92 ft lbs is a better torque. Dont use anti seize on your studs

 

92LB is close to the maximum amount of recommended torque on a dry M12 x 1.5 C 10.9 fastener at 68F.

Honda recommends 80LB because:
-The nuts won't be tightened in a clinical environment.
-There are 5 effing bolts. This is OVERKILL for sure. Wheel joints are way over designed.
-80 LB leaves more than enough external tensile loading capacity after bolt preload tension is reached.

92LB will maybe decrease the likelihood of a fastener losing clamp load...BUT will reduce the fastener's load carrying capacity. Remember that wheel studs carry huge loads in tensile and shear and bending (combination) stresses. Potentially preloading the fastener to 75% of its proof load by using 92LB isn't the best idea.

Of course...this isn't being done in a lab...so clamp loads will vary wildly.

At 80LB dry thread.... its probably under-clamped...but the fastener will last forever. And in extreme conditons, testing may show that it will allow for greater external force before breaking off.

Idk. 80 seems like a safer bet. There are billions of Hondas using 80LB that have no issue with wheel retention.

The problem should be rooted out. Increasing torque is probably not the first resort one should take.

 

I used to overtighten my 240Zs lug nuts to ~10-15% beyond spec. After some number of track days, I started snapping the wheel studs... I've only used spec for my cars since, and never have lost another wheel stud or ever had lug nuts come loose. I do retorque periodically while at the track.

 

Nothing against OP...but FIVE lugnuts have to travel the entire length of the stud before coming off...unless they stripped off somehow. Some people have different powers of observation. Maybe the radio was up loud and he didn't hear the rattling. They didn't likely all fall off at once...so you'd hear or see lug nuts hitting the ground and hitting the car.

I've driven behind cars with loose lugnuts. The wheel is wobbling ALL over the place. Lugnuts were flying off and hitting the fenders and doors. I could see it from 100ft away. When I finally got their attention, one person was like "I knew something felt off". The other said something to the effect of "huhwhut?" as if they just awoke from a deep DEEP nap.

The process of falling off takes a while...and makes a lot of ruckus. When i left a wheel loose, the steering would shake until I hit the brakes hard enough, and there was a ton of noise.

As far as SUDDEN losses...when I worked at a dealer, one tech used 1 lug nut to "hang" a wheel, finger tight. Then got distracted. Then put the car down...and tried to go on a test ride. The car made it like...50ft...until he had to turn and even that distance was miraculous.

I've also seen people suddenly lose wheels because they used the wrong thread. Some standard lugnuts are so close to metric thread that they can thread on and even sometimes snug up. But they'll pop like rivets if they're subjected to a further tensile load.

I think OP's lugnuts were falling off for a while and he didn't notice. Until one was just clinging on and finally let go.

Maybe I'm wrong. Were any of the culprit lugnuts recovered? How many were present? Were they stripped of their threads?

Edit: re-read the first post. Only 1 lugnut recovered. Nothing wrong with it.

Maybe since OP was in slow moving traffic, he didn't notice the problem until only 1 lug nut remained.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm still not sure what happened in my situation. I'm going to evasive today to pick up some new lug nuts. I'm not sure if I'll be getting the rays lugs or the project kics. One thing is for sure, I'm not buying muteki again after this experience. For all I know there's nothing wrong with them but I'm not willing to risk having another incident like this happening again.