Changing a car tire nowadays! Should it be this hard?

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blades

Minister of Fire
Nov 23, 2008
3,944
WI, Leroy
the fancy covers on lug nut goes way way back, nothing new. then there were units where left hand on one side right on the other. still remember the new guy that put all the nuts in one hub cap so wouldn't lost. that particular unit was one of left and right rigs. none of us told him, nasty we were.
 

Ashful

Minister of Fire
Mar 7, 2012
19,056
Philadelphia
I remember OEM chromed sheetmetal covers on lug nuts on GM cars built in the mid-1980's. Hard to believe that's 40 years ago now, but like blades said... nothing new.
 

bholler

Chimney sweep
Staff member
Jan 14, 2014
32,308
central pa
the fancy covers on lug nut goes way way back, nothing new. then there were units where left hand on one side right on the other. still remember the new guy that put all the nuts in one hub cap so wouldn't lost. that particular unit was one of left and right rigs. none of us told him, nasty we were.
Chrysler did a lot of the different direction threads in the 60s and 70s chevy did some on heavier trucks as well. Maybe others
 

Don2222

Minister of Fire
Feb 1, 2010
9,051
Salem NH
Hello
I wonder why this tool was invented?? LOL

I had to crank the static pressure of our 80 gallon compressor up to 120 psi to get all but one off. However it loosened that nut and Them the icon breaker bar got it off easily. :)
Not sure how this tool works, has anyone tried it?
 
Last edited:

ABMax24

Minister of Fire
Sep 18, 2019
1,950
Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
Hello
I wonder why this tool was invented?? LOL

I had to crank the static pressure of our 80 gallon compressor up to 120 psi to get all but one off. However it loosened that nut and Them the icon breaker bar got it off easily. :)
Not sure how this tool works, has anyone tried it?


I've used them, they have a reaction arm the needs to push against something. They work okay, but there's lots of losses in them due to friction and flex in the reaction arm usually.

I really don't care for them, to me they're a last resort. I'd rather have a bigger breaker bar, bigger impact, or hytorque.

With the advent of li ion power tools they should be the homeowners go to. It's pretty easy to get a 1/2" impact that goes up to 700ftlbs from Dewalt or Milwaukee. Covers anything the average homeowner could need.
 
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Don2222

Minister of Fire
Feb 1, 2010
9,051
Salem NH
I've used them, they have a reaction arm the needs to push against something. They work okay, but there's lots of losses in them due to friction and flex in the reaction arm usually.

I really don't care for them, to me they're a last resort. I'd rather have a bigger breaker bar, bigger impact, or hytorque.

With the advent of li ion power tools they should be the homeowners go to. It's pretty easy to get a 1/2" impact that goes up to 700ftlbs from Dewalt or Milwaukee. Covers anything the average homeowner could need.
Thanks for your comments. I suspected that the wrapping of an impact wrench at a high enough PSI would be the best way ( Going up to a static pressure of 120 PSI from 90 PSI did the trick with the impact gun for me) Now that I have them all set to 90 Ft-lbs with the red torque stick there is no more worries, I can easily get them off with a cross bar wrench but carry an HF Icon Breaker bar with a hefty impact socket just in case! :)
 

peakbagger

Minister of Fire
Jul 11, 2008
8,295
Northern NH
My Unimog has beefy lug nuts. I use a 3' long 3/4" drive breaker bar to break them loose and 3/4" drive torque wrench to retorque them.

Years ago I needed to supervise tightening bolts on 19' diameter rotating pressure vessel called a Yankee Dryer. It was cast iron head with shafts cast into them on each side with a central drum. The heads were bolted to the drum by a lot of bolts. We needed to replace 3 of the bolts. I think they were 2100 lb/ft each We rented a Enerpac Hytorq, a hydraulically driven wrench. Not cheap to rent but it was good up to 6000 lb/ft. The special wrench heads were $1,500 each.
 

RustyShackleford

Minister of Fire
Jan 6, 2009
1,243
NC
They last time I had my wife's tires rotated, I had the place I bought them from do it because they have lifetime free rotate n balance...they use torque sticks, and I usually loosen n retorque using a torque wrench when I get home (1 mile) but I forgot this time...next time I drove it, warped rotors, and they were fine before. Dang it!
But it's not the fact you drove on it, but just the fact they torque'd improperly, that warped the rotors, right ?

