Had a chat with a 17 year old kid at the tire shop that got me thinking

He said he doesn't even bother with torque sticks anymore, just sends it with an impact and checks by feel. Made me wonder if I'm overthinking lug nut specs after 20 years of being super careful, what do you guys think?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse_cooper10d ago

Almost 150,000 miles of personal driving and I've never used torque sticks once. Been turning wrenches for 15 years on the side. The kid might have a point about feel. I've seen too many ugga dugga specialists snap studs or warp rotors by going full send with no care. But there's a middle ground. If you can consistently feel when a lug is tight without stripping or guessing, more power to you. Most people can't. I still grab my torque wrench for the final pass on anything I drive over 40. It takes two extra minutes. That's nothing compared to fixing a wheel that came loose on the highway.

nathan54510d ago

Nah @jesse_cooper, I gotta push back here. Feel is great until you're on the side of the road at 2am in the rain with a borrowed jack and you don't have a torque wrench handy. You telling me you've never had to tighten a lug with just a breaker bar and hope? Torque sticks aren't perfect but they save time and take the guesswork out for people who don't have 15 years of muscle memory. Plus, torque wrenches need calibration and most guys don't recalibrate em ever. Trusting a $30 stick that's been dropped five times is just as risky as trusting your gut.