Is it okay to hand tighten wheels?

logicbombx · 06-24-2008, 04:00 PM

Is it okay to hand tighten wheels? I want to take my wheels off to clean and polish my rims. My girlfriend freaked and she said my wheels would fall off if they were only hand tightened. Umm... any truth to this? Or will be okay?

SilverGT02 · 06-24-2008, 04:05 PM

Ive been taking off my wheels to clean them on all my cars for 4 years. and my wheels have never fallen off yet. I do use a torque wrench though. and I always recheck them the next day just to be sure.

Eight433 · 06-24-2008, 04:14 PM

actually, "hand" tight is the proper way to do it. even if i use an impact to put them on, you should ALWAYS use a breaker bar or better yet torque wrench to check them anyways. many shops are even shying away from impact guns for wheels because it is possible to over torque them and warp wheels/rotors, strip studs, stretch studs which could cause fatigue and eventually failure altogether.

logicbombx · 06-24-2008, 04:40 PM

so, what is the proper way? Crank it until it is tight?

Jazzer The Cat · 06-24-2008, 08:06 PM

Ask Ford what the specs are or look them up on the net. Then get a torque wrenchand have at it

Jazzer

colin@tirerack · 06-25-2008, 10:07 AM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: logicbombx

Is it okay to hand tighten wheels? I want to take my wheels off to clean and polish my rims. My girlfriend freaked and she said my wheels would fall off if they were only hand tightened. Umm... any truth to this? Or will be okay?

I can get you the torque amount if you tell me your year, make and model.

03XLTRanger · 06-25-2008, 06:35 PM

just get them as tight as you can hand tightening them and you will be fine, you can check it the next day, you can torque it down to 100 ft lbs and you will be set if you have a torque wrench

mhconley · 07-01-2008, 11:15 PM

Never tighten lug nuts without a torque wrench. Unequally torqued lug nuts will warp brake rotors quickly. Over tightened lug nuts also warp rotors and can destroy wheel studs. Never ever tighten lug nuts as tight as you can by hand. I used to be known for breaking wheel studs using only an X-type lug wrench. It's easier to do than you think. The proper torque can be found in your owner's manual, obtained from your dealer or from Colin as he's offered.

Never let the trained chimps at any tire shop tighten lug nuts with an impact wrench - only patronize shops that used torque wrenches.

When you do use a torque wrench always tighten them to the recommended torque usinga star pattern then recheck using the same star pattern. After the next time you drive the car recheck them once more.

Martin