Places that use torque wrenches improperly!

[Dough]

So i noticed a wheel/tire shop that was pulling out the torque wrench on the high end cars and a few cheaper cars that had factory alloy wheels....

So, I am led to believe that they care more about those expensive cars?


anyhow not my beef really.... What i came to talk about today was:

This shop tightens your wheels with an air powered impact wrench.... till you can hear that its tight.... then they pull out the torque wrench (after looking around for it), and then they put it on the nut, and surprise surprise... the torque wrench clicks within 10 degrees of turning.... So, i am led to believe that the torque wrench is more of a formality, it seems as if the lug nuts are already tightened to say 120 ft/lb by the impact wrench and then when the torque wrench is set to 90ft/lb it just clicks with barely any effort.....

is my theory right? so really you're going to a place because they do use a torque wrench.... just not properly?

I don't personally care about my car, it has steel wheels, my usual mechanic uses an impact wrench, the dealer probably did and who knows about the previous owner.... But i am just saying, whats the point of a torque wrench if you're not using it properly?!

the 5(or 4) lugs may not even be tightened to the same level, ie, ones 100 ft/lb, ones 120, ones 118, ones 110, ones 113.... and the torque wrench is set to 90 ft/lb.... so... useless right?


Anyhow, at the shop i am talking about there are huge line ups that go out onto the street, and i was watching cause i got bored of sitting in my car for an hour... i like their work, i'd still recommend that place, i'd go there again personally, but i find the whole torque wrench thing to be .... well i can't think of a good word for it... i guess stupid might fit... at the end of the day it seems like ~10% of the industry may actually use a torque wrench.... at least from what i've seen.... i'd liek to here from the owners of high end vehicles who've taken it to dealerships..... ie porsche, bmw, merc.... anyone ever looked?

[ES_Revenge]

What i came to talk about today was:

This shop tightens your wheels with an air powered impact wrench.... till you can hear that its tight.... then they pull out the torque wrench (after looking around for it), and then they put it on the nut, and surprise surprise... the torque wrench clicks within 10 degrees of turning.... So, i am led to believe that the torque wrench is more of a formality, it seems as if the lug nuts are already tightened to say 120 ft/lb by the impact wrench and then when the torque wrench is set to 90ft/lb it just clicks with barely any effort.....
I dunno if it's really a "formality" in this case rather than a complete waste of time, lol. It's senseless. The air gun is gonna put like 150-180lbs*ft on the lugs, easy. Setting a torque wrench to 90ft*lbs and pretending to tighten the lugs with that--I really don't get what the heck they are doing. Are you watching them when they do this? Perhaps it's just to give you a show/fool you!


is my theory right? so really you're going to a place because they do use a torque wrench.... just not properly?
Yes it's right except the 120lbs*ft part. The air wrench is gonna put a heck of a lot more on it, trust me. I've experimented with aired on lugs just to see (though you aren't 'supposed' to do this) and found that I could get the wrench to click at 150lb*ft on aired on lugs and I didn't bother going any higher (because you aren't supposed to do that), and just went back to the breaker bar.


I don't personally care about my car, it has steel wheels, my usual mechanic uses an impact wrench, the dealer probably did and who knows about the previous owner.... But i am just saying, whats the point of a torque wrench if you're not using it properly?!
There is no point. It's quite puzzling actually. :confused:


the 5(or 4) lugs may not even be tightened to the same level, ie, ones 100 ft/lb, ones 120, ones 118, ones 110, ones 113.... and the torque wrench is set to 90 ft/lb.... so... useless right?
That along with overtorquing is one of the main problems with airing on lugs/studs--the uneven torque can cause things like rotor warping and vibration.

[Dough]

[QUOTE=ES_Revenge;6816703]I dunno if it's really a "formality" in this case rather than a complete waste of time, lol. It's senseless. The air gun is gonna put like 150-180lbs*ft on the lugs, easy. Setting a torque wrench to 90ft*lbs and pretending to tighten the lugs with that--I really don't get what the heck they are doing. Are you watching them when they do this? Perhaps it's just to give you a show/fool you!

Yep, sure was watching em, a few people were... they know they're being watched... i dont think alot of the customers know enough.... or think about it alot....

another thing that struck me was someone had their wheels rotated and the guys didnt do anything about tire pressure... alot of cars have different front/rear pressures and rotating the tires without adjusting that is... dangerous...

[IoannI]

Canadian Tire is probably one of the places that does that.

[tikus]

The impact gun has 4 setting, 1 is low and 4 is high, if he used #2 setting to tighten the nuts then use the torque wrench to tighten the nuts to 90 ft lb. That is how I did for my car.

[kleptodathief]

also u shud REtorque the lugz after 150kms of driving but NO one duz that!:idea:

[Gloaming]

also u shud REtorque the lugz after 150kms of driving but NO one duz that!:idea:

I do!

[corrupt123]

I worked at a small independant shop that had torque bits too, so the nuts were just put straight on with the torque bit and the gun. If the car called for a torque spec beyond or different from the bit, than we used the wrench.

It's probably not the case, but perhaps they were using a torque bit? If so, you'd probably notice it so I doubt thats the case.

[Justin]

Most garages use a torque stick on the impact gun that will make the gun stop tightening at the correct tightness. The torque sticks are not adjustable but instead a different one is used depending on the tightness desired.

The torque wrench is basically just to check to make sure the nut was tightened enough. The impact gun with a torque stick will not over tighten, but it could under tighten if the gun is not receiving enough air for whatever reason. Maybe the tank is low or there is an air leak. The torque wrench is just a check after the impact gun is used.

TORQUE STICK
http://i6.ebayimg.com/01/i/02/a5/0f/d4_1.JPG

[Dough]

havent seen this place use a torque stick.... it was just impact wrench and then a normal lug socket ~2.5 inches long...

[VorteC]

I've been to many different shops to get stuff installed / maintainence done and I always watch them do the work.. I have never seen any of them use a torque wrench. They just use the impact wrench, and some of them will use the torque stick on the impact wrench. I assume that a torque wrench is useless when there's a impact wrench around.

[mistake]

walmart checks with a torque wrench.

[ES_Revenge]

I've been to many different shops to get stuff installed / maintainence done and I always watch them do the work.. I have never seen any of them use a torque wrench. They just use the impact wrench, and some of them will use the torque stick on the impact wrench. I assume that a torque wrench is useless when there's a impact wrench around.

Most garages whether dealership or otherwise, will not use a torque wrench. Surprising but true. They just air on anything, they couldn't care less. Most tyre shops though (shops that only do things like tyres, wheels and alignment) will use a torque wrench.

As an aside I don't really trust the spring-steel torque sticks myself. The more rare ones with the limiting springs and the rotating collar seem more reliable but are very rare it seems. Also using the sticks doesn't stop the air gun from crossthreading the lug which would cause an improper torque reading, might not even have any torque at all on the wheel, or might make it difficult to remove the wheel afterwards, usually requiring snapping the stud (or an even more complicated/costly repair if you have a car that uses removeable studs to secure the wheel rather than lugs).