myself for the first time by myself and i ended up just hand tightening them, then turning with the bar until the car moved (i dont have a torque wrench)

i may go to a shop today and see if i can use their torque wrench or have them do it for me...how much do you torque your wheels? is there like a universal "safe" number that should work for most cars?

what are the symptoms of under tightened lug nuts? what about over tightened lug nuts? atm the car is not making any noise or pulling to any side or bouncing.

ghunt

"Gutentight."

I have never torqued lug nuts, ever.

RenGen

lol nice, so do you just kinda turn them til the car moves a bit?

Chromeshadow

You can buy a torque wrench for $15 bucks and maybe save breaking off a stud or having a wheel fall off. btw, I believe torqueing wheel nuts with an impact wrench can warp the brake rotors.

RenGen

oh really? i heard they were like 100+$...

I just came from the garage I had car on floor and loosened all the lug nuts a bit, then turned the bar til the lug nuts wouldnt turn easily, then turned it a bit more...hoping that gets me glutentight.

if i buy a torque wrench how many lb ft should i do it? doesnt say in my manual that i can see...is 90lb/ft a safe range?

Chromeshadow

most specs are 90 lbs to 110lbs, I use 110 for all of my vehicles. A good torque wrench is $100 or higher, the cheaper ones work well and your wrenching will be consistent, It's nearly impossible to torque the top nuts the same as the sides without a torque wrench.

mmdpg

I believe the owners manual says 100 foot pounds for 2005-2014.

PNYXPRESS

I dont use a torque wrench either. If you don't use a cheater bar on the end of your ratchet, then you probably aren't gonna break a stud. 90# takes a decent force so don't be afraid to tighten them down

Using an impact will not warp the rotors, it will however risk snapping a stud as most impacts will torque down to at least 150 ft-lbs on the high setting. Plus you should never use an impact for assembly, only disassembly.

BrazenStang

For aluminum wheels, like those on our mustangs. 100 ft-lbs. Under torqued lug nuts may come loose, though not likely. Over torqued lug nuts can cause cracking of the wheels, stripping the lug studs ( though highly unlikely). You can buy a decent torque wrench relatively cheap, and since you are changing the wheels yourself it would be wise to invest in a torque wrench.

FWIW, you probably overtorqued the lug nuts. It takes a lot more force to "move the car forward" than you would think.

RenGen

I went to a service shop to have the lugs checked out and the mechanic looked at them right in front of me and his exact words were "wow you did these by hand? they are about as close as you can get with a torque wrench" - every single lug on every single wheel was spot on.