brandon

Just had my tires dynamically balanced on the hub. I used a business that advertises in our PCA newsletter & I've seen other Carreras in there so I assumed they knew what they were doing. Just to be sure, I asked the dealer if they used a torque wrench when re-mounting the tires. He said yes. I returned to the shop to see them remounting my fronts using an air wrench with a blue torque stick (I think that's what they are).

My question: Any adverse effects from doing this? Is it reasonable to ask for them to use hand tools when removing lugs?

Robert Henriksen

Personally, my feeling is that the torque stick is nice for running down the lug nuts to 'close-to, but not quite' the recommended spec. But should then be followed up with a torque wrench for exact specs.

It's really odd that a place that does high-end on-the-car balance jobs would cut a corner like that. Shoot, my local Discount Tire does the torque-stick-plus-torque-wrench routine!

Timothy Stewart

I have not used these, but from the
Snap-on catalog:
"....torque socket is manufactured from a special heat treated spring steel that results in the shaft flexing with each
blow of the impact wrench when the specified
torque is reached."

I don't think that there is harm in using
these. To contrary, actually quite good that they are used.

But, as far as retightening, I don't think
the accuracy is as good as by hand with
a quality torque wrench.

Also, I don't know about other brands, but
I don't see a Snap-on at 95ft-lb. The blue
19mm is 80ft lb.

tim

STLPCA

As posted, torque sticks are designed to flex at a preset torque and absorb the impacts of an impact wrench causing the socket to stop its rotation. They do not work w/a regular wrench. They are NOT nearly as accurate as hand torquing and can change their intended torque spec as the hammer in the impact wrench wears under heavy use, which lowers output.


IMO, it is not unreasonable to request a hand torque & any good shop should cheerfully oblige. Or you can do as I do - I always re-torque after service. Another concern is that an impact wrench, by its very nature, is much more damaging to our aluminum lug nuts than the same job done w/hand tools.
And, I'd bet that most shops don't use anti-seize on the lugs.

brandon

Thanks for the input guys.

Dan, I know for a fact that they didn't use anti-seize - I guess I'll shop around for a place that takes a little more pride in their work.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Gents:

I'll just throw in a few things from someone who does this,.....

I do not use a torque stick each and every time I replace wheel lugs, but I ocassionally do use one just to run them down and then lower the car for final hand torquing with the wrench. I use an 80 lb torque stick just to get them seated.

Remember, do not use anti-seize on the wheel stud threads, only use it on the rounded shoulders of the lug nut that contacts the wheel. Less is more, too,....

Robert Henriksen

I'll second the 'less is more' - I only recently tried antiseize on the shoulders of my lug nuts. Must have put on too much; when I rechecked the torque after one run session, I was damn near frightened at how much they had to be retorqued!

brandon

Thanks Steve for "The Rest of the Story" - I'll remember it the next time I mess with pulling the wheels. BTW, I wouln't have had a problem if he had used an air tool to spin the nuts on (the lugs are already scratched a bit around the corners & aren't really that visible anyway), but he used the light blue (80lb?) stick to run every lug back on to its final tightness. It seemed...not quite right.

STLPCA

The stick used may have been the correct torque. Color coding differs between torque stick brands. E.g., the sticks pictured in my earlier post are:

tom_993

Why not? I thought that’s what anti-seize was for? I’ve been doing this for years on all my cars with no problems. The lug nuts stay torque’ed. I’ve never seen any sign of loosening.

Pete Lech

I have come home from a tire store where they used torque sticks and rechecked each lug nut - I found quite a variation between different nuts. I concur that they are not very accurate, but probablly good enough for the initial tigntening, to be followed by a torque wrench.

Another reason for using a torque wrench, in addition to preventing the lug nuts from coming off, is to prevent warped rotors. I believe that uneven pressure from the lug nuts will ultimately warp the rotors as they heat up and cool off during normal use.