I've gotten where I rotate the tires myself. Kind of a pain, but worth it. Also makes it easier to bleed and replace the brake fluid, which is a nice thing to do every year or two.
 
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Ashful

Minister of Fire
Mar 7, 2012
19,056
Philadelphia
I honestly don't see how over-torquing lug nuts can lead to warped rotors, unless perhaps one is way tighter than the rest. Even so, it's one nominally flat surface mating against another nominally flat surface, there doesn't appear to be much chance for that to cause problems. That said, maybe I'm just missing something.

In my experience, rotor warping has usually come from either massive overheating releasing internal stresses through annealing, or a hard stop in which the pads are then kept at the same location on the rotor, leading to uneven cooling. After a hard stop, it's always good to let the car creep, so as to move the pad around the rotor as it cools.
 
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Highbeam

Minister of Fire
Dec 28, 2006
20,531
Mt. Rainier Foothills, WA
I honestly don't see how over-torquing lug nuts can lead to warped rotors, unless perhaps one is way tighter than the rest. Even so, it's one nominally flat surface mating against another nominally flat surface, there doesn't appear to be much chance for that to cause problems. That said, maybe I'm just missing something.

In my experience, rotor warping has usually come from either massive overheating releasing internal stresses through annealing, or a hard stop in which the pads are then kept at the same location on the rotor, leading to uneven cooling. After a hard stop, it's always good to let the car creep, so as to move the pad around the rotor as it cools.
Or really thin rotors being subjected to normal use. If mine warp they get trashed, no sense in turning rotors anymore.
 

brenndatomu

Minister of Fire
Aug 21, 2013
8,115
NE Ohio
But it's not the fact you drove on it, but just the fact they torque'd improperly, that warped the rotors, right ?
If I had only drove home (1 mile) and then retorqued them right away they would have been fine...but some time and miles went by, so the damage was done.
unless perhaps one is way tighter than the rest.
Exactly, they zip the first one on, then the next, etc, etc.
I bring them all against before any get tightened, then tighten in at least 2 steps, if not 3, the last one being with the torque wrench, and in whatever criss-cross pattern is appropriate.
I've never had a rotor warp after I installed the wheels (or retorqued them myself) but its happened several times when I didn't...that's enough proof for me. And most of these tire shops use those torque sticks like they are some kind of idiot proof guarantee, (they absolutely are not, especially if you have improper wheel install techniques to boot!)
I only recall being to one shop (maybe 2, and both privately owned local shops) that torque every wheel by hand, with a calibrated wrench.
 

Ashful

Minister of Fire
Mar 7, 2012
19,056
Philadelphia
I torque mine by hand, but my torque wrenches have not been calibrated in many years, decades even. I'm not convinced that absolute value is nearly as important as relative equal torque between all lugs on a wheel.

When I used to build engines, I'd get the wrenches calibrated before each build, but it's been many years since I was doing that.
 

brenndatomu

Minister of Fire
Aug 21, 2013
8,115
NE Ohio
I torque mine by hand, but my torque wrenches have not been calibrated in many years, decades even. I'm not convinced that absolute value is nearly as important as relative equal torque between all lugs on a wheel.

When I used to build engines, I'd get the wrenches calibrated before each build, but it's been many years since I was doing that.
If its a good wrench, and taken care of (also, stored set to zero) the calibration shouldn't change much.
And I guess I might agree with equal torque, at least as to a point.
Using angular torque is popular for a reason(s).
 

Ashful

Minister of Fire
Mar 7, 2012
19,056
Philadelphia
If its a good wrench, and taken care of (also, stored set to zero) the calibration shouldn't change much.
What's funny is how far off most of them are out of the box. If you went to Sears and bought the top of the line Craftsman torque wrench 20 years ago, or any other name-brand option available to consumers without a NIST cert, it's very likely it's been way off from day 1. I've seen this literally countless times.

The old-skool needle types are nice, in that they don't need calibration, but using them with any accuracy can be challenging under a vehicle. Clickers I think are always going to be prone to drift with use.

I always store mine at min setting, which is not zero, but usually close to 10% of its max setting. But the oldest pair of clickers in my toolbox haven't been calibrated since probably before Y2K. I do have one larger new one, which was purchased with cal cert, but it's too big to use on anything smaller than a lug nut on a tractor or heavy-duty truck.
 

blades

Minister of Fire
Nov 23, 2008
3,944
WI, Leroy
parts and pieces fatigue with age there for they drift with age.