TomF

I am curious about how often street-only 993-owners check their lugs.

I consider myself a very careful and safety-conscious person when it comes to my cars, but I am going to add a regular lug nut tightness check to my safety regimen. (For those who do regular DEs and spend any time on the track already know this instinctively...)

I checked my lugs today, and found that only half were torqued to the proper spec, one was really off and four were only finger-tight- this includes two on one wheel!

Having had the car in at the dealer's for a variety of things a couple of months ago, I can be sure of where the problem originated. However, I really have no excuse for waiting this long to check my lugs.

I'm just glad I didn't have a serious problem.

If lugs are torqued properly, has anyone had the experience of them loosening up?

Best regards.

Cupcar

The answer to the question is:

NO

Randy M

I had a wheel fall off in my '83 SC after having new P7's put on. Yep thats right they forgot to torque down my lugnuts. My girlfriend (my wife now) and I could have died as we were going 80mph. Luckily it happened on a straight away, my front drivers side wheel bounced off into the gulley on I-5. <img border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" title="" src="graemlins/cussing.gif" />

tom_993

I check my lug nuts after anyone else has messed with them. This includes dealers, independents, tire shops, etc. They are often way off. The shops, including high-end independents, should be ashamed of themselves.

Tom
’95 993

chris walrod

I totally agree with Tom about lug nuts.

Since I have my wheels off about once every two weeks for cleaning etc. they get torqued often.

When wheels dont get torqued at service shops, thats when I get torqued

Rick

At least twice a week...although it's actually just an excuse to hang out in the garage and have a beer!!!

Terry Adams

Never checked mine myself, but now Tom's comment and Randy's lost wheel has me nervous enough to go buy a torque wrench. But would not an under torqued wheel vibrate noticeably before it got even close to flying off?

os993

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Rick:
<strong>At least twice a week...although it's actually just an excuse to hang out in the garage and have a beer!!!</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Classic! <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

Never had any problems on the road. I torque my own wheels, and have never had any loosening. Check them constantly during track events though..

Agree about checking them after a shop/dealer has been messing with them...

tom_993

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Terry Adams:
<strong>But would not an under torqued wheel vibrate noticeably before it got even close to flying off?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Probably, but not necessarily. Especially if you’re going fast, and in a straight line. The wheel could just slowly creep off, and you’d never notice it until it was too late.

The worst case of non-tightened lug nuts I ever experienced was from a Toyota dealer. I was able to drive four or five miles home without noticing a thing. It wasn’t until I got into my neighborhood, and made some tight slow turns over some drainage dips that I felt anything. Had I needed to use the freeway to drive home, I probably would have ended up in the guard rail.

My first thought when I heard and felt the noises from the wheel was what did the dealer screw up now. I had just had some brake work done and imagined the calipers falling apart or rotors coming off the hubs or some other horrible nightmare. I got home, changed into my grubbies and prepared to jack up the truck, remove the wheel and investigate. When I felt the lug nuts, I knew that was the problem. Most weren’t even finger tight. All they had done was start the nuts. They weren’t even snugged down. Pure carelessness. I’m surprised there aren’t more lawsuits over this.

Tom
’95 993

Ray Calvo

In between changing/removing wheels, I don't do checking. Have found from experience aluminum nuts don't loosen.

Now, on old '76 911S with steel track wheels and steel lugs, would check them regularly (few times over a weekend) because THEY WOULD loosen!

Edward

I'll echo Tom's advice. But if you do even a few any track days during the year and swap wheels or bleed brakes, then I don't really see the need the check in between those times. Just make sure it's done right once, and they'll be fine.

Edward

SkipSauls

Two lug-nut stories of note:

- Recently I got new tires on my Boxster at a tire shop and checked the torque when I got home. I checked them again before and after a DE and they were always tight. The problem was when I tried to take the lug nuts off, only to find that the stupid tire shop had obviously used a pet gorilla to torque it to several hundred pounds. I now have a lug nut that will have to be removed by a tire shop because it is too rounded for a torque wrench. The moral is to not let these morons torque your lug nuts.

- At a PCA Club Race last year a guy was changing the wheels on his older 911 when a group of us were called over to help swap an engine in a SC. Later in the day one of his wheels came off during a session, which cracked the brake rotor in half. Luckily he nor anyone else was hurt. It is quite likely that he simply forgot to torque the lug nuts after helping out with the SC.

I check mine frequently at track events, and while they're seldom ever loose, the peace of mind is worth the effort. For my street cars I'm not as diligent, checking them every month or so.

Greg Fishman

As a rule I never put a torque wrench on someone elses car or let them torque mine. That way there is no confusion about who torqued the lug nuts or finger pointing at a later point. I am glad to help my friends at the track but the last step won't be mine.

TomF

Interesting comments from everyone. I think that Greg summarizes it the best!

Best regards,

mooty

i used to be lazy and rarely check lug tightness. after my most recent 150 miles on Laguna Seca, i heard some funny noise from RR. finally my mechanic told me that two of the lugs are only "finger tight".... and i personally torqued them to spec the night before. so please check often. it's really stupid/dangerous/expensive to have a wheel come off while driving...