Rant: Over-Torqued Lug Nuts

So, back at the beginning of winter I took my truck to my Toyota dealership to have my winter tires mounted on a new set of rims and installed on the truck. After waiting for over an hour for the work to be done, I finally pay and am on my way out the door. I get to the truck and discover that instead of mounting the winters on the new rims, they removed my summer tires from the current rims, and then mounted the winter tires onto the same rims. Now I'm obviously a little pissed at this point, but I've done my share of work in customer service, so I understand that things happen some times. Nearly an hour later, I'm out the door. I get home and then discover that although they did mount the summer tires for me, they installed them on the WRONG RIMS... which means I now have to put up the TPMS light flashing for 8 months of summer, instead of just four months of winter. At this point I really wasn't up for driving 40 minutes across town again, so I let it slide.

Fast forward to today:

I finally decided to haul my summer tires out of the basement, and the first thing I noticed when I took them out of the bag is that they neglected to mark which corner each tire came from, even though I explicitly asked them to on the work order, so I now have no idea what the proper rotation should be. Annoyed, I jack up the truck and soon discover that they over-torqued the lug nuts so much that even with my entire body weight, the things won't budge. I've changed plenty of tires in my 16 years behind the wheel, but never have I seen one that I couldn't get off. Needless to say that if I had to change a flat on the highway, I'd be absolutely screwed.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day. I'm just pissed right now. The service manager is going to get an ear full tomorrow. I mean, The whole reason I bought a second set of rims is so that I don't have to pay the dealer twice a year to swap them out.

 

Buy a breaker bar? It's the 3rd thing I bought for my truck so I don't have to use a regular socket wrench or that shitty lug bar that comes with the truck. Now I can take those puppies off one handed.

PS - That sucks, sorry to hear that BTW.

 

The electric impact wrench I have is rated at 145 ft lbs. Do you think the guys at the stealership are going to use a TORQUE WRENCH!?

 

What we've got here....is a failure......to communicate.



Hope it all works out for you...

 

I just had a leak fixed and tire rotation at EDT. Dave the Mgr is on TW. He showed me how it's done correctly. You start the lug nuts by hand, then the air gun, but not tight, then a long torque socket that looks kinda like a bowling pin. This socket limits the torque. Then the hand torque wrench with the clicker. Every step is done in a star or cross pattern. If the dealer or independent is taking short cuts it's not good for your baby.

 

i have 3 cracked lugs... i figure from over torquing them at the dealership

 

they probably used an impact to put them on so that is probably why they are so tight.

 

And those over torquing idiots get paid to fuck stuff up!

 

My vehicles don't go to dealership service departments unless they absolutely HAVE to (warranty/recall repairs) due to just such crap as this. Good luck... I hope they straighten it out for you.

 

There must be something about the whole wheel/tire thing that is just hard for the techs to understand. I mean I have had more wheels scratched, directional tires put on backwards, lugs over torqued, etc. than I care to remember. It's about got to the point where when I wear out a set of tires, I will just buy a new wheel/tire package from Discount Tire Direct shipped to the house. I even rotate my own tires at every oil change so those yo-yo's don't beat the powder coat off with the impact socket. Really, it's not that hard if they would just give a damn. Just the other day, the kid at the tire store took one of my brand new wheels out of the box and dropped it on the concrete! (not very hard but still...) If they need a balance I take them to this little alignment shop that does on the vehicle balancing.
Brian

 

Apparently they think so. lol. Must use a 3/4 inch drive impact.

 

Hacks, they are all hacks.

 

I feel your pain.

A couple months ago in the dead of winter I get a phone call from my wife. It's 9:00pm and she has a flat tire. She's pretty self-sufficient and she says she can't get the tire off.

I grab my trusty 4 end cross lug wrench and head out. Lots of good torque with that baby compared to the stupid angled ones that come with vehicles.

I get to her and go to spin the lugs off and they won't budge. Nothing. I'm not a weak little guy so I give it all I have. I twist the steel and snap off the end right by the end.

So, no choice but to use the stupid angle lug wrench. I end up jumping up and down on the damn thing. Either I'm going to round off that lug or it's coming off. It eventually gave way. 1 down, 3 to go. They were all equally as stubborn.
I got the tire changed and we were on our way. Only took an hour in the cold winter night!

A buddy of mine used to work in a tire shop. He said guys would have their impact guns set way too high all the time.

 

I try to do all my own work, but for anything that needs to be taken somewhere, and wheels have to be removed, lugs come back tightened to a million foot pounds. I always check torque after taking my truck somewhere, and usually end up using the breaker bar to loosen the lugs, to re-torque them the right way. I can't stand it!

 

I have always put a little anti-seize on my lugs. I like to think it helps me loosen them when the tireshop monkeys overtighten them.

 

This is why I love Discount Tire company. They always torque them with a torque wrench after lightly tightening with the impact gun. I got a set of tires put on at Tires Plus once and they torque'd them on so tight my impact gun wouldn't loosen them. I had to put my jack handle on the end of my 16" breaker bar to break them loose.

Another reason why I do all of the work on my vehicles. Other than tire balancing, alignments, and AC work I do everything my self. When you have a vested interest in something you tend to take better care of it.

 

it really must be a dealer thing. when i bought my truck in august i had the dealer put on my rims. last week after i changed my oil i decided to rotate my tires. so i grabbed my little pouch with the lug wrench in it and it wont even fit on the lug nuts. okay i was a little irritated then but no biggie i grab a socket and ratchet and it fits but there is no way in hell that im getting them off. i eventually got them off using a 3 ft peice of pipe as a cheater bar (still hard).
i consider myself a pretty handy guy but what really pisses me off is the fact that if i would have gotten a flat i would have been fucked!

 

Happens all the time at every tire shop. they are too lazy or in too big a hurry to torque the lugs. they hit them with a 3/4 impact and cause so many problems.

 

well its fixed now i ended up stripping a couple of them. forty bucks later and all new shiny lug nuts. YAY

 

http://www.ez-sensor.com/

This may be an answer to the two sets of tires crowd. You could get sensors for your second set of wheels and program them to match the numbers of the set already programmed to the vehicle. (as I understand it) That way, not matter which set of tires you have on the truck, the TPMS system will be happy thinking all the children are home and behaving. No flashy blinky lights.