Lug nuts 2006 Civic

great - now he's going to be using air tools on his lug nuts and coming back here bleating about how his brakes disks are "warping" every 5k miles.

to the o.p. - do NOT use air tools to tighten your lug nuts. fasten with a torque wrench only, in the correct sequence, with a 2 or more stage tightening process.

ourkid2000 wrote in news:1187980944.961548.233390 @i38g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

You can't try a few non-impact sockets to see what fits?

Or are you going to attempt a fast midnight excursion for somebody else's wheels?

That was my initial thought, but then I remembered I use an impact wrench to remove the lug nuts - faster than other methods. Heck, I even use it on a reduced setting to put them on and it still leaves a turn or so before the torque wrench clicks. It's always mandatory to use impact sockets on an impact wrench because of the risk of shattering a regular socket even at reduced settings.

Mike

"You can't try a few non-impact sockets to see what fits? "

LOL.........well thats pure laziness, I just figured i'd check here first.

I was only doing this in order to get my lug nuts off...........I'm not going to hammer em back on, I know the score on warping rotors.

ourkid2000 wrote in news:1187996602.805611.175460 @e9g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

Um, I would have thought trying a few non-impacts on your own would be classed as FUN.

Don't you enjoy just moseying around your vehicle, doing little idle nothings just to make yourself feel good, and coincidentally enjoying the smells of the car, and the sounds of the engine cooling off?

No? Then you're not a "hobby" type owner. Let somebody else do your wheel nuts.

I love doing that stuff but where I recently moved into a very large apartment building, it's hard to do work on your car........my tools are difficult to get down the stairs.

I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade........don't worry about what kind of "owner" I am.

ourkid2000 wrote in news:1188010798.838390.216440 @l22g2000prc.googlegroups.com:

Yeah, I know how that works. Apartment buildings and condos generally prohibit work on your car on their property. I spent ten years in an apartment building.

Sure, but one socket?

Well, OK...

Tegger wrote in news:Xns9996EA9F68C50tegger@

news:1188010798.838390.216440

Hey, I just thought of something: if you can't check the wheel nut size with a non-impact socket because you live in an apartment bulding that prohibits working on your car, HOW WILL YOU USE AN IMPACT SOCKET TO WORK ON THAT SAME CAR? Where would you legally plug the gun in and use it?

The answer is, that you must be a thief...

...or you're making up the whole works.

there you go! aircraft mechanic that can't figure out a nut size???

Or that he is using a 12V impact gun. I consider it a luxury, but there is a market. Or perhaps he does the work in the hangar he uses for his job... most of the A&Ps I've known brought their cars in to work where there is a nice compressor and lots of smooth floor and his tool box (he doesn't bring that home at night, I bet.) If the sockets are where he works and the car is at home it wouldn't be terribly convenient to check the size that way either.

Mike

Many years ago, when I was in high school I worked nights at a dept store. One of my older coworkers was an airplane mechanic and worked at the dept store as a second job. It always bothered me that an airplane mechanic, on whom lives depended, worked a second job. I wanted him wide awake at his main vocation.

Aircraft mechanics get paid garbage wages and work garbage shifts...........Its so bad, i'm going to leave the industry as soon as I get a chance. Being responsible for so many people and getting paid 22 bucks an hour while working nightshifts every night just ain't worth it to me.

And yes, all my sockets are at work.........and its a big deal for me to take tools home because our toolboxes are checked weekly for missing items by the Quality Assurance department. If I have a missing tool, it is assumed it was left on an airplane and its a huge fuss.

I can work on my car a little bit in the parking lot in this building. I just wanted to know the nut size so I could go down and get an impact socket!!!

Talking about tools and airplanes reminds me of an incredible story.

I think it was on public tv years ago.

They has a series on quality control worldwide.

In one story, one of the major contractors for the air force was given notice that they might lose their contract to build a particular plane. They were always slow, poor quality, and over budget. So the company brought in an expert to figure out how to fix the problem.

Now this was incredible. Turns out that whenever they pulled out a blueprint to build part of the plane, the first thing they did was spend 3 or 4 days hunting for all the necessary tools. The quality expert had them buy a cabinet for tools for each component. Problems solved.

"Michael Pardee" wrote in news:dqGdnaPILOFiR1LbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@sedona.net:

Yeah, that's a good point.

ourkid2000 wrote in news:1188055657.288683.124200 @q3g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

OK, now it makes more sense.

Wheel lug nuts are either 19mm or 21mm. All the Honda ones I've encountered are 19mm.

Sorry to hear that. The mechanic I knew was back in 1971 when things should have been better for airline employees. Back before hubs and deregulation and outsourcing to India.