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Proper wheel torque

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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 03:54 PM
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Default Proper wheel torque

I recall on past posts that the proper wheel torque is 100 ft/lbs. Can anyone confirm?
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 04:01 PM
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That's what I was told.
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 04:21 PM
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Yes.

You might want to peruse your Owner's Manual. It's amazing how much useful information is in it. Including things like wheel lug torque spec.
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 04:24 PM
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yes
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 07:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Red08
I recall on past posts that the proper wheel torque is 100 ft/lbs. Can anyone confirm?
Correct, except it's ft-lbs, not ft/lbs.
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 08:16 PM
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100 is correct.

We're go, flight
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 08:32 PM
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100, in steps (like all to 50, then all to 80, then all to 100), and in a star pattern (just skip every other nut as you work your way around the studs).
No oil, antiseize, or anything else that might act as a thread lubricant. We had one guy who twisted off two of his studs on just one wheel before reaching 100, because he sprayed them with WD40.

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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 08:40 PM
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In 38 years of driving and having taken wheels off hundreds of times on at least 30 different cars I've never used a torque wrench to put the lug nuts back on. Just sayin.
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 08:52 PM
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Originally Posted by EVRose
In 38 years of driving and having taken wheels off hundreds of times on at least 30 different cars I've never used a torque wrench to put the lug nuts back on. Just sayin.
I haven't either. I just snug them up pretty tight. Corvette wheels are just like any other car in that respect.

But my tire store does, every time they remove a wheel for balancing or whatever. They use the air gun to put them on, then do the final torque with a good quality torque wrench. If I wasn't standing there watching they probably wouldn't do it.
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 09:18 PM
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Originally Posted by EVRose
In 38 years of driving and having taken wheels off hundreds of times on at least 30 different cars I've never used a torque wrench to put the lug nuts back on. Just sayin.
My mother smoked a pack a day for all her adult life, and never had any health problems from it.
But I choose not to smoke...
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 09:20 PM
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Originally Posted by RocketDawg
Correct, except it's ft-lbs, not ft/lbs.
If you want to get real technical it's lbs-ft, not ft-lbs.
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 09:24 PM
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Originally Posted by RocketDawg
Correct, except it's ft-lbs, not ft/lbs.
thought it was lbs-ft
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Old Mar 16, 2014 | 05:45 AM
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Originally Posted by Gearhead Jim

My mother smoked a pack a day for all her adult life, and never had any health problems from it.
But I choose not to smoke...
Lol....

FWIW I never torqued my wheels either. Just snugged them down well. Until I was driving my ZR2 S10 and felt a wobble. Found the lugs less than hand-tight.

ALWAYS torque wheels.
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Old Mar 16, 2014 | 07:32 AM
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Originally Posted by RocketDawg
Correct, except it's ft-lbs, not ft/lbs.
If we're going to get technical it is properly pound-force feet (lbf-ft)

And just so that we don't show our cultural bias, the wheel lug torque should also be:
1.356e+09 dyne centimeters
135.6 newton meters
13.825 kilogram-force meters
1.3825 tonne-force centimeters
19200 ounce-force inches
1200 pound-force inches
1600 ounce-force feet
or
33.33 pound-force yards

Who would have thought a simple question could get this far off in the weeds?
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Old Mar 16, 2014 | 08:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Steve_R
If you want to get real technical it's lbs-ft, not ft-lbs.
It was ft-lbs when I was engineering school, but you tend to see it as lb-ft (pronounced as pound-feet, I believe) nowadays. I prefer the former but either is correct.
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Old Mar 16, 2014 | 08:43 AM
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Default from the manual...

100 ft lb
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Old Mar 16, 2014 | 01:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Steve_R
If you want to get real technical it's lbs-ft, not ft-lbs.
A pound-foot (lb·ft or lbf·ft) is a unit of torque (a pseudovector). One pound-foot is the torque created by one pound force acting at a perpendicular distance of one foot from a pivot point.

One pound-foot is exactly 1.3558179483314004 newton meters.
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Old Mar 16, 2014 | 04:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Steve_R
Yes.

You might want to peruse your Owner's Manual. It's amazing how much useful information is in it. Including things like wheel lug torque spec.
That's what the owners manual calls for.
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Old Mar 16, 2014 | 04:19 PM
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Originally Posted by EVRose
In 38 years of driving and having taken wheels off hundreds of times on at least 30 different cars I've never used a torque wrench to put the lug nuts back on. Just sayin.
Some shops worry that techs will over-tighten alloy wheels and distort the seat.

Others prefer the consistency to keep wobble out of the wheel. They don't want customers returning.
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Old Mar 16, 2014 | 06:08 PM
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I just get the feel for what 100 is like and then pull that hard. No need for precision torque on lug nuts. I'm careful and go around once more after I "think" they are tight.

It's 80 on my wife's car and 60 on my Honda.

Good shops require their mechanics to torque them to be sure of NO PROBLEMS
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