Do you guys torque your lug nuts to 150ftlbs like they say in the manual or not worry about it?

I just rotated my tires a week or so ago at my auto-club and just put the lugs back on with the impact wrench (forgot my torque wrench at home)

Just wondering if I should bother torquing them down or not worry about it.

18" aluminum lariat rims if that matters..

 

I have a 6" lift kit and normally run 36/14.50/16.5 Mickey Thompson bajas but when I leave town I have my guys switch them out to my 315 "street" tires. After 5 years of doing this countless times with my 1/2" air ratchet we have never used a torque wrench. I can hear all of the responses now about this being unsafe but I now have 112K miles doing this and have had no problems.

 

I can stand the scrutiny. I always tighten by hand and until a few months ago never had a torque wrench. My rule of thumb has always been when the nut stops moving and the truck rocks back and forth, it's tight. My track record there is 6 vehicles and about 20 years. No worries yet.

 

With Aluminum wheels you really should follow the manufacturers specs and torque them, and then check the torque after driving them about a hundred miles or so.

With steel wheels tighten them up and forget'em.

This is what I have pretty much always been told.

 

I have a 99 F250 PSD, Have had the wheels off several times. I just rattle them down with an air gun and forget them. Never had a problem.

 

Air gun for me too. No worries.

I still have an old set of mag wheels from my dead '85 and because of the lug nuts being recessed weird like they were I always torqued them, just in case.

 

Cool...

I won't worry about it. On my F-150 with aluminum rims I just banged them tight with the impact wrench for 100k miles and never had a problem.

Then this past time some guy at the club said "oh if you don't torque on aluminum rims they'll warp"

If they warp I guess its a good excuse to get some aftermarket rims.

 

Milwaukee,WI,

What can warp by not using a torque wrench when tightening the lug nuts is the brake rotors. Uneven torque of the lug nuts causes uneven pressures on the brake rotors causing hot spots under use do to uneven rotation of the rotor and this leads to warping and premature wear of your brake rotors.

Hope this helps

 

I TORQUE! an if you inspect my truck or have to remove my wheels, I will tell you to torque the wheels.

Why not? It's a spec all manufactures have and should be followed. Days are gone of the shade tree'r who "times" engine by ear.

Past problems I had with air gun or other non-torque tightenings; unable to remove wheel on the road or whenever I dont have a 6 foot cheater bar, pulsating brake pedal from warped rotor (s), snapped wheel stud when I just leaned on tire iron to remove lug nuts (over-torque by shop, just didn't quite break off).

Most impacts will hit 500 lbs torque easy. I just got a cordless impact, used it to r&r my wheels just running up (lightly snug) the nuts to wheels. Got my torque wrench out and had to back everyone off, it over-torque all the nuts!

Your call, many have good luck for many miles. I like true rotors and is the biggest reason I torque my nuts! PS, I don't brake hard, another reason rotors will distort.
Save yourself many problems an keep a torque wrench handy!

 

I will be buying one of these soon, so that I can use my impact with worrying about over-torque.

http://www.accutorq.com/page4.html

They can be found for around $40. I used to torque by hand, but soon realized my rotors were staying warped because I was getting the lugs too tight. Once I started using a torque wrench, I rarely experience warped rotors anymore.

 

Thought about those,, when you get that can you check with your torque wrench and see how good they work?

 

Well when I can post pictures here I will show you all what happens when you over TQ the lug studs... Not pretty and about $3000 in damages... A $30 TQ wrench is well worth the investment...

 

When I got new wheels, I had to sign a form stating I'd check and re tourque my nuts every 50 miles for the first 250....

I did it 2x ( had to come home 300 miles)

 

I always torque mine , actually since I have after market wheels, (lugcentric) oposed to the factory (hubcentric) I rotate and balance every 5 to 6,000 mi, but I put the wheel on , tighten all lugs in a criss cross pattern, and while the wheels are still off the ground torque them to specs, never had a problem with vibration that way, this is straight from the American Racing web site, regarding hubcentric vs lugcentric. Now go do the right thing

 

Besides preventing rotor warpage, properly torque-ing the wheels means if you need to change a tire by the roadside, you can get all the lugs off with the wrench mounted under the hood.

I once had a shop over-tighten my lugs so much that I could never have gotten them off had I encountered a flat while on the road.