I took the expy in to Midas to have the wheels balanced before a 4 thousand mile trip. The weels were out of balance, and they balanced and put them back on the truck. I went to go rotate the tires sunday morning. I got out the impact wrench, and started trying to take the lug nuts off. They wouldn't budge. I went down the the garage to check the regulator, and it was at the standard 90 psi. That has worked on every other bolt i've needed. I turned it up to 100, and it still took a lot of work from the impact wrench to get the lugs off. They put them on so tight. If I had been on the side of the road fixing a flat, I wouldn've been screwed. I wish these places would tighten the lugs by hand so they don't over tighten them.

 

Before getting any kind of tire work done, I always ask if they
use a torque wrench to tighten the lug nuts. If the place says
yes, then they get my business, if they say no, I go somewhere
else.

 

if you ever get stuck on the side of the road and can't get the lug nuts off put the lug wrench on the nut in a way you can stand on it and you's your body waight to loosen it it works every time . and midas sucks.

 

To follow up on Bob's comment, I not only ask but then verify the torque is correct upon receiving the vehicle after getting work done. It only takes a moment with a torque wrench to see what they were torqued at.

Also when I have work done, I insist that they lookup and write on the work order what is required: I.e. torque wheel lugs by hand to 60 ft/lb (or whatever is required).

 

I use torque sticks. If they are rated 100FT pounds you can use a 600ft pound impact and they will torque to 100ft pounds.

 

Where can you get those? I just rotated the tires on my escort this morning, and I used the impact wrench to get them snug, then I took the torque wrench to finish the job. It didn't take that much longer, so it can't be that much more time consuming to torque each wheel on a car that comes to Midas.