I've always been told that final torque (and tire pressure) should be performed under load. As for lug torque, check again after a hundred miles or so.

What do the rest of you think? Do I need to change how I've done it for years?

 

What I do: Put the tire on the ground ( under load ). Tighten it with torque wrench. Drive it around for a day or two. Re tighten to specs. Then put your torque wrench back in the handy dandy little case and you're all done.

 

I've also been told to tighten and loosen on the ground. Jacking the car up is just to remove/put on the tire.

 

Not a stupid question if you don't currently know the answer. I'm with @lE5QE0 that I'd do it on the ground. If you've initially tightened them while in the air they should be seated against the hub/rotor (you're not binding and giving a false reading on the torque wrench).

 

To remove you should break it on the ground so you don’t have to in the air unless you don’t care about the lug nuts and blast it off with a impact gun.

To put it back on snug up the nuts in the air. You obviously won’t be able to bring it up to spec if the wheel is free spinning. When the wheels are up I can torque the nut up to 25~ ft-lbs by hand. Then you put it down to torque to spec. It’s good practice to snug them up so you don’t damage the wheel and lug nuts.


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To remove you should break it on the ground so you don’t have to in the air unless you don’t care about the lug nuts and blast it off with a impact gun.

To put it back on snug up the nuts in the air. You obviously won’t be able to bring it up to spec if the wheel is free spinning. When the wheels are up I can torque the nut up to 25~ ft-lbs by hand. Then you put it down to torque to spec. It’s good practice to snug them up so you don’t damage the wheel and lug nuts.


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Absolutely correct.

The only thing I have to add to this is when aftermarket wheels are in use, re-torquing after a brief 10 mile drive and then again rechecking torque is critical! Thirty plus years in the business and this proves out often.

And as an aside, as someone inexperienced is bound to read this message later, when you tighten lug nuts you do not go "around the circle" from nut to nut. Tighten in a star pattern, where you go to the next nut that's "across the way" from where you are that you have not tightened yet.

Yes. Star pattern , always.

 

And as an aside, as someone inexperienced is bound to read this message later, when you tighten lug nuts you do not go "around the circle" from nut to nut. Tighten in a star pattern, where you go to the next nut that's "across the way" from where you are that you have not tightened yet.

 

I torque them on the ground if using a torque wrench, or in the air if using a torque stick on an impact gun.

 

I have impact wrenches, both air and a recently added cordless Milwaukee that'll snap bolts and strip threads at full power.
I remove the lug nuts with the wheel in the air, at full power with either tool. [The post above which implies that doing so reflects that I "don't care about the lug nuts" is a baseless superstition. I would love to hear the explanation of why applying the same force (the force needed to remove the nut) with the wheel in the air is more damaging than if the wheel is on the ground.]
Installing, I start the lug nuts by finger for a couple turns to ensure no cross threading. Then I use the impact wrench to bring it to ~ 50 lb. ft., using either a torque stick or the low setting on my air impact. After all four wheels are on the ground, I use a torque wrench to final torque, ~ 80 lb. ft. on all the vehicles in the family.

WIthout power tools, different procedures due to difficulty of applying significant torque by hand without wheel spinning.

 

I have impact wrenches, both air and a recently added cordless Milwaukee that'll snap bolts and strip threads at full power.
I remove the lug nuts with the wheel in the air, at full power with either tool. [The post above which implies that doing so reflects that I "don't care about the lug nuts" is a baseless superstition. I would love to hear the explanation of why applying the same force (the force needed to remove the nut) with the wheel in the air is more damaging than if the wheel is on the ground.]
Installing, I start the lug nuts by finger for a couple turns to ensure no cross threading. Then I use the impact wrench to bring it to ~ 50 lb. ft., using either a torque stick or the low setting on my air impact. After all four wheels are on the ground, I use a torque wrench to final torque, ~ 80 lb. ft. on all the vehicles in the family.

Without power tools, different procedures due to difficulty of applying significant torque by hand without wheel spinning.

I agree. The main reason to get torque on the lug nuts with the wheel in the air is to insure the wheel is seated properly on the hub. I would venture most of the "on the ground" techniques relate to the need to break the torque and final tighten the nuts to prevent the wheel turning.

 

My shop is different. Not in any way better or worse. But I often work on cars that are not mine. Sometimes even the wheels themselves worth more than my little corolla. However, there are standards that I have that are my practice. My opinion per se. Lug nuts are just lugs to some. Wheels are just wheels... doesn’t matter to keep quality. It’s just a in-house thing I do to upkeep the condition of all components of a customer vehicle.. even the lugs. I just simply don’t use impacts for these things. It’s a norm to use one tho. Torque stick? I don’t use those. Just a standard torque wrench. Click click


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I'm relieved to hear that there's no real reason, just policy. After 35 years employed in a State bureaucracy, I recognize the value of such policies.

