Couple years ago when I faced my first flat tire, I had zero knowledge about these things, I didn’t know my mechanic over torqued those lug nuts. I thought I was suppose to loosen the nuts with that tiny wrench. When I couldn’t do it for first 15 minutes I thought may be I lack strength so I tried even harder, instead of pushing it down with my body weight I was stupid enough to pull it up. I pulled it so hard I almost blacked out, finally I was able to loosen the nuts but I injured my back. It took me a week to recover from my back injury. I learned my lesson the hardest way.

@TheSwitzAutomotive

3 жыл бұрын

Tenzin that's a great lesson for all of us. One of my keys to successfully making cars last 25 years is doing so in a safe manner so you never injure yourself. Thanks for the information. I hope you're a subscriber! Thanks for watching!

Interesting. I think this is good advice. But for practical purposes it might also be a good idea to keep a breaker bar with the correct socket in the car with a jack to make sure you can loosen the nuts in case of an emergency.

love that feeling when it clicks in

80 ft lbs is the factory spec for many Hondas including Accord

@TheSwitzAutomotive

4 жыл бұрын

Yes. It's also a good common sense torque for those who want the lugs nuts on tight but not too tight. Thanks for watching!

My Camry is like 76. That sounds crazy high.

I got new tires and forgot to tell them to back it off some since they were using an air hammer. Had to get help to get them off. Just about lifted the car before they came loose.

Thank You

You can get extendable wheel nut tools

Surprisingly America’s tire or discount tire in other state use torque sticks, because both time I got my car back I went straight to check all the nuts with a torque wrench and they all have the same torque.

@TheSwitzAutomotive

4 жыл бұрын

I've found places use torque wrenches and torque sticks... until they don't. In other words, shops and tire places get busy, they cut corners, and end up putting your lugs on with just the air guns at 200 ft pounds. I'm glad in your instance they did it correctly. Thanks for watching.

@2A5X4A

4 жыл бұрын

The Switz yea, that’s why every time I get my car from a shop I’ll just go ahead and re-torque the lug nuts.

If you have a tire iron like the one you showed, just grab a 3 foot steel pipe. It'll make 200ftlb feel like 60-70. Or just keep a 3/8th brushless impact, but that's a little expensive for the average driver

@bullred9498

Жыл бұрын

Yup

@JohnSmith-ys4nl

Жыл бұрын

An impact isn't a good idea to keep in a vehicle. The batteries will just drain over time and the heat in the summer almost certainly isn't good for the batteries either. A better option is to just keep a "breaker bar" in the car if you have room. A real breaker bar with a long handle. Another option is to buy one of those tire inflater kits. Some of them come with impact guns that plug into your cigarette lighter (thus negating the problem with lithium batteries). Project Farm did a test on numerous of these kits, and the electric impacts actually worked well.

Harbor freight torque wrenches have been known to be + or -5%. Good tools are an investment. Try snap on or grays or Mastercraft or Mac.

Not only that. Threads are so fragile that lug nuts may come out easily, but hard to put it back because cross threaded is already happening.

Should go ahead and pull the nuts one at a time and look for metal filings falling out. Also look at the steel insert on aluminum wheels for gaulding. Mavis Tire in Lilburn Ga - Destroyed mine . It took a breaker bar with an extra 12 Inch pipe added to even break my nuts loose on a miata.

@TheSwitzAutomotive

2 жыл бұрын

Sorry to hear that man. Yes it's a very common occurrence. They take the air gun or impact wrench and rattle 'em down. Good luck ever getting them off! Thanks for watching. I hope you're a subscriber and make those cars last!

Also their ridiculous over-torquing leads to brake rotor warp over time; And then you take it back and they say "Oh it's because you heat your brakes up and then sit at stop lights with your foot on the brake". Note that the torque to start rotation is more than to continue it, so it's tough to say exactly how hard they wrenched them on. You can probably tell the difference between properly torqued and too tight after you do one of them. They use "Torque Sticks", which are basically extensions that twist when the nut is at a given range of tightness, and when they're hit with a given amount of force. It requires that their air tools are calibrated and in proper working order, and they never are. Too tight causes them fewer problems than not tight enough and is faster to do. So that's what they do.

@TheSwitzAutomotive

5 жыл бұрын

You are right on! The worst is the use of air tools on the drain bolts. The fact that they make kits to repair stripped out drain bolts is itself an abomination.

I feel the shop or dealer should torque all tires

@kozyykash

3 жыл бұрын

pep boys usually does it for free after the service, you just have to come back on your own

anyone tried it?

How do you measure it

@TheSwitzAutomotive

3 жыл бұрын

Hey Dave. If you get a torque wrench you can check everything very easily. $10 at Harbor Freight. There are probably 50 videos that show you how to use a torque wrench. Thanks for watching!

@MrSupernova111

3 жыл бұрын

Get a decent torque wrench that goes over the torque that you need because they are usually not very accurate at their extreme settings. Tekton makes a decent torque wrench for $50 or so. There are more expensives that come with calibration settings but don't get a cheaper one. These days you can also get digital torque devices that you can attach to your breaker bar or wrench.

Always push down

@TheSwitzAutomotive

Жыл бұрын

Joseph, give me the "why"... I like to engage in automotive theory....

i did some work on my car and i had to remove one front wheel....when putting back the wheel we normally tighten the lug nuts when the wheel is on the ground so it wont turn...then my phone rang and when the conversation was over, i put away all my tools......good thing while i was taking shower i realized i did not tighten the lug nuts yet...its the first time it happened to me

@TheSwitzAutomotive

3 жыл бұрын

Glad it turned out okay. Yeah there's lots of distractions out there. For you it was a phone call. For a guy in the shop it might be a new customer pulling in or a supervisor that yells something... and your lugs are not on all the way. The main problem from a shop is having them on way too tight... like the torque spec is 80 and they put them on at 230! Thanks for watching!

Everyone I know who works on cars just jump on that SOB, unless they have all the fancy stuff that does it for em

Dawg they were so tight they had to have stretched

Has to be over spec. No way that should be 120lbs. My truck calls for 83lbs...

That torque wrench is not 10 bucks anymore 😂

If any mechanic put those torque lbs. on my alloy wheels I'd fire his ass on the spot! Steel wheels take more torque than alloy wheels which are less value!

If a mechanic is going to town on your lug nuts with an air impact wrench, then he should be fired on the spot. The only proper way to do it is by hand with a torque wrench.

Torque it to spec babygoat