Over Torque on wheel nuts -- Toyota dealership

Hi,

I have a Lexus ES300 and took it into a Toyota dealer for a 30,000
mile service. Everything went O.K. there ... well except for the
wheel / tire rotation.

After about a month the weather forecast looked worse so I decided to
put the winter tires onto the car. Tire's 1, 2, and 3 where O.K. But
the Front right one would not budge. I was lusing an 18 inch lug bar
and a 1/2 inch to 3/8 inch converter to step the size down for my 21
mm socket. I was pushing and pusching untill snap, the converter right
where it drops down to 3/8 inches sears right off!

O.K. I think maybe something bad with that tool. Take another down
conversion 1/2inch to 3/8 inch, and after a few expletives and smashed
knucles, it again sheared off. Those idiots at the Toyota dealership,
TOYOTA Mt. Kisco had completely over torqued the bolts.

In the end I managed to get a 21 mm socket with a 1/2 inch drive. Put
it on the wheel and then standing on the breaker bar, pushed it slowly
with my foot until the nut lossened.

If I had to do this at the side of the road it would have been
impossible. Does anyone else have similar experiences with over
torqued wheel nuts?

Needless to say when I put the wheels on I use a torque wrench set to
76 lbs/ft. The proper torque from the Lexus ES300 user manual.

Best, Mike.

I've had that problem and amazing disregard for recommended tire
pressure. Recently my wife got back from a quick-change place, and
they had put 45 to 63 pounds in tires that were supposed to have 32.

On removing the lug nuts, it helps if you retighten the nuts that are
not stuck. This relieves some of the tension on the one that's
stuck.

On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:23:24 -0500, NickySantoro
<NickySantoro@optonline.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
>On 26 Feb 2007 03:07:21 -0800, [email]sacstinkytiger@yahoo.com[/email] wrote:
>
>[color=green]
>>If I had to do this at the side of the road it would have been
>>impossible. Does anyone else have similar experiences with over
>>torqued wheel nuts?[/color]
>
>Happens just about every time I have new tires put on. Lug nut torque
>and air pressure are all over the place. First thing I do is check
>tire pressure and torque. Both are then corrected to spec.[/color]


Buy your tires at Sam's Club.

They use a torque wrench on the wheel nuts and they do a good job
of matching the tire pressure.

Plus....included in the price is lifetime rotation and balance....

--


Scott in Florida

On Feb 27, 4:48 pm, Scott in Florida <askifyouw...@mindspring.net>
wrote:[color=blue]
> On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:23:24 -0500, NickySantoro
>
> <NickySant...@optonline.net> wrote:[color=green]
> >On 26 Feb 2007 03:07:21 -0800, sacstinkyti...@yahoo.com wrote:[/color]
>[color=green][color=darkred]
> >>If I had to do this at the side of the road it would have been
> >>impossible. Does anyone else have similar experiences with over
> >>torqued wheel nuts?[/color][/color]
>[color=green]
> >Happens just about every time I have new tires put on. Lug nuttorque
> >and air pressure are all over the place. First thing I do is check
> >tire pressure andtorque. Both are then corrected to spec.[/color]
>
> Buy your tires at Sam's Club.
>
> They use atorquewrench on the wheel nuts and they do a good job
> of matching the tire pressure.
>
> Plus....included in the price is lifetime rotation and balance....
>
> --
>
> Scott in Florida[/color]

Actually I did twice at Sam's club and yes I agree they do a great
job. However I got the tires rotated when I had the car service done
at the dealer ... *sigh*

<sacstinkytiger@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1172488041.259664.164300@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
[color=blue]
>
> If I had to do this at the side of the road it would have been
> impossible. Does anyone else have similar experiences with over
> torqued wheel nuts?[/color]

I had an old junker wagon on which I'd had new tires put on, or the tires
rotated or something, a few months earlier. I needed to take one wheel off.
I had one of those universal lug wrenches that's shaped like a plus sign
with a different-sized socket at each end. Actually, I had three of them,
because I had found one somewhere, one came with the car I had and another
came from my previous car, because I figured the junk dealer probably had
enough lug wrenches.

I broke all three trying to get *any* of the lug nuts loose. On one, the
socket broke, on another, it broke in the center where the bars crossed, and
I think the last one broke the socket again.