I haven't ever noticed any damage to my lug nuts or wheels from my practices, and suspect I never will.

 

Have you ever power wrenched off powder coated nuts and done damage to the coating?

 

I don't think it it makes a big rat's hiny, but I always do the last tightening with the vehicle on the floor. I check the lug nuts about twice a year. Never have found one loose. Regards

 

I never said it made a significant difference but I would say impact wrenches is common in the industry. I don’t know many shops who don’t use impacts on the wheels. Your mileage may vary.

I didn’t think anyone would be alerted by saying “unless you don’t care about your lug...” and thought there was an issue with impacting nuts.

Maybe I should clear up one more thing is that when I say my shop, I actually mean my personal two car home garage shop. Not a chain repair shop with policy papers with an office.

Also, I think we may have went off topic on this post but I’m sure the OP has some more reassurance about torquing wheel lugs now so that’s good. Hope it’s significantly all clear now.


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I didn’t think anyone would be alerted by saying “unless you don’t care about your lug...” and thought there was an issue with impacting nuts.

I think (potential) damage to lug nuts is squarely on topic.

From what you now write, I guess I was wrong to think that the words “unless you don’t care about your lug...” were an allusion to potentially damaging them.

Please tell me what you really did mean by the words.

 

Another aside, which seldom comes into play, but can: You also will do different things, tightening wise, with lug nuts made of different materials.

There is a certain British marque (hint, look at my avatar) that uses brass lug nuts, and max tightening is to 50 ft-lbs. I never, ever use an impact wrench on these and have never allowed any shop I've used to do so, either. Let's simply say I've seen the result of "applying standard operating procedure" on these cars on too many occasions. And that's discounting the mayhem when the reverse-threaded lugs used on one side are treated like the are the typical "lefty loosey, righty tighty" variety.

And, as a general note, one should torque tighten only to whatever the manufacturer specified value is for a given vehicle. More is definitely not better, in the majority of cases, as several comments here clearly indicate.

 

Costco used to do the initial tightening in the air (impacted on), torqued and then the final tightening (torque wrench) on the ground. A supervisor might come around and check the torques again. I think the last time they did everything in the air while holding the wheel with one of those metal chocks they had. I'm not sure if it was just one tech or they started doing that now.

I tighten to spec in the air with a wood block to stop the wheel from turning. I find that if I do the last torque on the ground, a couple of nuts seem to turn a bit more than the others. The lateral force on the wheel with vehicle's full weight might have contributed to that. Since then I just tighten all lug nuts in the air with a chock.

The initial snugging up by hand lightly (with a ratchet) takes them to about 25 lb/ft or so. The torque wrench then starts at 25, 50 and 76.

 

I just use a breaker bar to get them a little loose then a 3/8th snap on air gun, not real powerful. Hit them back on with the gun then torque them with my 3/8th snap on click torque wrench (left at 0 when in it's box when on the ground. Usually do one side at a time on the ground.
If I had had to tolerate a state beaurocracy for 35 years I probably would be in jail or dead. After being told I would never receive and increase in grade or any more than cost of living increases in pay, they could kiss me arse, but I was slightly more polite than that.

 

Here's what I do:

1. Loosen lugs while on ground with breaker bar.
2. Open driver's door; place one end of the breaker bar on my brake pedal and the other end on the front of my drivers seat.
3. Press seat forward button until the seat motor can't push the pedal any further, close door.
4. Jack up car/jackstands/take wheel off.
5. Place new wheel on rotor which is being clamped onto the hub by the caliper.
6. Thread on lugs/ then star pattern turn with ratchet until resistance.
7. Star pattern torque to 90 ft/lbs on steelies/85 ft/lbs on alloy - official specs are lower probably.
8. Remove jackstands, lower car, remove breaker bar from pedal and drive off.
9. Re Torque lug nuts after 25-50 miles (or just after you've gotten the wheels hot). I frequently find one or two lugs that have dropped ~5 ft/lbs of torque after 50 miles, after the second torquing they don't really change even if you're abusing your tires.

 

I was wondering how not to make the wheels spin when on air and your suggestion (#2) along with JohnGD's use of a wood block is solid. Thanks.

 

I use an impact to pull the lugs off and put them on with a torque stick. My lugs do look beat, I think it is totally fair to say repeated use of an impact does cosmetic damage to the lug nuts. Not enough time in the day to worry about it for me, but whatever makes you happy!

 

On my cars, if certain wheels are in the air, they will spin freely, making it impossible to remove or install lug nuts. So, I do all initial or final work on the ground, and then only making sure things are straight and square when in the air.

 

Assuming that you don't have a lift... snug it up while on a jack.

