Lug nuts please read

I suppose. Add 'close enough' sockets, new 900 torque lb impacts, bad attitudes, & low pay. Sub-par manufacture/metallurgy is also a factor I'm sure. OTOH, many shops I see do use torque wrenches to finish, something rarely seen a few decades ago.

 

Is this the flt lug or the tapered one or both?

 

All with a chrome cap over a normal lug. Pretty much every manufacturer uses these. It's cheaper than nicer zinc plated or chrome plated one piece lugs. Ford is under the class action Lawsuit due to this. Also they have updated some lug torque specs for some of their SUVs like the explorer.

 

When I was in automotive I got paid exactly 0 dollars to rotate tires. Most shops are like this. You think I’m going to remove lug nuts by hand for absolutely no money

 

You do realize those impact guns don't ever hit as hard as they are advertised. Every manufacturer tests them to a certain test they make up to get the max torque for advertising and hype to sell the guns. There isn't a standardized test really that they use to compare apples to apples.

I've seen more damage done to nuts, bolts, allen heads, torx etc with a ratchet than with an impact if you know what you are doing the rotational force from an impact is far better for the fastener than a bar where the force is being exerted X # of inches away from the fastener. Since your leverage point is further from the fastener it is easier to cock the socket off some and round the fastener. That's just from my experience and what I've seen and had to fix from others.

Oh and go tour an automotive manufacturing plant unless you buy a farrari, bugati, RR, Bently or any other bespoke car everything is done with impacts or some other form of assisted tool nothing is done by hand really anymore.

 

Couldn’t agree more. Everybody that complains about impact guns being used on their lug nuts has never rotated their own tires with a 4 way.

 

Those are even worse not only the rotational force is outward but extended directly away even further. I have seen more people who have never turned wrenches for a living try and tell me how to do my job and things need to be done a certain way. I've gone as far as rolling my tool cart over to customers and saying ok smarty you know it all here fix it! They shut up real quick and never complain again when I get their 6 hr job done in 2-3 and have them back on the road and never any issues.

I remember we use to get paid for a lot of things that are now "free" work. Sucks one of the reasons I quit turning wrenches for a living and found something else. Got tired of working harder and longer hours for less and less pay.

These guys are using a lot of hand tools and torque wrenches
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qCvJyAAPog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw9JrjsPhT8

 

"Warped from heat and our roads" my ass. I've owned two 2006 Scion xB's. The first one has 190,000 miles on the original lug nuts. The second one has 118,000 miles on the original lug nuts. Oh, and unless you had optional alloy wheels, 99% of xB's came with plain old open end hex style conical seat lug nuts - no stainless caps - and 16" steel wheels. Based on all of that, I'd say your shop is 100% trying to hose you.

 

The auto industry is on a shithole downward spiral. Until it gets a major reform they are going to keep running out all the good mechanics/techs and just have shitty ones. I got out of automotive to go work on locomotives. So much nicer being paid hourly and not having to deal with the public average auto shop customer idiot.

 

There is a lot of truth to that. I now am in architecture as a draftsman. It's easier and the pay is good for what I do.

 

I hear swollen nuts suck.... but let’s use this forum to talk about our trucks instead

 

How did you break into that gravy job?

 

Semi retired for a few years went and got an associates degree at a local community college then started doing it. I freelance too which is even nicer work from home, only take jobs that I feel are worth it, can charge more than someone would make in an office. Downside is it gets slow at times and I have to provide my own benefits and such. I would love to find a firm that I would like to work for but the market for that is so competitive that it's easier to do what I am doing. I keep my eye out though.

Having a background in doing some machining and fabrication as well as using CAD programs in the past before going back to school helped out a ton since I already had a really good grasp and understanding of what needed to be done and how to do things.

 

This is the main problem- it's not from impact use unless you're using the wrong socket. The nut is carbon steel. It's covered with a stainless steel shell. Moisture gets trapped between the two and hidden rust forms on the nut and expands the shell. If you measure a problem "swollen nut" you'll see that the corners are not the issue- corners would be misuse from a socket; the issue is that there is expansion across the flats of the nut. This is NOT from an impact.

 

Yeah think they are the trd wheels. Not the stock but a aftermarket option

 

Oh it was Costco. All the workers said the samething. In the tire shop.

 

Both cause wear and tear.

 

Wouldn't this be on every car than?

 

No not every car uses a 2 piece lug design and even with models and makes that do depends on the wheel and tire package that you get with what lugs they use.