Cars House

I just had new tires put on by the corner tire shop. They tightened the bolts so hard I can't get them off, well at least three bolts on each wheel are stuck. And I've taken them off about a hundred times with my X (truckers tool that has all the heads for the bolts) Any help?

get a breaker bar, ~2 ft. the longer the better, and it should come right off.
Damned this tire shops, they don't know how to torque the wheels correctly?

Go back to the tire store and have them take off the bolts. And then put them back on using a torque wrench.

BTW, if they're really on that tight, you might want to replace all of your lug bolts. Bolts stretch as you tighten them - if you overtighten them, they can stretch beyond what they were designed to do and be permanently weakened.

Jim

Originally posted by Jim O.
Go back to the tire store and have them take off the bolts. And then put them back on using a torque wrench.

BTW, if they're really on that tight, you might want to replace all of your lug bolts. Bolts stretch as you tighten them - if you overtighten them, they can stretch beyond what they were designed to do and be permanently weakened.

Jim


extremely good advice. This happened on my 3000gt. My wheel almost came off one day ( it started wobbeling really bad) and this was the cause. The tireshop replaced all the bolts and everything because they had overtightened the bitch.

Thanks guys I'm goin back there asap


It's so sad when you go into a mechanic shop that has the bimmer logo and merc on the walls and when you talk to mechanic about torqueing he has no freakin idea what you mean, as if you do not know what your talking about. If you ever go into a shop that does not know what a torque wrench is, runnnnnnn. And now I know the same applies to tire shops.

I am always surprised that BMW recommends 72ft/lbs of Tq on these. When I put them back on, that doesn't seem like very much. I actually torque tem down to 75 (just because it's easier to remember). Again, it really doesn't seem ike that much. But enough, I guess.
Just thought I'd throw that inhere...

I think the new recommended torque spec is 88lb/ft...I still use 75 myself though, as its the maximum setting of my Sears Crapsman torque wrench. :(

"I am always surprised that BMW recommends 72ft/lbs of Tq on these."

With a hubcentric wheel, there shouldn't really be loads on the bolts that torquing it any further would protect against.

I just torque them to what feels right...

Been over this subject of torquing lug bolts several times on this board and even though the Bentley recommends 72 ft-lbs or so, new spec is 100 ft-lbs.

Seems a little excessive to me.
I use 82.

Torque specs for lug bolts comes up over and over and over again - there are a whole bunch of threads on them on the various forums here. Every time the subject comes up, someone chimes in that the "new spec" is 100 ft-lbs, and that they've either heard this from a friend, or they've seen this in a thread on Bimmerforums. Yet, no one has mentioned a TSB number, or anything else.

In my copy of the TIS (unfortunately, the latest I have is a 2001 version...), the tightening torques are:

All except E38/3, E53 = 100 Nm, +/- 10
E38/3 = 130 Nm, +/- 10
E53 = 140 Nm, +/- 10

100 Nm is around 74 ft/lbs.

So, does anyone have a newer version of the TIS that gives different torque values?

Jim

I just go with what the book says...(ok, a hair more). 75ft./lbs for me. Nothing has fallen off or come loose yet. So I guess it works as designed....
Out.

Jim O., I have a 10/2001 TIS and it shows the same numbers you posted except that it says "E53, E65 = 140 10 Nm".

actually most of those guys at the shop have torque stix but they dont use them, everybody just sticks the impact wrench on the nuts and tightens them till there just about stopped and then give it another blip

and those guns are pretty strong, they can torque well over the specs of the car...biggest problem is warped rotors

Originally posted by Mark85
and those guns are pretty strong, they can torque well over the specs of the car...biggest problem is warped rotors
Heck, my battery powered impact can torque well over the specs of the car. A good air impact can easily do 250 ft/lbs at the highest settings - I've seen some 1/2" ones that are rated up to 650 ft/lbs...or more.

Warped rotors is one of the problems. The worse problem to over torquing lug bolts is weakening the bolts, eventually ending in the bolts breaking. As you tighten the bolt, the threads act as ramps, causing the bolt to stretch. If you tighten to spec, the bolt only stretches a small amount, well within it's elastic capabilities. When you overtighten, you go beyond the amount where the bolt can recover, so it starts to stretch permanently. I've seen bolts that were stretched so much that the center portion was visably thinner - it was just luck that they didn't fail under load...

Jim

actually the weakest gun in the shop is around 500ft-lb and then theres the guys who like the power and go with the top of the line guns which can put out 1000ft-lbs

of course it wont put out that much unless your compressor has that much pressure, and they usually dont

but still, i work at a ford dealership and out of every 5 guys 1 will use a torque stick, of course its because of a bad experience...

Back to the topic:

Here's a quick way to break loose an overly tight lug. Slip a deep well socket over the lug and hit it with a 3 lb mallet. You should be able to get them out after this. It is recommended you replace them after since they have been abused.

Jason