Hey,

I'm sure all of yall are more diligent than I am, but just wanted to warn people to check their lugnuts. I think mine were loose, and 4 of my wheel studs broke off the driver's side rear wheel last night while I was driving home.

In the process of putting car back together now.

 

Damn, when was the last time you had the wheels off???

 

I had new tires mounted on them about 3-3.5 months ago, drove it for about a month, then was down 2 months for the turbo install

 

Sounds like someone used an impact wrench on your wheel install. Thats a big no no and I'd be going back to that place and tell them what happened. You could have lost a wheel while driving and had a bad accident, possibly killing you.

 

^ at the place I work, we use torque sticks with the impact wrench and finalize with a hand torque up to the correct spec. Do you mean instead torquing the wheels with an impact gun at full torque that will cause problems?

 

I'm assuming he's talking about impact wrenches that exceed well over the necessary lug nut torque specs.

 

Yeah... I avoid shops if at all possible. I had to take my car to the Honda dealer to inspect it for damage from potholes (alignment completely knocked out). I was worried about frame damage, control arm damage, etc.

Anyways, they waaaaaaay overtorqued the lugnuts. probably in the 150lb-ft range based on how hard it was to loosen them, so about double what it should be.

The one tire place I go to for tire mounting/balancing, they will use the impact to do the initial tightening, but it's set low to just seat the wheel. Then they go and torque all the lugnuts by hand/torque wrench.

 

Yeah, I meant that most shops use a very strong impact gun that exceeds the TQ specs and thats a big no no. Most places you get wheels installed dont really care what the actual TQ requirements are and just grab the big impact gun and wrench them down. Broken wheel lugs is the result over time.

 

What is the correct spec for the lugnuts?

I did mine at 90 LBS when I did my brake flush.

The dealer where I got my car installed new tires on it. It must been done to over 150 lbs for sure. it was a bitch taken them off.

 

^^I'm not too sure what the TQ specs are. It should say in your owners manual. I normally TQ mine by hand and by feel with a normal roughly 12" long breaker bar and socket.