Torque for Wheel Lugnuts

[DMC-81]

Wow....thorough discussion! Duly noted... 65 ft/lbs sounds good to me.

[David T]

Most large shops now have a procedure that one person torques the wheels and another, different person checks their work. Same with changing oil. Before starting the motor another person eyeballs the empty bottles, makes rue there is a filter on, and checks the level. Very common occurrence for a wheel to fall off of a car after leaving a shop or driving out with no oil in the motor. In most shops that kind of routine work is usually delegated to the newest, least experienced person. It makes sense to have the work checked. Even an experienced person can overlook things as shown in the previous post. A distraction is all it can take. As for the torque stick, they are much harder to keep calibrated, it depends on the air tool, the air pressure, how long you hold it on, etc. It is faster but less accurate. I don't see many shops still using them anymore. One reason, they are not adjustable so you need to have many of them. Most cars today all have different specs.

[PJ Grady Inc.]

Most large shops now have a procedure that one person torques the wheels and another, different person checks their work. Same with changing oil. Before starting the motor another person eyeballs the empty bottles, makes rue there is a filter on, and checks the level. Very common occurrence for a wheel to fall off of a car after leaving a shop or driving out with no oil in the motor. In most shops that kind of routine work is usually delegated to the newest, least experienced person. It makes sense to have the work checked. Even an experienced person can overlook things as shown in the previous post. A distraction is all it can take. As for the torque stick, they are much harder to keep calibrated, it depends on the air tool, the air pressure, how long you hold it on, etc. It is faster but less accurate. I don't see many shops still using them anymore. One reason, they are not adjustable so you need to have many of them. Most cars today all have different specs.

I think the only reason you may see them less often is they are expensive if you need more than one or two which I don't. Just how many shops do you hang out in to notice trends anyway? I totally disagree with your accuracy statement. I've found mine to be very accurate and consistent and the quickness with which they work makes them safer. You are less likely to be distracted by the phone or a person in the short span of time it takes to compete the torque procedure. The tool is a tube of steel that flexs at a specified torque and never needs an adjustment (It CAN'T be adjusted or miscalibrated) compared to torque wrenchs which fall out of adjustment from normal use. I've used them for over twenty years a few hundred times a year and they are remarkably consistent due to their simplicity. I think you're giving your opinion based not on experience but on a hypotheseis and I think it is wrong in this case.
Rob