Catastrophic tire/wheel failure, PLEASE READ!

Sport45 wrote:

lmpres wrote:
Hi guys, Just to answer a few questions/statements made on here after my post.

Yes, 110 ft/pounds torque.
But by checking proper torque, you would not know that they were over tightened. The wrench reader show's 110 and you stop applying pressure. It only works when under torque...

Not if you loosen them a bit first. If the wrench clicks without moving the lug nut it is most likely over torqued. Loosen the nut about 1/8 turn and then snug it back down with the torque wrench to your desired value.

Once the first luber goober runs them up with his IR impact until the nut stops turning the damage has probably been done. Some of those wrenches can easily put out 200 ft-lb. If a couple of the bolts are stretched or cracked then it's game over. Every time the wheel goes around it experiences another fatigue cycle. And each fatigue cycle will propagate the crack which grows until the bolt fails.

The tire stores I deal with use a torque stick on the impact to limit applied torque to less than the desired value. They finish tightening the lugs with a click-type torque wrench. Of course the torque wrench probably hasn't been calibrated since it made it's way into the shop...

I've been told by several people at Discount Tire that they =do= calibrate their wrenches and gauges. Same goes at the local Chevy dealership. They don't toss out tools that work, but all are engraved with corrections. They are all checked on a regular basis.

Lyle