My S is still in pristine condition but needs her first tire change... do you guys worry about the impact guns the tire changing guys use? From what I gather, they generally aren't particularly gentle, and end up overtorquing. Any places that will tune down the impact torque, and use torque wrenches at the end?

When my gf got her WRX, all the wheel nuts were pretty badly damaged from the air guns.

 

Discount/ America's Tire Company uses a pretourqe stick when they bolt it on. THe pretourqe is set at 65lbs. Afterwards, they'll drop it half way then tourqe it to specs with a tourqe wrench, which is 80lbs.

I work at a Discount Tire

 

That makes me feel significantly better, thanks :-). Will ask each place I take it to from now on.

 

I would just tell the people who will be working on your car that that you want everything hand torqued. If they sound the least bit hesitant or you aren't comfortable with the way they react, go somewhere else.

 

^^

i cringe when I see an impact gun next to my car. I watch them work as well to make sure they don't take it near my car. If the guy that's working on my car doesn't even take it near my car, he'll get a decent tip(judging by the quality of the job they do). If I see them move it close and then see me and proceed to put it to the side...I keep a really close eye on them 'till the end!!!

 

It is fine to zip a lugnut down to the seat with an Impact so long as you're confident in your skill/setting of the impact to not exceed the proper torque, then you Hand-Torque with a correctly calibrated Torque Wrench, the lug should spin slightly as you Torque it as you're overcoming the fasteners grip. If it does not move, the lug was overtorqued and should be loosened then re-torqued.

If any tech in a mainstream or even small shop is using JUST an impact to tighten lug nuts they shouldn't be in the industry, it can cause a laundry list of problems. Such as:

Warped Rotors (Uneven overtorqing)
Damaged lug flats (Excessive force from overtorqing)
Broken Stud(s) (Self explanatory)
Cracked wheels (Heat cycling + overtorqing...Extreme case)
Loose wheels (Undertorqing/Uneven torque)

The worst of all is something I call Stud Pop, which I have seen happen only once but is totaly catastrophic, if you overtorque a stud to the breaking point(extreme overtorque) without breaking it and then heatcycle the brakes excessively it can actually heat up the alloy wheel which will expand it slightly and cause the studs to suddenly pop clean off, which will cause the wheel to follow shortly thereafter and finally cause extreme damage to the vehicle and possible death in the worst cases.

If any place you go to denies your request or is hesitant about doing what you want you need to find somewhere else to do it, Period. It's something that is extremely easy and not at all time consuming to do, I've been a Mechanic for going on 8 years now and I can say with confidence that I've never once skipped this step with any vehicle, ever. It's not worth the liability to save 20 seconds.

Torque-Sticks are also a commonly used tool which is what Homer Simpson was talking about which are completely fine to use as well, so long as they're used properly.

-Froth

 

Takes more effort but i just take my wheels off and bring it to them. That way I can retorque myself and not worry about them handling my car, getting on the lift, etc.