17 replies to this topic

[rem14]

Hi All,
I took my 2003 Outback Wagon to Sears today to have new tires mounted( BF Goodrich Traction TA's). I told them that they should only use 72 foot pounds of torque on the lug nuts, I told them this twice. Got the car home and guess what, waay tight. Anyway, I loosened them up and torqued them to the correct torque. My question is this,would them overtightening the lug nuts have damaged anything?
Thanks!

[Dr. RX]

Hi All,
I took my 2003 Outback Wagon to Sears today to have new tires mounted( BF Goodrich Traction TA's). I told them that they should only use 72 foot pounds of torque on the lug nuts, I told them this twice. Got the car home and guess what, waay tight. Anyway, I loosened them up and torqued them to the correct torque. My question is this,would them overtightening the lug nuts have damaged anything?
Thanks!

Not for that short of period.

[Strakes]

Probably depends on how much they over-torqued and how long you drove on them like that. I ended up with a warped rotor because some yahoo torqued the nuts up almost 200 pound feet on two lug nuts and about 100 on the other three...but I didn't find out about this until about a week of driving.

[forester2002s]

Same thing happened to me recently, when I bought new tires at Canadian Tire.

When I got home, the first thing that I did was to check the wheel-nut torques. They were all beyond the range of my 100 ft-Lb torque-wrench.

I wasn't surprised. It always happens.

This is one of the reasons why I hate to have 'professionals' touch my car.

[ShawnW]

They probably used the wrong color wobble socket or have lost feeling in their arms. Most tire company computers come up at 90 Foot pounds for a Subaru but its wrong. Dont bring all professionals into this, these are techs that are underpaid, overworked and arent trained properly. Then they are given improper numbers to work from.

When I deal with sears and most other large tire shops I take the rims to their center and leave the car at home on jackstands.

[Setright]

The damage would be to the rims, the studs, and like suggested the brake discs. If you got the brakes hot on the way home, the discs might be slightly warped, but it will take a lot of mileage for this to grow into something that can be felt in the brake pedal. Which is a pain, because you can't prove anything right now.

With respect to the rims and studs, it depends on how much overtightening. If the threads on the studs are still ok, I wouldn't worry about them. You might want to remove the rims again and have a look around the mounting holes. Any visible cracks?

[rweddy]

Hi All,
I took my 2003 Outback Wagon to Sears today to have new tires mounted( BF Goodrich Traction TA's). I told them that they should only use 72 foot pounds of torque on the lug nuts, I told them this twice. Got the car home and guess what, waay tight. Anyway, I loosened them up and torqued them to the correct torque. My question is this,would them overtightening the lug nuts have damaged anything?
Thanks!

This is why I would never let sears touch any of my cars.
When I was young on my parents car they actually broke 2 of the 4 lugs on one of our cars by over tightening them.
They use the air guns to take them off and put them back on, I will only allow Discount tire to do my tires. They use hand torque wrenches to put the tires back on.

[mattocs]

Sears has been good to me. I avoid Walmart like the plauge.

[coloradosubarules]

Speaking of Wal-mart...when I was younger I ahd a nissan with custom rims on it. I had just bought some new low-profile tires from a custom shop not far from my home and I figured I would have wally world put them on for me because I worked there and they could do it while I was art work, and save some greenbacks. I got my truck back at the end of my shift and drove home like always. This time wasn't like the others, two of my rims were shaking like crazy. I got out to investigate and there were only 2 of 6 lug nuts holding each rim on. Turns out they over torqued the sheeot of the lugs and stripped every single stud. They had to pay to tow the truck there and replace 24 lug nuts. I avoid wal-mart but get my tires from Sams. I stand by the bay to make sure they do not try anything funny.

[rweddy]

Speaking of Wal-mart...when I was younger I ahd a nissan with custom rims on it. I had just bought some new low-profile tires from a custom shop not far from my home and I figured I would have wally world put them on for me because I worked there and they could do it while I was art work, and save some greenbacks. I got my truck back at the end of my shift and drove home like always. This time wasn't like the others, two of my rims were shaking like crazy. I got out to investigate and there were only 2 of 6 lug nuts holding each rim on. Turns out they over torqued the sheeot of the lugs and stripped every single stud. They had to pay to tow the truck there and replace 24 lug nuts. I avoid wal-mart but get my tires from Sams. I stand by the bay to make sure they do not try anything funny.

Sears, Walmart, Sams, Costco, Pepboys, etc.
Watch them install tires, you will see they all use impact wrench for both on and off.
I would not let any of them touch my cars.

[rem14]

Thanks for all the reply's everyone! I only drove 12 miles to home so I guess I'm probably OK. Who does a good job of installing tires? I also noticed one of the wheels had a 2 ounce weight on it. I wasn't real happy but drove it 200 miles today with no shakes so guess it is OK. THANKS!

[blitz]

Seems like almost all shops will overtighten lug nuts. I always bring a wrench along, loosen, then hand re-tighten immediately. I'll do it right in their lot before I drive away.

[SevenSisters]

BFG Traction TA's and 2 ounces of weight! Not a well made tire.

On the other hand, the tire may be OK but most tire dealers don't know how to mount the heavy spot of a tire to the light spot of the rim or at least take the time to do it.

You might ask the dealer to rotate the tire 180 and see if it helps.

[brus brother]

Not a post hijack!

Hey Blitz,
Please email me or PM. I have a question regarding an earlier post by you about pinging and can't contact you through the board for clarification.
Thanks.

[Sweet82]

So are the Lugs suppose to be torqued to 72?
I have always done mine to 85?

Does anyone have the specs for the years and models? (01 Forester too)

Thanks,
Glenn

[forester2002s]

The Factory Service Manual for my 2002 Forester says:

Wheel nut torque = 88 N.m (65 ft-lb)

[Ranger83]

I always take a lug wrench to mine and "adjust" them to make sure I can get them off!

[Meeky Moose]

This is one of the reasons why I hate to have 'professionals' touch my car.

just come down to my shop, my tire guy toques them by hand with a torque wrench.. only shop in town that does