lucycan

Sorry, I don't think I am following you. You are saying you DONT need a torque wrench and you can do it by "feel" ?

aggie57

Me or people in general? If you’re new to it or not confident then of course use a torque wrench to be sure.

1RedHead

So you can tell the difference between 60lb-ft/ 90lb-ft and 120lb-ft by just using a lug wrench and by "feel"? You are one calibrated individual!

aggie57

lol! Not at all, always used the 'tighten and one extra push' approach. Never been let down and much safer in my mind than using an impact wrench like most tire shops do, all they do is stretch the bolts or studs. If you've experienced failure of those it's not nice, happened to me once and to a friend on the freeway. Totaled his otherwise decent Alfa, I was lucky and just lost a rear wheel.

Reminds me though of the time my cousins' Ford Model A lost it's front wheel driving along the road. Wheel hit some poor persons mailbox complete with milk bottles, quite funny.

daddyscar

I agree with you on the 'tighten and one extra push' over cranking it down tight. I just replaced the chrome lug nuts off a used 2015 4Runner TRD Pro I got with black ones. I dusted off my eight year old torque wrench I used once on my previous 2012 Cayenne (and properly stored uncompressed). Removing the old lug nuts took much more effort than the 90 fl-lb my torque wrench stopped me at when I installed the new lug nuts. I even did a home calibration using some weight's to get a sense of how well calibrated my torque wrench was. I think that there's a bigger risk of damage from over tightening by cranking as hard as you can, than there is from 'tighten and extra push'. When I increased the torque on my torque wrench, I didn't feel much more effort to crank it 20 ft-lb more.

I still recommend a torque wrench to at least tighten each lug nut more consistently. While looking up torque wrench settings for Carrera's I found this thread. Looks like 997s required 96 ft-lb, then 991's bumped that up to 118 ft-lb. Probably related to faster 0-60 times. Base 2020 Carreras are insanely fast for public roads.
https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...997-2-a-2.html

If lug nut torque settings were truly a big problem, there would be many more threads on this subject. I remember replacing my first flat tire with a spare on the side of road in high school. I just cranked down as hard as I could to make sure my wheels never fell off. But you don't see lug nut torque threads because most newer 911 owners have someone else handle them, and for the most part, there is a lot of margin for error.

lucycan

At 118 ft-lbs torque on these wheels there is simply no way to consistently and accurately tighten without a torque wrench. To suggest otherwise is borderline reckless.

I'd say its just like eyeing a tire for tire pressure. How accurate do you think you'd get on looks alone?

Why not use the tools specifically for these purposes? If you were tightening the seat belt bolts would you "feel" those to? Where would it stop?

LexVan

1) Put electrical tape on the 19mm socket to help pad against the wheel's finish.
2) Use a thick mil plastic sandwich bag to cover each bolt head to pad the bolt and minimize marring of the finish

lucycan

I highly recommend something like this to avoid accidently wheel finish damage: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...334_200801334?

Richard_Wallace

Those are the exact ones I use on my cars...

aggie57

How many tire shops actually torque wheels correctly? No way - they simply crank the impact wrench up and go for it. Now that is reckless, my mate and I can show you the evidence to prove it.

lucycan

Aggie I completely agree with you! Which is why it should be done properly with a torque wrench - whether at home or a tire shop that you can trust.

To have the reasoning that you should not care to do it right at home because the shop won't do it right does not make sense to me.

inastrangeland

I disagree here. I have used Discount Tire for decades and my son worked there. They never use an impact wrench to tighten lug nuts. They snug up the nuts using a wrench, then lower the car so the tires touch and put some weight on the wheels, then they use a torque wrench. They tighten the lug nuts in a star pattern and then go back over them in a ring pattern. This ensure all lug nuts are secure and nothing was missed. I would never use an impact or any other tool to tighten lug nuts or bolts. I have had dealers strip my lug nuts and ruin my stud and it took way more torque than it should have, never said a word about it until we had to take the wheel off. The dealer obviously used an impact wrench.

Wild Weasel

I don't mean to be pedantic but it's worth noting that the torque wrench doesn't stop torquing when it clicks. You need to stop pushing on it when it clicks or it'll act as a breaker bar and you can over-torque as much as you like.
It makes me cringe sometimes at DE when the tech line has people with torque wrenches checking the lugs on each car and they practically bounce on the wrenches to make them click.

John Mclane

BTW, people will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you're not supposed to use impact wrench with the security lug (the adapter in the trunk).

aggie57

If you have a torque wrench handy then sure, using it is correct by the book. All I'm saying is if you don't then you can be confident the wheel is secure without one so long as you use common sense and do the basics right. All you need to achieve is sufficient and an even clamping force between the wheel and the hub, not over tightening as you do it. If your wheel is properly centred and you work in a star pattern then all good in my books.

I guess I just grew up at a time and in a place where we didn't always have the luxury of things like torque wrenches in the middle of pit stops or on the side of the road.