I know this one has probably been answered a million times on here and I apologize up front, but I have a 2004 Honda Odyssey EX-L, 330,000 miles, I’ve done most of the maintenance myself and have always gotten the new tires from Walmart. Yesterday I replaced the tires with the 4 cheapest tires I could find, the previous Douglas tires lasted 3 years, 45,000 miles, actually were still good, but I hit something on the road that a caused a blowout on the rear drivers side tire, so I decided to replace all 4, Evoluxx Capricorns, $276.00 out the door, included mounting, lifetime balance, road hazard (free for Walmart+) and disposal of old tires - however! They torqued the lug nuts to 100 foot pounds, and the service manual calls for 80, they also recommend retightening the lug nuts after 50 miles, is this something I should even be concerned about, loosening and re-torquing 20 lug nuts is a lot of work, especially if they’re gonna back off slightly after 50 miles.
Wheel lug torque issue
mlynch2
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I know this one has probably been answered a million times on here and I apologize up front, but I have a 2004 Honda Odyssey EX-L, 330,000 miles, I’ve done most of the maintenance myself and have always gotten the new tires from Walmart. Yesterday I replaced the tires with the 4 cheapest tires I could find, the previous Douglas tires lasted 3 years, 45,000 miles, actually were still good, but I hit something on the road that a caused a blowout on the rear drivers side tire, so I decided to replace all 4, Evoluxx Capricorns, $276.00 out the door, included mounting, lifetime balance, road hazard (free for Walmart+) and disposal of old tires - however! They torqued the lug nuts to 100 foot pounds, and the service manual calls for 80, they also recommend retightening the lug nuts after 50 miles, is this something I should even be concerned about, loosening and re-torquing 20 lug nuts is a lot of work, especially if they’re gonna back off slightly after 50 miles.
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When I mount my tires using my "armstrong torque wrench", I think it's calibrated for around 75 ft/lbs. After driving a bit- 50 or so miles, I just put my lug wrench on each lug and see if they're still at my guestimate tightness. On rare occurrences I may find that one lug was loose and now it's tight again. Maybe a day or week later I'll recheck that wheel to verify that they're still tight.
The only time I loosen and re-tighten the lugs is when the shop puts on new tires. Usually I just loosen and then tighten one lug on each wheel. The reason for that, one time I had to call a service manager out because the lugs were so overtightened that neither of us could loosen them using my 2' breaker/lug wrench. He had the tech retorque all of the wheels properly. This was way over the 100 ft/lbs that your tech did.
The only time I loosen and re-tighten the lugs is when the shop puts on new tires. Usually I just loosen and then tighten one lug on each wheel. The reason for that, one time I had to call a service manager out because the lugs were so overtightened that neither of us could loosen them using my 2' breaker/lug wrench. He had the tech retorque all of the wheels properly. This was way over the 100 ft/lbs that your tech did.
The shop may have written "torqued to 100 ft lbs", but if they just tightened the lug nuts with a air driven wrench, they are probably higher than that.
I bought a floor jack, breaker bar, T-lug nut wrench, and a torque wrench with appropriate sized sockets a while back to do my own tire rotations. It only takes a few rotations before the investment pays for itself--if the tire installation doesn't include lifetime rotations.
I think checking torque values on 20 lug nuts is infinitely easier and faster than doing tire rotations. I would recommend buying or borrowing a torque wrench and retorque the lug nuts to the appropriate value 50 or so miles after installation. The last thing you want to run into is trying to remove overtorqued lug nuts on a flat tire.
If Walmart has lifetime balancing, you could also bring the van back to Walmart after 50 miles and have them hand-torque the nuts to spec (make sure you see them hand torque each nut). That would be much easier than DIY.
I bought a floor jack, breaker bar, T-lug nut wrench, and a torque wrench with appropriate sized sockets a while back to do my own tire rotations. It only takes a few rotations before the investment pays for itself--if the tire installation doesn't include lifetime rotations.
I think checking torque values on 20 lug nuts is infinitely easier and faster than doing tire rotations. I would recommend buying or borrowing a torque wrench and retorque the lug nuts to the appropriate value 50 or so miles after installation. The last thing you want to run into is trying to remove overtorqued lug nuts on a flat tire.
If Walmart has lifetime balancing, you could also bring the van back to Walmart after 50 miles and have them hand-torque the nuts to spec (make sure you see them hand torque each nut). That would be much easier than DIY.
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At least for retorquing/checking torque you can leave the wheel on the ground. Just do one lug at a time.
Which is why I called out the manager after having new tires mounted and finding them overtightened. I checked this in the parking lot before leaving the store.
Do auto mechanics even have torque wrenches in their shops? 
Mechanics just seem to torque bolts based on whatever they feel like or however many clicks they think is right from the impact driver. It takes time to set up a torque wrench, figure out the spec for each component for a specific car, and hand tighten it. After my last service I had some lugs that were under torqued and some that were over; I just redid them all.
Mechanics just seem to torque bolts based on whatever they feel like or however many clicks they think is right from the impact driver. It takes time to set up a torque wrench, figure out the spec for each component for a specific car, and hand tighten it. After my last service I had some lugs that were under torqued and some that were over; I just redid them all.Yes, auto mechanics have torque wrenches. Some of the higher end vehicle/wheel manufacturers specifically recommend avoid impact driven lug wrenches on their products. If a shop gives the customer a hard time when requesting hand torquing, it is time to look for a different shop.
It seems most of the shops around here are using a "torque stick" on an impact driver. They try to tell me that it creates the correct torque. What do you know about these?
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Torque sticks have a wide range of accuracy. They're made of spring steel and are supposed to torsionally flex enough once desired applied torque is reached to allow the impact tool to not transmit further tightening torque to the fastener in question (i.e., a lug nut).
Once reaching design torque, upon receiving a torque impulse from the impact tool, these sticks actually twist, spring back and the anvil inside the impact device "starts over", provides a torque impulse to the stick again, it twists, springs back again ... ad infinitum until you say to yourself "Self, the socket end of this torque stick is no longer rotating ... time to let go of the trigger."
If I had a set of torque sticks, I'd use one that got me to 3/4 of the torque value (say, 60 ft-lbs), and then apply ultimate (final) torque with a torque wrench. I don't have enough knowledge or trust about their day-to-day accuracy to let them apply final torque for me. Call me paranoid.
OF
Once reaching design torque, upon receiving a torque impulse from the impact tool, these sticks actually twist, spring back and the anvil inside the impact device "starts over", provides a torque impulse to the stick again, it twists, springs back again ... ad infinitum until you say to yourself "Self, the socket end of this torque stick is no longer rotating ... time to let go of the trigger."
If I had a set of torque sticks, I'd use one that got me to 3/4 of the torque value (say, 60 ft-lbs), and then apply ultimate (final) torque with a torque wrench. I don't have enough knowledge or trust about their day-to-day accuracy to let them apply final torque for me. Call me paranoid.
OF
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The lug nuts could of course back off if they are undertorqued.
If torqued properly, they don't back off initially. Rather the wheel settles deeper onto the hub after some driving, lowering the lug nut's clamping force. If not retorqued promptly, they could proceed to back off.
This is more an issue where there is corrosion on either the wheel or the hub mounting surface. Here in the rust belt, I always sand both surfaces to bare metal and coat with antiseize prior to installing a wheel.
Many shops still mount wheels carelessly. But it's easier than ever to find a shop that does it right.
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