Does anyone know how much torque you are suppose to put on each lug nut for our cars. I don't want to overtighten them.

Thanks

 

Uhh, owners manual?

 

I just tighten till they're tight

 

80-90 foot pounds, use a torque wrench to avoid problems like warping rotors etc. and after you take the wheels off and then put them back on and tighten the lug nuts to correct spec. you should re-tighten after about 100km of driving. aluminum wheels have the tendency to cause the lugs to loosen a bit so re-tightening after about 100km fixes that problem. after you re-tighten they should be good until you take them off again.

 

Definitely re-tighten. I was driving down the highway and knew something was wrong. 2 lugs were loose on the left rear tire, 1 on the right rear.

 

80 lbs for aluminum wheels, 100 lbs for steel.

 

It's not your DD, you can get away with that.

 

I've always done that, I don't have a torque wrench yet

 

I just put my snows(on steelies) back on and 80 didn't seem tight enough, went with 87. now I see here that they should be 100 because I have steelies on. Cocoa, out of curiosity, why is there a difference in torque for steelies versus aluminum rims?

 

^^ alloys and aluminum are "softer" and if you tighten them too tight they will be stressed and compromised and may lead to failure.

80 to 90 ft lbs is correct for alloys. I dont have a torque wrench at home, but my arms are my best guide. All good mechs have a good sense of how tight something should be.

 

At my current school, we have mechanics AllData for all cars. I recently serviced my car to do some labs for class and it said factory torque on the CL's are 85 lb/ft.

 

tighten by hand. make it tight lol

 

all 1990's CL/accord wheels are 80 lb-ft, steel or not. Keep lugs clean and ungreased. There is no need to go over 80 lb-ft using factory wheels.

Overtorquing can cause:

steering wheel vibration
warped rotor (pulsating brake pedal)
wheel distortion/damage
broken lug bolt and nut
stripped lug bolts/nuts
broken lug nut wrench along side of road
car falling off emergency jack from stepping on lug nut wrench
difficulty removing wheel from hub

Correct torque 80 lb-ft causes:

Thousands of miles of comfortable driving
Easy and quick changing of a flat tire
No damage

Undertorquing Causes:

Noises from wheel
Wheel Damage
Hub Damage
Lug bolt/nut damage
wheel falls off.

no torque wrench? no problem. Car in Park, parking brake on.. Take the lug nut wrench from the trunk and tighten twice in a criss-cross pattern. First time, to a light-even torque then use a final, heavier torque by pushing the wrench down with medium force on each lug. Push at the very end of the wrench that comes in the tool kit, done.

re-tightening after 20 miles or whatever, really isn't necessary on modern cars using alloy wheels but if it makes you feel better, have at it!