Thread: I bought a torque wrench

Running aftermarket rims and nuts as i do, and as most do would change the torque settings anyway.
The rims i run have a different taper to the original rims so new nuts were needed.
Now given the taper has changed the resistance at torque would be different i suspect. More or less of the taper touching depending on the angle.

Trying to make excuses for not torquing my wheels perhaps...... Fact is i have literally never torqued any car wheels i have played with and i have played with quite a few.


Gets me to thinking though. I really dont use my torque wrenches nearly enough clearly!! I use them for critical things like heads, big ends
But i certainly dont use them for 90% of the work i do.
Funny think recently i had an engine go on me. I had replaced the head gaskets a few months before and had a heap taken off the heads to up the comp. Apon disassembly i noticed one banks head bolts were loose!
Could have been caused by the overheat or could have been the fact they stripped out the block threads a little. Interestingly that banks head gasket was ok and the other head gasket was gone... Go figure.
Torqued exactly to specs with new bolts! When i was installing i could feel the bolts stretching. Horrible feeling. Had i not used the torque i would have likely stopped just a little prior.
Would it have changed anything? Dont know. So many variables in my situation. I purchased the bolts online so who knows the quality. Just food for thought.

Try use a torque wrench to tighten bolts like bellhousing bolts or converter bolts. That aint easy!! Just accessing them period is hard let alone with a bulky wrench.

Another situation i would like to offer.

If you take off lets say the radiator mounting brackets would you torque them back up?
What about something mounted to the firewall? Torque that up?
What about the myriad of bolts and nuts that can barely be accessed period without trying to get a damn bulky torque wrench in?
Things like working inside the doors, replacing the door release leaver. Would you torque that up to specs? Are there even specs for such things?

So many of those are just done to what i think is the correct tension. Using basic logic. If it bolts into aluminium then dont tighten it too much, if its into steel then go hard. If its nut and bolt then go guns blazing.

I know i wont get any positive feedback to what i just said. However its the truth.

To be able to torque correctly one needs a perfectly clean environment. Dirt or grime on threads will effect the result. Old corroded nuts/bolts will effect the result. Sealer and loctite will effect result. Even oil can effect the result.

Most importantly and one thing i imagine most neglect is calibration of there tools. When was the last time you had your torque wrench calibrated? Are the cheap ones even accurate?

Another thing most people dont realize or forget is the fact if you set your tension wrench to X and forget to dial it back to 0 then when you go to use it again its lost its calibration. Making any tension setting you do wrong!

Originally Posted by DAMINK

Running aftermarket rims and nuts as i do, and as most do would change the torque settings anyway.
The rims i run have a different taper to the original rims so new nuts were needed.
Now given the taper has changed the resistance at torque would be different i suspect. More or less of the taper touching depending on the angle.

Trying to make excuses for not torquing my wheels perhaps...... Fact is i have literally never torqued any car wheels i have played with and i have played with quite a few.


Gets me to thinking though. I really dont use my torque wrenches nearly enough clearly!! I use them for critical things like heads, big ends
But i certainly dont use them for 90% of the work i do.
Funny think recently i had an engine go on me. I had replaced the head gaskets a few months before and had a heap taken off the heads to up the comp. Apon disassembly i noticed one banks head bolts were loose!
Could have been caused by the overheat or could have been the fact they stripped out the block threads a little. Interestingly that banks head gasket was ok and the other head gasket was gone... Go figure.
Torqued exactly to specs with new bolts! When i was installing i could feel the bolts stretching. Horrible feeling. Had i not used the torque i would have likely stopped just a little prior.
Would it have changed anything? Dont know. So many variables in my situation. I purchased the bolts online so who knows the quality. Just food for thought.

Try use a torque wrench to tighten bolts like bellhousing bolts or converter bolts. That aint easy!! Just accessing them period is hard let alone with a bulky wrench.

Another situation i would like to offer.

