Retorque Lug Nuts After Tire Change?

[paullac]

My chassis is a Ford E450. I had the recalled Michelin tires. A local tire chain put replacement tires on. They told me I needed to get the lug nuts retorqued at 100 & 500 miles (actually made me sign their copy of the invoice that they told me this).

Today I go to another location of that same tire chain to get the lug nuts retorqued. They told me it's NOT needed because the wheels are steel & it would only be needed if I had aluminum wheels. In fact, the guy laughed & said if there was a problem with the torque I would have known by now.

So, does anyone know the actual answer on this? For anyone that has a Ford E450 with new tires installed, were you told to get the lug nuts retorqued?

Thanks!

[jeffengle]

It is a problem. I worked for a company that had shuttle buses with the same size tires & wheels & twice after the summer tires were changed to winter tires the rear wheels fell off & sheared off the wheel studs. I complained to the tire company that they did not properly torque the wheels. I saw that they used an impact gun , followed up with a torque wrench, but the torque wrench only showed that the torque was up to a value & not the actual torque. For instance if the impact wrench tightened to 170lbs, and the torque value is 140lbs, it is over torqued. It is very important.

[mlts22]

After using a beam torque wrench, then finding my old F-150's brake rotors were warped due to the wrench's inaccuracy, I went and got a good clicker wrench that I can set to the right setting. I learned my lesson there.

[snowdance]

Francesca Knowles wrote:
The guys at the first store were right; the guys at the second store are idiots.

And since it's a "chain":
That company's main office would probably be most grateful if you told them about the difference in training between those two locations.

X-2. I alway check mine after the tire shop works on them with my own touque wrench after 100-200 miles. And always tighten some of them. My wheels are steel. Thats my car and MH.

[tatest]

What the installing shop instructed you to do is consistent with what is in the owner's manual for that chassis. The owner's manual assumes OEM steel wheels.

My tire shop is "bring it back and we will re-torque" on this.

[Shadow_Catcher]

Loosen, re torque using proper torquing sequence. Take it to 10 Lbs less than required value and retoruq sequence in 5 Lbs increments.

[j-d]

If somebody else installed the wheels, I almost always check them. I've gotten cars back from the shop with overtightened and loose nuts on the same wheel. If I installed the wheels, I almost never re-check them. I just re-mounted the front wheels on our E450 and must have gone over the nuts four times. My exception to this is a trailer, especially a tandem axle trailer, especially the left side. Ordinary driving tends to loosen right-hand threads on left side wheels, and the squirming that tight maneuvering makes on tandems makes it worse.

[CloudDriver]

The required torque for the lug nuts on our 2003 E450 chassis is 140 lb-ft. The nuts are stamped with this value as seen in the picture below.

I always loosen and re-torque the lug nuts after a visit to a shop. Back in January all of the tires on our MH were replaced under the Michelin recall. When I got back home, I used the 20" long lug wrench that came with the chassis to loosen the nuts. It was necessary for me to stand on the end of the lug wrench to get some of the nuts loose, which meant that they had been tightened to around 300 lb-ft. Others were much easier to loosen up.

I check the lug nut torques once or twice a year and have never had one loosen up on steel rims. I believe that aluminum rims are more of an issue, but have no personal experience with them.

[Tvov]

myway2rv wrote:
Greetings,
I'm getting new shoes next week on my E 450, and I was wondering the same thing.
I've never seen a tire mechanic use a torque wrench on any tires I've ever had replaced on any vehicle. So, I usually check the torque myself just in case.

There are "torque sockets" you can buy for an air wrench, these are what supposedly tire shops are supposed to use. They basically look like an extended socket, with different colors identifying different torque.

Having said that... most wheels that I have had put on by a shop are tightened so much that a breaker bar is needed to take the lug nuts off. So, if I've had a shop put wheels on for me, I always loosen and retighten them at home.

[powderman426]

Steeel or aluminum, I would retorque the lug nuts. The last thing you need is to lose a wheel while going down the road. I speak from experience.

[Gonzo42]

IMHO, it never hurts to re-check the torque. You lose nothing but a little time. After rebuilding an engine, I re-torque the heads several times. Anytime something is assembled/reassembled I never trust the first torque. Things tend to move.

[myway2rv]

Greetings,
I'm getting new shoes next week on my E 450, and I was wondering the same thing.
I've never seen a tire mechanic use a torque wrench on any tires I've ever had replaced on any vehicle. So, I usually check the torque myself just in case.

[garyhaupt]

Some of it is CYA...and some if it just good practice. Wheel lugs can come loose, especially after someone has had them off and then put back on. Professionals will check their lugs, everyday by reaching in and actually putting fingers on to see if one is loose, and visually every brake check. Many emergency vehicles have those wee green tabs on the lugs, so if one is loose, it is immediately noticed.


Gary Haupt

[Francesca_Knowl]

The guys at the first store were right; the guys at the second store are idiots.

And since it's a "chain":
That company's main office would probably be most grateful if you told them about the difference in training between those two locations.

[RoyB]

Keeping track of wheel lug nut torque and other tire related items would be a matter of maintenance to me...

I would want to know all of these things personally regardless of who did the installs.

I'm usually the one that backs off of the wheel lug nut torque after it has left a tire shop. Sometimes they really crank down on the lug nuts...

The last time I had my tires repaced I took the wheel and tire to NTB and mounted the new tire at home myself... Then I know everything is alright.

Roy ken