I have an '04 MC and I was attempting to change over to my snow tires (mounted on steel wheels, 15" ) and i had trouble loosening one of the lug nuts on my front wheel ...i think when the car was inspected a few months ago they over-tightened ...I was using my torque wrench as a breaker bar and was jumping and jumping on it and the torque wrench broke . I went out and bought a proper breaker bar and used a pipe to make it longer for more leverage and was able to remove the lug nut and changed all the wheels over .......but usually i would check the torque to 91 lbs ...what i did today was just put most of my 140 pound body onto the breaker bar


seems pretty tight...but 1) do i really need to go out and buy a torque wrench soley for changing over my snow tires and back? 2) Do most people use a torque wrench when changing their tires? 3) do most people find they need to jump on the breaker bar to loosen the nuts?

last question ..... 4) when i bought the breaker bar the guy at the auto parts store said to put some anti-seizing compound into the threads ...i had thought that you wanted to avoid the anti-seizing there as it could cause the lug nuts to loosen


thanks


Russell

 

I never use one just torque them down good until it would require a lot of force to continue to tighten them. I use no seize on mine, won't let them loosen up, I use it on my brake parts also.

 

Back in the old days we just tightened with the tire tool until they were as tight as you could make them. With today's materials and design I'd want to torque them with the right tool. Most good shops have torque extensions on the impact wrench, but fail to look up proper specs, so I check them when I get home.

 

99.9% of car owners, if they EVER tighten a lug themself, use the one UGH method

Car enthusiasts, and MINI has a decent percentage of owners who ARE enthusiasts, will discuss which torque wrench is more accurate for hours . . ..

btw ... I own two!

one beam and one click

and routinely compare one to the other ... cuz you KNOW which one is BEST

 

Yep, like capn bj said- use a torque wrench. I have three- beam and click for higher readings and a lower scale beam for bikes and low torque settings on the MINI and Mini.

I personally do not recommend anti seize for lug nuts/bolts. Its use may cause you to over tighten them. Also, I think uneven torquing of lugs could cause rotor warp. And since I remove wheels a couple of times a year there should be no corrosion issue. Never had a problem.

 

I did NOT say use one

I intended to say 99.9% of
owners do NoT use one and few report wheels falling off

OTOH we crazies will debate 1 foot pound plus or less

which when changing a head is IMPORTANT and when changing a wheel almost immaterial.

 

I would say to use one. My 2006 MSC (early model with smaller lug bolts) had the bolts over tightened by the dealer. I broke 2 taking them off just using a regular breaker bar and not standing on it and not using an extension. This was a very expensive repair that I had to have the dealer do because I didn't have the ability to do it.

Mid 2006 and forward they went to a bigger lug bolt. I am guessing the old ones were specced out to just barley adequate. Either way, it has been my experience that the bolts are sensitive to how they are torqued.

 

Never use a torque wrench to break loose bolts as doing so will throw off calibration. Use a breaker bar instead.

As for torquing lug bolts, it has been my experience that over-torqued bolts create wheel shimmies. Over-torquing wheel bolts will distort the wheels just a smidge and as a result will cause an imbalance, even after being balanced on a tire balancer. I cannot tell you the exact number of vehicles I have come across in my time (it was a LOT) that customers complained about wheel vibrations that were solved by simply breaking the bolts loose and torquing down with a torque wrench to proper specs. This usually happened with 17" and larger wheels, though the same principle applies on smaller wheels (even though the problem is less likely to show itself).

YMMV, but torque wrenches (and torque sticks if you're using a pneumatic impact gun) are the only way to go.

 

kind of lucky it actually broke, otherwise you would have just buggered the calibration and never known.

 

I cringed when I read you were using your torque wrench as a breaker bar. I would not even use one to loosen a bolt that wasn't giving me a hard time. Anyway, enough of the lecture. Torque wrenches aren't that expensive, so for peace of mind I'd use one on your Mini.

 

ok .....now i know i was abusing my lately departed torque wrench ......but does leaning most of my 140 body on my newly purchased breaker bar equate to an approximate amount of needed torque to get me by until i go out and buy a new torque wrench?