If you take off lets say the radiator mounting brackets would you torque them back up?
What about something mounted to the firewall? Torque that up?
What about the myriad of bolts and nuts that can barely be accessed period without trying to get a damn bulky torque wrench in?
Things like working inside the doors, replacing the door release leaver. Would you torque that up to specs? Are there even specs for such things?

So many of those are just done to what i think is the correct tension. Using basic logic. If it bolts into aluminium then dont tighten it too much, if its into steel then go hard. If its nut and bolt then go guns blazing.

I know i wont get any positive feedback to what i just said. However its the truth.

To be able to torque correctly one needs a perfectly clean environment. Dirt or grime on threads will effect the result. Old corroded nuts/bolts will effect the result. Sealer and loctite will effect result. Even oil can effect the result.

Most importantly and one thing i imagine most neglect is calibration of there tools. When was the last time you had your torque wrench calibrated? Are the cheap ones even accurate?

Another thing most people dont realize or forget is the fact if you set your tension wrench to X and forget to dial it back to 0 then when you go to use it again its lost its calibration. Making any tension setting you do wrong!

Jeez someone's having a bad morning hahaha here ya go

Originally Posted by LRJim

Look they probably don't really need torqueing, I know every time I've done a wheel nut up without the wrench I know it ain't coming off. I've checked it once or twice just to see how tight they are "meant" to be.
But if your a 7ft tall and 3ft wide giant I would use a torque wrench to make sure I'm not gonna over tighten it and rip the stud out hahah

I'm not "a 7ft tall and 3ft wide giant" but the nuts were torqued to at least 250nM. When the heads of the nuts start breaking off I'm going to start torquing them to 140nM. Over-tightening might not be the cause, but I'm not going to take the chance and have a wheel come adrift.

Originally Posted by SeanC

I'm not "a 7ft tall and 3ft wide giant" but the nuts were torqued to at least 250nM. When the heads of the nuts start breaking off I'm going to start torquing them to 140nM. Over-tightening might not be the cause, but I'm not going to take the chance and have a wheel come adrift.

As above said someone probably rattled the crap out of em before you, if you know they need to be that tight go for it. At the end of the day it's your car. 140nm on the wheel nuts for me is really tight, tighter than what I was doing them up at. Now I would struggle to get them off with the poxy wheel brace. Do em up I'm not saying don't mate

Cheers

Originally Posted by LRJim

Jeez someone's having a bad morning hahaha here ya go

Sorry it comes across that way mate. I certainly dont intend that however i am often accused of being angry. I guess its the choice of words or way i punctuate im not sure.
Actually now i think of it my wife and kids call me the grumpy old bastard so maby there is some truth to it haha.

The topic i find interesting and thats why i gave a rather detailed explanation of what i think about the topic. For better or worse infact as some of my statements will be frowned apon i guess.
I half expected replies like "well i wont ever drive anything you have touched" or something to that effect.

Originally Posted by DAMINK

Sorry it comes across that way mate. I certainly dont intend that however i am often accused of being angry. I guess its the choice of words or way i punctuate im not sure.
Actually now i think of it my wife and kids call me the grumpy old bastard so maby there is some truth to it haha.

The topic i find interesting and thats why i gave a rather detailed explanation of what i think about the topic. For better or worse infact as some of my statements will be frowned apon i guess.
I half expected replies like "well i wont ever drive anything you have touched" or something to that effect.

Haha nah your alright just playing with ya, it is an interesting topic (insert can of worms here) you are right though i only use it when its really needed majority of the time just keep the wrench in its case. There's a torque for almost everything whether you use it or not lol there's probably a torque for the spare wheel carrier nuts hahaha

In my job I use torque wrenches all the time too.... including wheel lugs.

*Use of a torque wrench on the wheel lugs also ensures alloy wheels/rotors are not distorted.

*Site monkeys both on construction and mines break wheel studs all the time, everyday doing pre-start checks tightening wheel lugs a bit more each day.

Originally Posted by DazzaTD5

*Use of a torque wrench on the wheel lugs also ensures alloy wheels/rotors are not distorted.

Do you change torque settings if there steel rims? Or if the rims have different taper? I would assume that would require different settings, outside factory settings?