Lug Nut Torque

[Chestnut 315]

On 8/5/2021 at 11:35 AM, tom2p said:

the car began to knock and vibrate 

Have to add my 2 cents and keep this thread going. My in-laws bought some tires and didn't realize what the noise and vibration was until the tire fell off! 

 

My own story is about buying tires at a box store. Seems they drove the lug nuts with the impact gun. When I had the tires rotated at a trusted garage a couple of studs snapped off when he removed the nuts. Seems the installer drove the lug nuts with the impact driver but cross threaded a couple. Lessons learned. 1. Don't buy tires at the box store. 2. Start the lug nuts by hand, even if the impact driver is faster.

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

On 8/7/2021 at 7:59 PM, Chestnut said:

Have to add my 2 cents and keep this thread going. My in-laws bought some tires and didn't realize what the noise and vibration was until the tire fell off! 

 

My own story is about buying tires at a box store. Seems they drove the lug nuts with the impact gun. When I had the tires rotated at a trusted garage a couple of studs snapped off when he removed the nuts. Seems the installer drove the lug nuts with the impact driver but cross threaded a couple. Lessons learned. 1. Don't buy tires at the box store. 2. Start the lug nuts by hand, even if the impact driver is faster.

 

Was it an Isuzu by any chance?  Rumor has it that their studs and nuts were 'soft' metal.

 

I have a similar story...  

 

Took my Isuzu Trooper to a box store that sold and installed tires.  Prices were great so I bit.

 

Get the truck back home and as is my usual modus operandi, I got out my torque wrench and cross wrench to loosen and tighten to spec.  Quality control inspection, you know?

 

This truck has lug nuts that use a flat washer and a wave washer underneath to hold the hub covers on.  First thing I noticed was that some of them had NO flat washer, some had TWO flat washers, and the same for the wave washers.  BAD SIGN #1.

 

First lug nut...  UH-OH... I could feel that it was stripped.  OK, maybe just one... second one, stripped.  I'm getting pizzed... 3rd one, OK.  4th one, stripped, 5th one stripped.  and so forth and so on through all 24 of the lug nutz.

 

As I recall there were maybe 3 or 4 that were NOT stripped, 

 

So, I tried to get one of the stripped ones off...   SNAP!!!  yeah, it broke.

 

Knowing not to try and go further, I went right back to the store and politely  and calmly explained what I found.  The guy took the truck in and had his 'best guy' try to loosen and torque to spec (because of course he did not believe me).  FIRST one he tried to loosen... SNAP!!!

 

So, I was told to take the truck over to a local repair shop and when repaired they would cover the bill.   For the 24 lug nuts and bolts the replacement bill came to a little over $400.  The OEM studs and nuts with hardware was actually a little over half of that bill!   I paid just a tad over $500 for the four new tires (it was a long time ago!)

 

Brought the bill back to the store and the DID NOT WANT TO PAY IT!  It took me HOURS of telephone calls to find the top manager of the store and finally convinced him to agree to paying the bill.

 

Never again...

 

Edited August 12, 2021 by Jeff-C175

[Chestnut 315]

55 minutes ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

Was it an Isuzu by any chance?  For the 24 lug nuts and bolts the replacement bill came to a little over $400.  The OEM studs and nuts with hardware was actually a little over half of that bill!   I paid just a tad over $500 for the four new tires (it was a long time ago!)

 

Brought the bill back to the store and the DID NOT WANT TO PAY IT!  It took me HOURS of telephone calls to find the top manager of the store and finally convinced him to agree to paying the bill.

 

Never again...

 

No, mine was a Focus. Standard tapered lug nuts, and my recollection is that only two snapped and it was a little too late to go back to the box store after about 3000 miles. My bill wasn't anything near yours, but I did end up buying a new set of aftermarket chrome lug nuts so they'd all match. The tire shop that did my in-laws' Dodge van didn't want to but they bought a new set of aftermarket wheels. It was a compromise that cost them less than the replacement factory alloy.

Edited August 12, 2021 by Chestnut
didn't write my response,hit post by mistake