 

The best way to answer your question is to try loosening a bolt/nut. If there is only a little resistance it is too loose (not likely in your case.) If you have to work at it they are too tight. I can cinch mine with the breaker bar and be very close to the proper torque, but I've been changing wheels regularly with a torque wrench for 20 years. I don't put my weight on the bar or wrench.

When you buy a new torque wrench read the directions on taking care of it. On my cheap but perfectly adequate for wheels wrench you have to dial it down to near zero torque between uses.

I always check the air pressure and torque after visiting a tire shop.

 

If you are using the torque wrench for tires, I'd recommend a beam model. Compared to the others they are cheaper, don't need periodic special calibration are just as accurate and may come with a lifetime guarantee.

 

Yes, when possible use a torque wrench for wheel nuts and bolts. It's not safe to under tighten a nut/bolt and it may be damaging to over tighten (or you can't loosen it later).

Also you can/need to retighten wheel nuts and bolts after a short time to check if they remain tight after the initial tightening.

 

You can pickup a cheap Craftsman torque wrench for about $80 which will get you ball park, not many need the $500 Snap-On wrench that us that use them everyday need.

Torque isn't just for keeping things on, it pertains to material stress, hardware stress, ability to remove said fastener when you need to on the side of the road with nothing more than the piddly little bar the car comes from the factory with, and as mentioned; over torqued hardware can cause warping, part failure, a weekend of drilling out broken bolts, Heli-coil repairs, and all sorts of other money guzzling problems.

Do yourself a favor and do things right.

 

If you're going to run the car at high speeds, you might as well spring for one. They are dirt cheap at Harbor Freight. I bought one for $12 there a couple weeks ago when they were on sale.

Here's one for $22, but you get 20% off that with the coupon below.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-2-hal...rench-239.html

http://images.harborfreight.com/hftw...515-coupon.jpg

 

Use a torque wrench & 17mm impact socket for wheel bolts all the time on install. You don't want a wheel to come off. Follow the recommended torque amounts and do the cris-cross pattern when torquing from bolt to bolt.

Heard lots of crazy stories with high power impacts and stripped bolts, missing bolt heads, stuck bolts...etc

 

Also, there are different torque specs for various MINI models over the years so be sure to check your owners manual.

After using the torque wrench, set it to zero before storing it.

If you have aftermarket lug nuts or bolts then check the manufacturer's torque specs. Typically allow nuts use less torque to tighten them.

 

and reading all this I'll come back to a few comments

- 90% of car owners including MINI don't use one and are perfectly happy. The majority of these would not know a slight wheel shimmy from a donut either. If it matters to you ... use one.

- you can buy one for $20 or $200 ..... hmmm, I wonder if there is a difference? There are digital ones and 'analog' ones. SUGGESTION: IME the HF versions are OK if handled properly (read instructions as mentioned) AND used in the middle of the scale .... at the extremes of their range they are useless. For my HF 1/2 I trust it between 100 and 175 ft/lb. I believe the range is 'zero' to 250. I used it on a 60 ft/lb bolt and ended up stripping it .... which had never happened b4 using the 1 ugh method. Tested later with a beam type and realized the clicker wasn't working at that range.

- 'precision' mechanics have theirs calibrated yearly or if dropped. (aviation too I believe)

- if you drop it, all bets are off and this includes BEAM type

 

Good advice above. If you buy a torque wrench and use it to snug the lugs you probably won't need a breaker bar to get them off again. It's still a good idea to have a breaker bar in case someone else gets a wrench on your wheels.

My old torque wrench came with a big red WARNING! on the first page of instructions. Warning #1, do not drop this tool. Dropping this tool will cause inaccurate torque settings. It will have to be recalibrated. Warning #2, do not use this wrench as a loosening tool or "breaker bar".

Handle the wrench carefully and it'll last many years. It's not a bad investment and quite handy to have. Every car has recommended torque settings for just about every bolt, including wheel lugs.