Proper lug nut torque ?

[lambition]

Does anyone know what is proper lug nut torque for 04 Solara with alloy wheel?

I been doing some research about break system because my father's truck was had vibration in break padal and I came across many posting saying tightening lug nuts with torque wrench is bad as over tightening can warp rotors and it is most common cause of warped rotors.

I knew overtightening lug nuts were bad (as I had bad experience with overtightened wheel lock. My lock actually broke and had hard time removing them ) but I didn't knew it could warp rotors.

When I had my tires changed few weeks ago, my wheels were tightened with impact wrench. I think I will lose them and retighten by hand tmr morning.


Also can anyone tell me how this could happen?


Close Up



This is rotor removed from my father's truck (2002 Ford F-350 4x4 V10 6.8L). This only happed on inner side (engine side) of both front rotors.
Inner break pads of both front wheels were worn way more than outer ones as well.
I don't understand how something like that could happen to a solid metal.

Hopfully that never happen to my Solara.

[CASTRO]

i torque mines to at least 80lbs

[ThatVietGuy]

A torque wrench is what you SHOULD be using for your lugs. If anything, are you tightening the lugs in the correct order?

And I also tighten my lugs to 80 ft-lbs

[lambition]

I just learned something cool.

Have you seen one of these in your local autoshop?



These are called torque stick or torque socket and are used to tighten lug nuts to certain torque with impact wrench.

I thought those were just some sort of regular sockets, but they these have specified torque which can be determined by the color. They were just like torque wrenches except that you cannot change torque setting.

My lug nuts were tightened using those so I guess I'll be ok.


If your local shop don't use one of those with impact wrench, have them use torque wrench.

PS. Although I didn't find any solid answer, I think 80 ft-lb sounds resonable. Thanks for replies.

[2AZ-FE]

For the record,

The Owners' Manual for the '06 says 77 ft-lb for the wheel nuts.
Chilton's says 76 ft-lb.

I don't think my torque wrench goes down to 1 lb-ft incriments. . .

I've had rotors warp on different cars over the years because they used an impact wrench like that to overtighten the nuts. Not cool. Those torque sticks sound like a good idea. Next to hand-tighening.

P.S. And for "Aluminum wheels" Toyota's manual says to re-check lug nut torque after driving for 1000 miles.

[HomeboyMI]

Iambition,
I used to work in a foundry. Those spots on the rotor are caused from gas not escaping from the mold. The gas was trapped inside the cast iron because it wasn't vented properly. This is an obvious casting defect and Ford should give you new rotors. This part should never have left the foundry. It is SCRAP!

[PXLpainter]

Yeah - defective rotors - NOT over-torqued wheels, LOL!!

Someone's giving you the business if they told you otherwise!!

80lbs is always safe for most alloys.

[lambition]

Iambition,
I used to work in a foundry. Those spots on the rotor are caused from gas not escaping from the mold. The gas was trapped inside the cast iron because it wasn't vented properly. This is an obvious casting defect and Ford should give you new rotors. This part should never have left the foundry. It is SCRAP!

Yeah. That was one of my friend sugested.
I found that on the rear rotors too.

So, Ford installed 4 defective rotors. Just great!
I'm sure there are more cars with defective rotors build around time time.
Rear rotors are different from front rotors, so it couldn't have come out of same line. It appears Ford has a serious quality control issues.
They really should recall these cars with these rotors.
(My father's truck is already on recall for some cruise controller catching fire issue)

I'd have taken it to Ford if I found this earler.

I dought that Ford is willing to fix this problem even if I take it to them. They might just say rotor might have benn replaced beofore or some crap like that.

[RDKamikaze]

I torqued mine at 85. Sounds like I should re-torque them though, last thing I want is more damage.

[ThatVietGuy]

85 doesn't matter, you could go as high as 90 if you wanted to.

[FLUXEMAG]

Here's a fun thought...even though you may set the torque correctly, make sure that the wheel isn't on crooked. You can do this by tightening lugs across from the last lug, not next to the last lug. Someone please call and tell Costco tire center this. I couldn't freaking figure out the thunking that came from my steering after I got new tires. Now I know, but it chewed up the new tire and the brakes on that wheel. They even had a supervisor verify the torque! Can we say free tires and brakes?

[RDKamikaze]

Here's a fun thought...even though you may set the torque correctly, make sure that the wheel isn't on crooked. You can do this by tightening lugs across from the last lug, not next to the last lug. Someone please call and tell Costco tire center this. I couldn't freaking figure out the thunking that came from my steering after I got new tires. Now I know, but it chewed up the new tire and the brakes on that wheel. They even had a supervisor verify the torque! Can we say free tires and brakes?

Free tires and brakes, and a new wheel for the heck of it ! My family has dealt with Costco many times and they've always done a superb job, maybe it's because we live in AZ . That's a good point, don't forget that or you may be screwed, too, people.

[FLUXEMAG]

Here's a fun thought...even though you may set the torque correctly, make sure that the wheel isn't on crooked. You can do this by tightening lugs across from the last lug, not next to the last lug. Someone please call and tell Costco tire center this. I couldn't freaking figure out the thunking that came from my steering after I got new tires. Now I know, but it chewed up the new tire and the brakes on that wheel. They even had a supervisor verify the torque! Can we say free tires and brakes?

Free tires and brakes, and a new wheel for the heck of it ! My family has dealt with Costco many times and they've always done a superb job, maybe it's because we live in AZ . That's a good point, don't forget that or you may be screwed, too, people.

I swear they've never seen a wheen diameter larger than 15" at this place. All four wheels are marked up good from their mounting machine. My family goes there too with no issues. They were pretty receptive yesterday when I explained what happened, but I have to file a formal complaint at the warehouse.