Now, first off they must have been made of sh*t metal because I'm not some
hercules and I was twisting the wrenches with my arms as evenly as I could,
not jumping or standing on one of the bars. But still, it took nearly all
my strength to bust the wrenches, and none of those lugs budged. I don't
remember how I finally got the lug nuts off.

"That Guy" <7@f.com> wrote in message news:npSdnVwDrY0knHvYnZ2dnUVZ_uWlnZ2d@giganews.com...[color=blue]
>
> <sacstinkytiger@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:1172488041.259664.164300@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
>[color=green]
>>
>> If I had to do this at the side of the road it would have been
>> impossible. Does anyone else have similar experiences with over
>> torqued wheel nuts?[/color]
>
> I had an old junker wagon on which I'd had new tires put on, or the tires rotated or something, a few months earlier. I needed to
> take one wheel off. I had one of those universal lug wrenches that's shaped like a plus sign with a different-sized socket at each
> end. Actually, I had three of them, because I had found one somewhere, one came with the car I had and another came from my
> previous car, because I figured the junk dealer probably had enough lug wrenches.
>
> I broke all three trying to get *any* of the lug nuts loose. On one, the socket broke, on another, it broke in the center where
> the bars crossed, and I think the last one broke the socket again.
>
> Now, first off they must have been made of sh*t metal because I'm not some hercules and I was twisting the wrenches with my arms
> as evenly as I could, not jumping or standing on one of the bars. But still, it took nearly all my strength to bust the wrenches,
> and none of those lugs budged. I don't remember how I finally got the lug nuts off.
>
>[/color]


Ya when my Supra was new some jerk (not a dealer) with a impact had my lug nuts on so tight
I ruined a few tools and snapped two of wheel studs later on. grrrrrr.

On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:29:57 GMT, "cranheim"
<caranheim@sbcglobal.net.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
>
>"Coyoteboy" <coyoteboyuk@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:AKCdnc08LqxPnnrYRVnytAA@bt.com...[color=green]
>> [email]sacstinkytiger@yahoo.com[/email] mumbled incoherently to the rest of
>> alt.autos.toyota:
>>
>>[color=darkred]
>>> Best, Mike.[/color]
>>
>> I've had experiences like this with nuts I've hand-tightened with a normal
>> foot long ratchet and bodyweight. Taken to a tiny smear of anti-seize
>> copper slip and regular checks - never had a complaint since.
>>
>> --
>> J
>> __________________________________________
>> [url]http://www.jbuckle.homeip.net[/url] << My personal site
>> [url]http://www.aoskc.com[/url] << Ainsdale Kitesurf Club[/color]
>
>"Taken to a tiny smear of anti-seize copper slip and regular checks "
>
>I think the the threads should be dry to get the proper tightening at the
>specified torque spec. It states in my Toyota manual the following:
>"CAUTION Never use oil or grease on the bolts or nuts. Doing so may lead to
>over-tightening the nuts and damage the bolts. The nuts may loose, and the
>wheels may fall off, which could cause a serious accident. If there is oil
>or grease on any bolt or nut, clean it". I used to put grease on the threads
>thinking they would not rust and would last longer. My brother, who works in
>an engineering department, said that was a no-no, for the same reason above.
>
>When I first got my 2004 Sienna, it said in the owners manual the wheel lugs
>should be torqued to the specified torque at 1000 miles. The owners manual
>said the wheel lug torque was 76. It did not specify what type of wheel
>(Alloy or Steel). I have the alloy wheels. I called every Toyota service
>department in Connecticut, and could not get the same answer. I was given
>from 60 to 110 foot pounds. Now remember, the service departments are
>torqueing wheels every day, without knowing what the correct torque spec is!
>They simply use the air wrench as it happens to be set for all wheels, large
>or small. It took weeks to get and answer out of Toyota via their Customer
>Care web site. They concluded the torque was the same for alloy or steel
>wheels, and it should be 76 foot pounds (right or wrong)
>Most tire stores have the ability to hand torque the wheels if you ask them
>to do so, and you know the torque spec. If you say nothing, they will
>probably default to the air wrench at the "setting of the day".
>Charles Ranheim
>[/color]

Good tire shops use a torque wrench anyways. I used to own a mustang
and if you over tightened the wheel nuts it would warp the discs. My
local tire shop has always used torque wrenches.
There are even torque limiters they can put on their impact wrenches.
Any shop that doesn't use torque wrenches for this should be avoided
like the plague.