Well as I was in college, my car was taken to a Ford dealership to put my new R6 five axis rims with Rays lugs on. Well I tried to take them off today and snapped and broke a few tools of mine. Obviously they were too tight. I went to the dealership and told them to loosen them. They said the minimum ford cars are torqued to are about 100 ft/lbs. I was like woah, it's supposed to be 76ft/lbs. They fixed it and proceeded to tell me 76ft/lbs is next to nothing and even aftermarket rims should be torqued more than the stock rim/lug set up. They had it at 97ft/lbs but now they sit at 76ft/lbs.

I haven't heard of aftermarket rims needing to be torqued more. Is this true? I did a little search and couldn't find anything.

Thanks.

 

It must have been on tighter than 97 ft lbs ftlbs to break tools.

But, I have also wondered what the appropriate torque for aftermarket lugs/wheels are. When I took off my aftermarket rims/lugs after they were originally mounted, they were on hella tight (way more than the suggested 80 or so for the stock wheels).

 

I don't see any reason to torque past 80 ft lb on our cars..those techs are idiots..they should be going by toyota OEM standard not ford..I've never heard of aftermarket wheels/lugs needing more torque than stock.

I would have raised hell personally..over torquing wheels like that could potentially cause some damage

 

It should make a difference whether or not they are aftermarket wheels it should still be with the 76-80 ft/lbs for our car because from my understanding it goes by the size of the stud.

 

HAHA, quite a lot of important things in life depend on the "size of the stud" lol. and lugs is one of them. as long as youre on the factory ones, between 74&80 is fair, dont want anymore than that due to issues with stretching the stud or causing it to break (also major issues in other areas of life too) so yeah, just do what the manual tells you and dont use that dealership.

 

You got it all wrong. On the packaging for the lugs, there is a measurement range... Find the unit of measure... it's whatever they use in Japan... Then find a converter and convert it to LBS/Torque...

I think max for those lugs was 82 lbs/tq.
I think I have mine set for 80lbs... or 75? I don't know I rounded it to a nice even/odd number. I'll check my torque wrench and let you know... Maybe I can find the packaging and convert it for you.

 

I remember reading somewhere that the stock torque specs are 76 ft/lb because the OEM Toyota lugs are the "Shank" style. Most "tuner" lugs are torqued around 80 ft/lb in my experience.

 

Rays Specs are 64-65 LBS to 86-87 LBS...



I can't read that, but I used common sense.

I think I did mine at 85 LBS. To be exact...

 

Honestly the difference between 76 and 85 ft/lbs in the world of lugs is almost negligible as depending on the wrench you use that will most likely fall inside the acceptable error for said wrench. Anyhow just dont torque above 110 because thats where the stock studs will begin to stretch and you risk breakage or seizing the nut on the stud. RX7 guys with rays lugs swear by 85 so you might as well just set them there.

 

alright thanks for clearing that up guys.

 

The recommendation is at ~75 but most torque to ~80. I think they were just saving their ___ by telling you that aftermarket wheels need more torque.

 

^ possibly..but I definetly would be ____ed if they said they put it to FORD spec..because my response would be "last I checked I drive a Scion that uses scion/toyota specifications..."

but since they're techs they all know better than me and all cars are the same right?

 

Got my rays torqued to 76ftlbs. No issues.

 

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/...jsp?techid=107

different studs/thread/pitch has different torque tolerance levels.
but yea, for ours 70~80

 

^deff check the packaging and never...NEVER let some idiot at the dealership tighten your lug nuts! They usually use an impact bun set to a torque spec overall. Sounds like the dude was trying to blind you w/ BS instead of taking responsibility for his actions....

 

Agreed, my dad learned that the hard way after a GMC dealership managed to strip, not crossthread, but literally STRIP the threads off 2 of the lugs on his camry. Thankfully we had service records from the last time the wheels were off so we got them to pay for it. The other 3 nuts were at 160ft/lb. we were like WTF? its not a freaking tractor trailer here. Stealerships are really hit or miss.

 

Yea last time i went to the dealer they put them on way above the 76 ft/lbs. Not exactly sure what they were at but for a couple of the wheels i had to stand on the tire iron to get them off.

 

Yeah, the only time anyone else has ever torqued my car it was a discount tire, and they put them on so hard I had to use a breaker bar, and subsequently destroyed a 12pt socket. Long story short, when i go get new tires now i just take my wheels in another vehicle so I can put them back on my car myself. Everyone just uses the "goodntight" method with an airwrench these days, and doesnt even check the OEM specs, its so pitiful.

 

^^ yup I agree, I now make them finger tighten the lugnuts, then use a torque wrench. I agree that taking them the tires in another vehicle is also a great way to not have to worry about some slacker using an air wrench set to "max". Lots of dumb ones out there, it's scary!

 

I really wish I didn't have to get a wheel alignment soon. I don't want them to mess up my rims. The ford dealership said they would give me a discount on the alignment if I bring in the broken tools and give them up. I'm debating that or going somewhere else. The local scion dealership did it for like 60 bucks.