Tire shop over torqued lug nuts (1969 Dart). Should I redo it?

[nutz]

Torque. Shmorque. Only thing I ever Torqued is crankshaft ,rods and heads.
The rest is just tight enough !

Yeah i do it the polish way
Tighten till spins free than back off quarter turn
I would worry more of the wheels getting damaged then the studs
And a little lube on the studs and cones goes a long way

 

[Devinism]

Yeah i do it the polish way
Tighten till spins free than back off quarter turn
I would worry more of the wheels getting damaged then the studs
And a little lube on the studs and cones goes a long way

My Dad (the airline mechanic) taught me the same thing!
"Tighten it until it breaks and them back it off a 1/4 turn"

That didn't seem to work on lug nuts, head bolts, main caps etc. My breaker bars just weren't long enough, and I never had enough $$ to buy a "real good" impact gun.

It DID work on valve cover bolts, water pump bolts etc.....

 

[RustyRatRod]

A bunch of monkeys at a tire shop said my lug nuts are stripped; should I double check my lug nuts? Yeah might be a good idea is my guess.

Yeah I take wheels off car and take wheels to tire shops. The less they have the less they can mess up. Plus it makes it easy for them not to have to move a car in and out.

I'll defend the monkeys a very tiny bit. It's not all 100% their fault. These businesses literally hire anyone who will show up. They WANT inexperienced people so they can pay bargain basement wages.

 

[nutz]

Yup that where I started....
Learned nut to double gasket oil filters
Cause the engine might blow up
And tighten lug nuts so wheels don't fall off

 

[92b]

Isn't that just ridiculous? They claim to know so much and be "experts" but cannot even use three pedals.

To put things in perspective. Saying today in 2025 someone is not an competent to work on cars because they can't use 3 pedals is like saying in 1975 your not competent to work on cars because you don’t know how to ride a horse. Really, what this says is we are a lot older than we think we are. lol

 

[Icetech]

To put things in perspective. Saying today in 2025 someone is not an competent to work on cars because they can't use 3 pedals is like saying in 1975 your not competent to work on cars because you don’t know how to ride a horse. Really, what this says is we are a lot older than we think we are. lol

This guy doesn't even know how to warm up a stanley steamer... he can't work on my 318!

 

[mbaird]

I bought 3” bull nose studs for my Dart and sorted out a set of lugs nuts from my lug nut bin that appeared to fit . I couldn’t get them off even with my impact ! Local tire guy/ drag racer informed me that there are metric lug nuts with almost the same pitch . Turns out that I chose some Acura nuts I had in my lug nut bin .

 

[33IMP]

This is why no one touches my car except me. It's really disappointing the non caring attitude that comes with most service in this country. No one cares anymore, they don't care and won't own up to mistakes.

I would absolutely take them all off and torque them properly. Imagine being on the side of the road trying to take a wheel off that's been torque by an ape.

This is the correct answer.
What I can do at home with a two foot star wrench, or breaker bar, is NOT the same as a 1 1/2 foot bent wrench like mopar and others supplied.
Re-do em properly. 15 minutes for peace of mind.

 

[RustyRatRod]

To put things in perspective. Saying today in 2025 someone is not an competent to work on cars because they can't use 3 pedals is like saying in 1975 your not competent to work on cars because you don’t know how to ride a horse. Really, what this says is we are a lot older than we think we are. lol

Probably so.

 

[33IMP]

Last time I bought new tires at Walmart I took them the wheels, off the car. They didn't want to mess with the car because they said no one was on staff who knew how to operate a clutch.

They are useless but did me a favor because I put the wheels back on the car myself.

How is that even possible? The local wm has 40 and 50 yo guys working. They should certainly know how to drive s stick.
There are three women in my life, my gf, and her sisters, best friends of mine too. All three know how to drive a stick, one of them learned on a 426 wedge powered b-body. The 18 yo kid in the family can drive a stick too, but only cause I gave him a car with one.

 

[RustyRatRod]

This is the correct answer.
What I can do at home with a two foot star wrench, or breaker bar, is NOT the same as a 1 1/2 foot bent wrench like mopar and others supplied.
Re-do em properly. 15 minutes for peace of mind.

Yes it is the correct answer, yet when you make the suggestion they go get a factory service manual for their car and learn to work on it themselves, a lot of them act like they need to go hide under the kitchen table for a safe space. People who buy old cars and expect not to do any work on them are fools.

 

[33IMP]

Yes it is the correct answer, yet when you make the suggestion they go get a factory service manual for their car and learn to work on it themselves, a lot of them act like they need to go hide under the kitchen table for a safe space. People who buy old cars and expect not to do any work on them are fools.

I'll probably let a tire shop work on my Camaro when tire time comes. They definitely work on my pickup or box truck, tires are too heavy for me to bother with (roughly 100 lbs each, on the box) Torque on the box truck studs is something like 125 lbs.
But tires on my rr, or savoy, or Tina, or Opel? Tires are going to a specialty shop, loose in the back of the pickup, and getting put back on the car by me!

