Sienna wheel nut torque

I tend to use 75 lb-ft for alloy wheels and up to 85 lb-ft for steel. The trick is re-check them at 500 miles. I used to use an air wrench, but I switched to the following system. I use a 24" ratchet wrench to loosen to nuts. Then I use a speed bar to spin them off and on. The final torque is by a good digital torque wrench. Use flank drive or 6 sided sockets and you won't tear up the lug nuts.

NO!

impact wrenches are only for REMOVAL. You should _always_ tighten by hand.

I use one of those cross (+) shaped spinners to get the lugs snug, then do final tighten to spec with an inexpensive torque wrench. I don't know how accurate my torque wrench is, but it is almost certainly more accurate than the power wrench.

Previous to picking up a compressor, I used the same + shaped wrench to remove the lugs. Takes a bit of muscle and weight...

Do you have a harbor freight retail location near you? They have good sales on tools like torque wrenches, compressors, impact wrenches, jacks, ... (Regular prices are not so good.) The web site has good sales also, but it is harder to inspect the merchandise and do a return if necessary, and it probably will be.

Because the torque on the nuts can vary wildly on an air impact wrench, and isn't consistent enough for safe application. The Pros can get it fairly close by sound and feel with enough practice, but even they overdo it and snap off wheel studs. That's why the studs are replaceable.

I use an impact both ways (now that I have enough compressor to run it), but when installing the nuts the air is turned way down just to spin the nuts on and get to an initial 'snug'. Then I break out a torque wrench (or a hand lug wrench) for the final turn or two.

If the nuts are put it on by hand and properly torqued now, you should be able to get them off by hand later. But if a gorilla at the tire shop cranks them on with an air wrench at 5 Zillion foot-pounds you may end up with a flat tire on the road, the factory hand lug wrench, and no way to get the (darned) nuts loose. You try jumping on the wrench, you try a pipe cheater on the handle, you watch the wrench handle bend like a pretzel... ;-P

And the exact torque isn't critical, 5 foot-pounds either way from the "ideal" setting isn't going to stop the world. The nuts won't fall off, especially if you go back a week later and check them again like you're supposed to. Tripling it, though...

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Because during removal you just need to get the nuts loose. How loose you get them doesn't matter.

I am so not concered about damaging lug nuts. But if you were, you would realize that removing lug nuts has a max force that will be applied (just enough to loosen the nuts). Tightening the max force is limited to the power available in the wrench which is typically much more than needed or desirable to do the job.

All I'm concerned about is proper torque during tightening, and an impact wrench is not accurate enough to apply proper torque.

In addition to the other poster's concern about snapping lugs, too much torque has been known to warp brake discs and wheels. The only cure is to replace the warped part(s).

If you want the job done right, don't use or allow an impact wrench to tighten lug nuts. A torque wrench is the safe and correct tool.

sdb