Over Torque on wheel nuts -- Toyota dealership

Hi,

I have a Lexus ES300 and took it into a Toyota dealer for a 30,000 mile service. Everything went O.K. there ... well except for the wheel / tire rotation.

After about a month the weather forecast looked worse so I decided to put the winter tires onto the car. Tire's 1, 2, and 3 where O.K. But the Front right one would not budge. I was lusing an 18 inch lug bar and a 1/2 inch to 3/8 inch converter to step the size down for my 21 mm socket. I was pushing and pusching untill snap, the converter right where it drops down to 3/8 inches sears right off!

O.K. I think maybe something bad with that tool. Take another down conversion 1/2inch to 3/8 inch, and after a few expletives and smashed knucles, it again sheared off. Those idiots at the Toyota dealership, TOYOTA Mt. Kisco had completely over torqued the bolts.

In the end I managed to get a 21 mm socket with a 1/2 inch drive. Put it on the wheel and then standing on the breaker bar, pushed it slowly with my foot until the nut lossened.

If I had to do this at the side of the road it would have been impossible. Does anyone else have similar experiences with over torqued wheel nuts?

Needless to say when I put the wheels on I use a torque wrench set to

76 lbs/ft. The proper torque from the Lexus ES300 user manual.

Best, Mike.

Reply to
sacstinkytiger
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I've had that problem and amazing disregard for recommended tire pressure. Recently my wife got back from a quick-change place, and they had put 45 to 63 pounds in tires that were supposed to have 32.

On removing the lug nuts, it helps if you retighten the nuts that are not stuck. This relieves some of the tension on the one that's stuck.

Reply to
rbrailas

Happens just about every time I have new tires put on. Lug nut torque and air pressure are all over the place. First thing I do is check tire pressure and torque. Both are then corrected to spec.

Reply to
NickySantoro

Buy your tires at Sam's Club.

They use a torque wrench on the wheel nuts and they do a good job of matching the tire pressure.

Plus....included in the price is lifetime rotation and balance....

Reply to
Scott in Florida

Actually I did twice at Sam's club and yes I agree they do a great job. However I got the tires rotated when I had the car service done at the dealer ... *sigh*

Reply to
sacstinkytiger

I had an old junker wagon on which I'd had new tires put on, or the tires rotated or something, a few months earlier. I needed to take one wheel off. I had one of those universal lug wrenches that's shaped like a plus sign with a different-sized socket at each end. Actually, I had three of them, because I had found one somewhere, one came with the car I had and another came from my previous car, because I figured the junk dealer probably had enough lug wrenches.

I broke all three trying to get *any* of the lug nuts loose. On one, the socket broke, on another, it broke in the center where the bars crossed, and I think the last one broke the socket again.

Now, first off they must have been made of sh*t metal because I'm not some hercules and I was twisting the wrenches with my arms as evenly as I could, not jumping or standing on one of the bars. But still, it took nearly all my strength to bust the wrenches, and none of those lugs budged. I don't remember how I finally got the lug nuts off.

Reply to
That Guy

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com mumbled incoherently to the rest of alt.autos.toyota:

I've had experiences like this with nuts I've hand-tightened with a normal foot long ratchet and bodyweight. Taken to a tiny smear of anti-seize copper slip and regular checks - never had a complaint since.

Reply to
Coyoteboy

Reply to
cranheim

rotated or something, a few months earlier. I needed to

like a plus sign with a different-sized socket at each

came with the car I had and another came from my

socket broke, on another, it broke in the center where

hercules and I was twisting the wrenches with my arms

it took nearly all my strength to bust the wrenches,

Ya when my Supra was new some jerk (not a dealer) with a impact had my lug nuts on so tight I ruined a few tools and snapped two of wheel studs later on. grrrrrr.

Reply to
Danny G.

Good tire shops use a torque wrench anyways. I used to own a mustang and if you over tightened the wheel nuts it would warp the discs. My local tire shop has always used torque wrenches. There are even torque limiters they can put on their impact wrenches. Any shop that doesn't use torque wrenches for this should be avoided like the plague.

Reply to
RT

Regrettably, that is going to include virtually all tire shops except the one you referenced. Long ago I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to "fine tune" torque and tire pressure myself at home.

Reply to
NickySantoro

I've had my tires mounted and rotated at Wal-Mart for years and they always use a torque wrench. Set to the correct torque, no less!

Reply to
That Guy

Ditto Sam's Club....

Reply to
Scott in Florida

Why do the more expensive places do things so half-assed and the cheap places like Sam's and Wal-Mart use specs from the book?

Reply to
That Guy

I have no idea.

It was a pleasant surprise the first time I bought tires at Sam's.

I've used them ever since.

Reply to
Scott in Florida

cranheim mumbled incoherently to the rest of alt.autos.toyota:

Yup, im aware it is warned against, and the reasoning behind it, but I spend some time around beach locations and got tired of having seized nuts that I had to get a breaker bar to remove and had to replace a set of locking wheel nuts because of it when the locking mechanism wasnt capable of dealing with a seized nut. Strangely its the only car Ive had this problem on, beach or not. The risk of over-torquing due to lube on something of such low torque, when using a TW, is minimal. Id rather that than have to carry a breaker bar everywhere in the car, have to have breakdown insurance just in case my locking nuts get stuck (lol). I've never yet had them loosen, and providing you dont grease the mating face between nut and wheel it is highly unlikely - thread friction is minimal in comparison with that.

Reply to
Coyoteboy

NickySantoro mumbled incoherently to the rest of alt.autos.toyota:

I just insist they use one when I get new tyres, and I'll argue with them til I'm blue in the face if they dont. Mostly they dont like the threat of several hundred dollars worth of rotors being claimed off them.

Reply to
Coyoteboy

"Mumbled incoherently"? That's pretty freaking rude, even as an attempt at being clever.

Killfiled.

Reply to
NickySantoro

NickySantoro mumbled incoherently to the rest of alt.autos.toyota:

LOL Upset by a standardised mildly humourous reply header - oh dear, how did you get out of high school without attempting suicide due to bullying?

Reply to
Coyoteboy

Mumble, mumble, mumble... What!

Reply to
Danny G.

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