 

[RustyRatRod]

I'll probably let a tire shop work on my Camaro when tire time comes. They definitely work on my pickup or box truck, tires are too heavy for me to bother with (roughly 100 lbs each, on the box) Torque on the box truck studs is something like 125 lbs.
But tires on my rr, or savoy, or Tina, or Opel? Tires are going to a specialty shop, loose in the back of the pickup, and getting put back on the car by me!

Well, that IS a bit different. Not everyone has a tire machine in their back yard or knows how to change tires manually. That's how I do all mine. With a tire hammer and two tire irons. I've done it that way since I was a kid, so it's second nature. I'm a lot slower than I once was, but I still get it done. lol

 

[CFD244]

Well, that IS a bit different. Not everyone has a tire machine in their back yard or knows how to change tires manually. That's how I do all mine. With a tire hammer and two tire irons. I've done it that way since I was a kid, so it's second nature. I'm a lot slower than I once was, but I still get it done. lol

You change passenger car and pick up tires with hand tools? Wow...I am impressed

 

[RLF Cuda]

From what I have seen on Youtube, even Harbor Freight torque wrenches are OK within maybe 2 ft lbs.

That being said, torque setting are there for a reason as clamping force is directly relate to torque on the stud and overtightening can stretch lugs leading to loosening or snapping over time.
I hate most repair places as they can over-torque even simply drain plugs. Had to use a 2 foot breaker bar to get a drain plug of my new Hemi Ram. Stupid dealers. But they hire HS kids that only know how to punch phone buttons, so what do you expect.
I told my daughter that I would only approve of boyfriends that knew how to change sparkplugs. Simple enough, but I failed at even that simple requirement. She married a Tesla owner. Ugh!

 

[Dana67Dart]

I would worry more of the wheels getting damaged then the studs

The studs hold the wheels to the hub. If you properly torque them little chance of damaging the wheel

And a little lube on the studs and cones goes a long way

That right there changes the torque spec so 55 becomes tightens the bolt to a dry equivalent of like 65 or 75

 

[Kemper]

My car still had left hand studs on the driver's rear. I replaced them with right hand to keep everthing uniform. I don't know how much torque it took to draw the new studs in bit this was a lot better than doing so without an air wrench.

My new studs were just a hair longer than the originals and I had to pull axle out just a little to get the bearing retainer plate to angle a little to allow the new ones in. They'll work fine but if doing again I would make sure the new studs are exactly the same length.

I used the air wrench just to run the lug nuts on when installing the wheel and final tightened them by hand. i will recheck by hand once car is driven.

If I worked at a shop or on someone elses car I would be sure to use the proper equipment to get the required torque.

 

[Bennoel 10]

How is that even possible? The local wm has 40 and 50 yo guys working. They should certainly know how to drive s stick.
There are three women in my life, my gf, and her sisters, best friends of mine too. All three know how to drive a stick, one of them learned on a 426 wedge powered b-body. The 18 yo kid in the family can drive a stick too, but only cause I gave him a car with one.

Is the one sister who learned to drive stick on a 426 wedge powered B body single and available ?? If so please send picture of said B body.
Thanks in advance

 

[nutz]

The studs hold the wheels to the hub. If you properly torque them little chance of damaging the wheel



That right there changes the torque spec so 55 becomes tightens the bolt to a dry equivalent of like 65 or 75

If they tighten tomuch wears out the bolt holes

 

[92b]

Well, that IS a bit different. Not everyone has a tire machine in their back yard or knows how to change tires manually. That's how I do all mine. With a tire hammer and two tire irons. I've done it that way since I was a kid, so it's second nature. I'm a lot slower than I once was, but I still get it done. lol

I probably mount and dismount 50-60 tires over the summer with two spoons and a handheld manual bead breaker. I have a tire machine but prefer to do it manually.

 

[nutz]

I have a pos mounter
But not doing run flats
Or low profile 19s

 

[kenelder]

Has anyone ever had a lug nut come loose while driving? It really doesn't take even 55 lbs. For years I've used a 4 way and tighten them just like an oil filter- 1/4 turn after tight. I have not checked the actual torque on mine but I think it's probably closer to 30 lbs. After this thread I'm going to have to go check mine with a torque wrench. Never had one come loose though. There is really very little that would make them loosen.....

 

[92b]

Is the one sister who learned to drive stick on a 426 wedge powered B body single and available ?? If so please send picture of said B body.
Thanks in advance

If she was 16 when she learned to drive it and the car was anywhere close to new she is probably in her sixties. Most young people today would have to go way out of their way to learn how to drive a stick car.

 

[nutz]

Funny cause I would have an audi stick for sale ...everyone looking at it would want an auto ...have an auto everyone looking wanted a stick

 

[Dana67Dart]

If they tighten tomuch wears out the bolt holes

Exactly why you should use a torque wrench