One local garage uses impact wretches to remove and put on lug nuts. I found out the hard way they cross threaded a few of the lug nuts one time when switching to snow tires one fall. I couldn't remove a couple of the tires even using a 2 foot pipe for extra leverage. Started bringing my car to a different shop afterwards. At home I always use a torque wrench after home threading the nuts on. DYI tip: My dad put 2 foot pipe in the trunk of my first car. Said it has a lot of uses, especially for adding extra leverage for changing a flat tire with stubborn lug nuts. History has proved him correct many times over.
Finally someone points this out. Every time I have tires put on my car, I drive home, loosen all of the lug nuts and torque them properly. However, you missed one important point and I see this all of the time and talk about it frequently on my channel. The wheel should be IN THE AIR when the lug nuts are tightened. The weight of the car and tire flex apply uneven pressure to the wheel when it is on the ground. Better to have someone step on the brakes (or e-brake) when the car is up and you torque them down.
Usually if I'm using a torque wrench for the final tightening I only lower the car enough for the wheels to be held still by the ground, without the weight of the car on them.
I started doing my own maintenance. I noticed the lug nuts were extremely hard to remove and my tires were last rotated by the shop. this time i rotated my own tires and used a torque wrench to set them to 90ft lbs spec. i had to remove one just now and had me double checking and researching if I tightened them too lightly... because they were way easier to remove when only tightened to the 90 ft lb spec, I am pretty sure my shop just blasted them with the impact wrench before. Also watched some youtube videos seeing the effort people put in with their torque wrenches tightening down and i am convinced my torque wrench is reasonably calibrated.
I argued with a truck tire shop about not using a one inch gun to put my lug nuts on and the guy said well they have to be 400 ft lbs. so I told him ok then make them that and not another pound over. My trouble was that I couldn’t get them off at home when I was doing maintenance on my trucks. And I had a one inch gun. But I think theirs had 1300 lbs of torque. I’ve found many big truck lug nuts and the stud at intersections, for some reason they will brake there when the truck is turning. I would jump out and pick them up if the light was red. They are right and left threats so they were worth picking up for spares.
If you don't know what you are doing, you can still over tighten or under torque with torque sticks. It is depends on how long you hold the trigger and power setting of a pneumatic or electric guns.
I just about stroked out trying to get those things off a flat that was thankfully at my house. I ended up having to call AAA and felt like an idiot. But the AAA guys said it happens all the time now. People doing maintenance just hurry and put the lugs on way too tight
Idk if they over tightened or under but 3 of my lug nuts fell off over the last 2 months and my car is absolutely shaking now lol. Reached out to them to fix it and they will. No mention of cost but we will see if they try to charge me.
Thank you. You can no longer get lug nuts off with the factory wrench in an emergency because these lazy asses impact drill them on to where the Incredible Hulk couldn’t get them off.