Torque to spec on the ground-- it's for safety reasons.

Then after driving about 20-30 miles, hit the lug nuts again with the torque wrench.

Shops can torque in the air because the car is safely supported on the lift.

 

Thank you everyone for your HIGHLY informative feedback. Seems I've been "improperly" tightening my wheels for the longest time.

I've always wonder whether torqueing should be done in the air since torqueing the wheels on the ground would not really tighten them when the weight of the car is already on the wheels in my opinion. But then again, torqueing when car is on the ground is a tried and true method.

 

To my way of thinking, the "unavoidable" risk of damage to lug nuts, whether removed using power or hand tools, is removing them. While I torque to ~80, they always take more than that to break loose.

If I thought the shop's removal using air power were causing problems that would be avoided by using hand tools, I would bring a hand wrench with me. After parking in their lot, I would break loose the lug nuts and tighten to a low value that would be no issue for the ~100 foot trip into the service bay. The air tool would face little resistance and cause no damage. Except, perhaps, to the nuts' pride.

 

(not Toyota related) Volvo 740s can have their brake rotors warped with too much torque on the lug nuts. (Discs all around) As the rotors heat and cool in use, they warp. Discount Tire always over-torques them, even with the torque sticks. I used to take my clicker torque wrench with me and loosen/re-torque them in the parking lot when DT was done. I think their rationale is that if they warp your rotors you won't notice for a while and won't connect it to them. But if your lug nuts come loose, you will definitely blame them. Since I've become a serial old Toyota owner, (5 cars so far) I don't have to worry about this, but I still re-torque my wheels.

 

I have to say that I have never had to retorque a wheel in my entire life. I have worked on steel wheels, aluminum and magnesium alloy wheels and never had a problem. I was certified an Automotive Technician in Germany and in the USA. The only time I have had a lose lug nut was when someone tried to steal my wheels.

Every time you get into you car you should at the very least walk around it and visual look at tires and lights and car. Every time you fill up your car with fuel you should pop the hood and check the fluids.

Once a week you should be checking air pressure in tires and looking at the tire for abnormal signs of wear and lose lug nuts etc.....

Always break lugs lose on ground and final torque on ground if doing it by hand with hand tools. Prior to my final year as an apprentice in Germany we did not torque wheels to specification! You want to know the reason we changed? The smaller technicians could not break wheels lose with hand tools if a gorilla like me tighten the wheels. This was back in the days before everyone used air tools or electric tools for everything. This meant they had to get a cheater bar or wait for a bay that had air to do a job that could have been down with hand tools.

Oh and back then alloy wheel while not as common as today were still frequently encountered. The head of the program picked 86 ft-lbs. as generic compromise torque spec 1988-1992 on passenger cars and light duty trucks and such.

I have never warped a rotor either which is nonsense.

I say what I say not as an image of best practice rather as an antidote to the hyperbolic nature of some today on forums. Wheels are not head bolts or valve lash adjustments. You have some room to wiggle around far more room than some would have you think!! I can honestly say that many mechanics, tire shops and dealerships are not torqueing wheels to specification if you are lucky they might be using a torque stick!

 

To add: Same, I don’t need to Retorque my wheels and customers more than once. I’ve tested now and then doing a second torque to spec but always found zero change. A well maintained vehicle with fewer sloppy joes keeps everything good and tight. No mess at all in my personal experience. I don’t like taking in newer clients as often I find things like aftermarket junk, overtorqued nuts, food remanence here and there.

I agree, rarely shops torque wheels but it seems that many have had good luck with going to shop to get their car serviced. I say so even Costco does a horrible job. I used to get my tires there but I got greedy and wanted more than my fair share of tire performance and alignment... Costco’s method is impact on which usually overtorques the lugs and by the time they get that flute of a torque wrench.. it just clicks right away... if anybody could deduct the reason why.


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I've watched Costco on a good 1/2 dozen installs over time, and they've always done this. The first thing Mgr does in the morning is test the torque wrench against a bench value also. Tire shop alone is worth the membership cost

 

I have had wheels come loose once after being torqued. They were steel wheels and had been sitting outside for a few years. My guess is there was some rust built up that loosened with driving and made some extra space. I pulled over because one was loose enough to hear it moving, and found that at least some lug nuts on all 4 wheels were loose to some degree when I checked. This all happened within a couple hundred miles of installing them.

 

This may be a dumb and stupid question but I still have to ask (I've searched but may have missed it...). When putting the tire back on, do you tighten the lug nuts to spec while off the ground or on the ground?

As far as I know you hand tighten everything while it's up on the air. You can use your tire iron to tighten it but don't try to mash it tight. Then lower the vehicle and use your torque wrench and tighten in a star pattern so you get even pressure.