Dealer Severely Overtightened Lugnuts!

Bummer. I recently removed some wheels that I believe were 300 pound feet. Seriously.
Mine were on so tight, the tire shop couldn't remove them to do a rotation. Took it to another shop, same problem, guy broke out a bigger impact gun and was able to get them off. Was probably 500+ as most air guns are probably up to that range. Bought the car used so no idea who put them on last.
 
I agree with most of what was saidin here.

one thing though is a 300ft-lb impact wrench wont loosen those lug nuts. I have 3 impacts.. m12 stubby-250, Dewalt midtorque 350, and dewalt dcf899 700(1100?).

you have a set of wheels that was put on to about 140ft-lb then corroded on over the winter.. 300ft-lb impact wont take it off.
esp lug bolts.
Of course breakaway torque numbers are overstated similar to Watts vs RMS watts on car audio.

Also if you constantly use the same impact socket(19mm or whatever).. consider retiring it after 5 years if its a thinwall. they do stress and break eventually.

I used same one for about 10 years and eventually it blew up under the plastic.. I damaged 3 lug bolts before I figured it out.
In my defense it was dark out and freezing.

If you want an impact that will consistantly and easily remove even truck lugnuts (light duty f150-f350 type) you should buy at least a 400-450ft-lb model.

my dewalt mid-torque can struggle.. Of course most of the time on new vehicles(100+ft-lb spec ones esp.) I pre loosen with 25" breaker bar so I dont beat up the beauty lugnuts.

Which defeats the purpose of the impact wrench but at least I can zip them off and on without too much noise.
 
Mine were on so tight, the tire shop couldn't remove them to do a rotation. Took it to another shop, same problem, guy broke out a bigger impact gun and was able to get them off. Was probably 500+ as most air guns are probably up to that range. Bought the car used so no idea who put them on last.

Ford truck? On a new to me F150 I had to use this arrangement to remove them from one wheel.

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That's a 4 foot long 1 inch drive breaker bar with an even longer cheater pipe. Just getting the 25 pounds of metal on the lug nut was the hardest part. It was right after that, that I bought a 1" drive impact wrench. Also 25 pounds but much easier to maneuver.
 
Are they aftermarket wheels? Different materials?

my old bmw would need severe torque, like standing 3’ out on a cheater pipe to get the lugs off. They were always torqued to spec. Even a 1100 ft lb impact wouldn’t remove them. Corrosion can be a powerful force.
 
Ford truck? On a new to me F150 I had to use this arrangement to remove them from one wheel.

large.jpg


That's a 4 foot long 1 inch drive breaker bar with an even longer cheater pipe. Just getting the 25 pounds of metal on the lug nut was the hardest part. It was right after that, that I bought a 1" drive impact wrench. Also 25 pounds but much easier to maneuver.
No, that was on my 2008 Mercedes E-350. They hammered on it for a long while before giving up. I guess the tire shop didn't have the bigger impact gun handy.
 

The Milwaukee 2767 at 1400 foot pounds will remove any lug nut but somewhat overkill. Not a good deal on it so far, but when it's on sale, it's about $250 for the impact wrench and battery.


That gun takes off bus lug nuts torqued to 500 ft/lbs or more, and that's with an 3/4 to 1/2 drive reducer. The 3/8 drive Milwaukee is more than enough to remove car lug nuts.
 
Auto repair shop industry keeps proving to consumers that if at all possible you should AVOID them all unless absolutely necessary.


What most folks haven't mentioned here is that the extreme over tightening of those lug nuts and studs will create stretching and eventually the stud will break off and or the nut will end up stripping!

I'll keep bashing these jack legs because on the whole they deserve it. :poop:
 
That gun takes off bus lug nuts torqued to 500 ft/lbs or more, and that's with an 3/4 to 1/2 drive reducer. The 3/8 drive Milwaukee is more than enough to remove car lug nuts.
Are you talking about the mid torque? It's not that cheap though once you add a battery and charger. The Ridgid impact wrench with battery and charger is now back at $150 again. Good for 620 foot pounds of torque on loosening.

 
Corrosion will play a part in the lugnuts being tight. The ones that immediately broke free I assumed were corroded (all 7 of them). The ones that were ridiculously tight had to be turned a few times before they were really loose, those ones I believe were legitimately overtightened.

That's one thing that actually surprises me about Walmart tire centers. They actually torque the lugnuts, then have a manager torque and sign off on them .
 
I learned to check every lug nut after any type of service involving wheel removal. My latest experience with Wal Mart was unbelievable with this (and other issues). Took a 2ft long breaker bar and all my strength to loosen. Some of the lugs were rounded, making removal even more difficult. No more WM for me except to buy oil.
 
Are you talking about the mid torque? It's not that cheap though once you add a battery and charger. The Ridgid impact wrench with battery and charger is now back at $150 again. Good for 620 foot pounds of torque on loosening.


The Milwaukee 1/2 drive one.
 
This is why I try to do as much work by myself as possible even though I don’t like doing certain things. Litmus test for me with any mechanic is wheel lug torque. If they’re too lazy to do that properly it highly unlikely they’re doing everything else to acceptable standards.

There is a saying "The way a person does one thing is the way they do everything" very applicable with automotive work.
 
Read that overtight lugs can impact rotors ( warping ) as well . Which possibly could cause premature wear of pads / rotors and lowered gas milaege .
 
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The Subaru AC system thing only affects the 14-18 Foresters. Unfortunately, I know that because I have a 2018 Forester that has been back to the dealer six times and still doesn't have functional AC. The Impreza and Crosstrek stablemates, and the 19+ Foresters do not have this problem. Luckily.

I'm very frustrated that my issues were not resolved, but I still think that Subaru has a lot more to offer in this segment than any transverse AWDcrossover.

The 20 Forester apparently have a problem with the compressor rattling that hasn't been figured out yet. No word on whether it effects performance.

The A/C in my '14 FXT has always been just OK as if it was sized for a smaller vehicle like the Impreza or wasn't engineered taking into account how much of a greenhouse it is.
 
The AC is definitely undersized, I always assumed it was because it's just a big Impreza. Bigger in interior volume and in glass. I'd be happy if mine did *something*.
 
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