Unfortunately my front tyres hed reached the minimum legal tred depth before my octavia gets traded in for a new Scout arriving early June :S (so they said), so I had to buy 2 new el-cheapo tyres, as I am only likely to do about 3k miles if the date holds. I went to a tyre fitter who, when he replaced the wheels, did not check the nuts with a torque wrench. Do I need to do this? if so is it worth buying a wrench (I would have no other use for it)? If so what range wrench would I need?

Comments please.

Wheel nuts should be torqued to 120nm, however you aren't given one in the tool kit. Up to you if you want to torque them.

Wheel nuts should be torqued to 120nm, however you aren't given one in the tool kit. Up to you if you want to torque them.

Simple, get a 120m long pole¹ and attach an object with a mass of 102g at the end, your 120NM of torque is ready to go.

You could use a shorter pole and a larger mass if that's easier.

1) Note that the pole should have zero mass, which may be impractical

Edited 12 April, 201115 yr by Lou_O

I think that a torque wrench is handy to have if only to stop the bolts being over-tightened. I used to tighten up as much as I could and then stand on the standard wheel wrench and completely overdo it. The torque wrench taught me that they need to be tight...just not that tight!

1) Note that the pole should have zero mass, which may be impractical

I never paid much attention in a physics class - I think I know why now :p

Most tyre fitters don't tighten the wheels correctly (I've had some dangerously loose and others where I've had to jump on the wrench to get them off!). The wrench that manufacturers supply with spare wheels are generally too short to tighten the wheels sufficiently (one of the reasons that they suggest a limit of 100km/h when on a spare wheel).

If you are thinking about getting a set of winter wheels then a torque wrench is probably a good investment. You can pick up a cheap torque wrench for around £30-40 that will be good enough for wheel changing.

If you aren't going to be swapping wheels in the future then your best bet is to either borrow one or see if your local friendly indy garage will sort them out (will probably cost you some beer money).

I do, but then I picked us a torque wrench cheap at Lidl some years ago. Keep an eye out they have them a couple of times a year.

I was quite surprised at how little force is needed for 120Nm

I think that a torque wrench is handy to have if only to stop the bolts being over-tightened. I used to tighten up as much as I could and then stand on the standard wheel wrench and completely overdo it. The torque wrench taught me that they need to be tight...just not that tight!

If the wheel wrench is 30cm long and you weigh, say 70kg that would give a torque of around 210nm

So you just need to find someone who's about 40kg, or a slightly shorter wrench

I was quite surprised at how little force is needed for 120Nm

That depends entirely on how long the lever is

You can get a suitable torque wrench for less than £30 from the likes of Machine Mart.

Thanks for that guys. As a technophobe who has trouble with the technology of a sundial, when I look at various wrenches, it specifies various sizes e.g. ¹/₄", ³/₈" etc. What size are they referring to? What size do I need, and doI need any other bits?

Ta

You need a 17mm socket plus your torque wrench. I bought a half inch wrench from Draper (product code 30357) with a micrometer adjustment. Works a treat. There is one on fleabay at £26.

Edited 12 April, 201115 yr by TsvRS

Thanks for that guys. As a technophobe who has trouble with the technology of a sundial, when I look at various wrenches, it specifies various sizes e.g. ¹/₄", ³/₈" etc. What size are they referring to? What size do I need, and doI need any other bits?

Ta

This size is Not referring to the nut/bolt that you are going to drive, but to the connection size between the socket and the wrench.

The most common size for this pick-up is ¹/2", though there are of course many others.

Converters are available to connect different sizes.

Thanks for that guys. As a technophobe who has trouble with the technology of a sundial, when I look at various wrenches, it specifies various sizes e.g. ¹/₄", ³/₈" etc. What size are they referring to? What size do I need, and doI need any other bits?

Ta

1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" refers to the square lug on the wrench that turns the socket. 1/4" socket sets have sockets in the range 4mm to 13mm (in metric) and the 3/8" sets would over lap with sockets included in the range of 10mm to around 21mm.

For the average DIY user a 3/8" set would be a good start. The torque wrench typically sold in Lidl is 1/2" and includes an extension bar to fit between the wrench and the socket and three sockets including a 17mm which you will need to get to the wheel nuts. If you already had a 3/8" set there is an adapter "socket" available to reduce 1/2" to 3/8".

It is worth noting that a torque wrench should only be used for torquing and not for loosening nuts so it isn't much use without other tools.

So if you need more that occasional torquing I would suggest looking at a combination tool kit from the likes of Halfords which includes the 1/4" and 3/8" sizes and throw in a 3/8" torque wrench. It depends on your the depth of your pockets.

HTH

edit spelling

Edited 12 April, 201115 yr by FriendlyFire

That depends entirely on how long the lever is

It's a hefty bit of kit. Prob 20-24" long and a few kilo.

TUV/GS marked

Usually somewhere between £10-15.

Thanks for the help, Guys. I've got the kit, now to tighten my nuts...

Simple, get a 120m long pole¹ and attach an object with a mass of 102g at the end, your 120NM of torque is ready to go.

You could use a shorter pole and a larger mass if that's easier.

1) Note that the pole should have zero mass, which may be impractical

careful you don't put it on the wrong way round and slacken off yer nuts!

careful you don't put it on the wrong way round and slacken off yer nuts!

lefty loosey, righty tighty. I still say it every time after learning the hard way a while back....

lefty loosey, righty tighty. I still say it every time after learning the hard way a while back....

As long as you aren't driving a van...

As long as you aren't driving a van...

Lost on this reply.

I can see the plus of having a torque wrench for some jobs, but to buy one just to tighten your wheel nuts is bonkers if you ask me unless you never loosen or tighten nuts and have no idea of the feeling of a nut being tight! Surely pretty much everyone on here has tighten a bolt up and then just given that little bit more to make sure its tight.

I can understand if the bolt is small and your worried about snapping it but have stripped, rebuilt and modified cars for years and it aint rocket science to know in your head when a nut/bolt is tight enough!

Or i might be talking complete rubbish, who knows these days lol

I can see the plus of having a torque wrench for some jobs, but to buy one just to tighten your wheel nuts is bonkers if you ask me unless you never loosen or tighten nuts and have no idea of the feeling of a nut being tight! Surely pretty much everyone on here has tighten a bolt up and then just given that little bit more to make sure its tight.

I can understand if the bolt is small and your worried about snapping it but have stripped, rebuilt and modified cars for years and it aint rocket science to know in your head when a nut/bolt is tight enough!

Or i might be talking complete rubbish, who knows these days lol

I suppose, and hand tight is about right.

But there is something about a nice new big heavy tool [snikker].

Shiny things are full of win

Edited 14 April, 201115 yr by Aspman

I was quite surprised at how little force is needed for 120Nm

Agreed, the torque wrench taught me that it was not nearly as much as I thought

Lost on this reply.

I had a LDV minibus and that had left handed threaded bolts, at least on the near side. Spent about 15 minutes trying to loosen the nuts before the nice man from the RAC arrived and pointed out the error of my ways. Also some scrote had nicked the jack.

I had a LDV minibus and that had left handed threaded bolts, at least on the near side. Spent about 15 minutes trying to loosen the nuts before the nice man from the RAC arrived and pointed out the error of my ways. Also some scrote had nicked the jack.

Yep, some transits as well IIRC.

Regarding the wheel brace with the car not being sufficient to tighten the bolts- yes it is. I can undo correctly torqued bolts by hand with the wheelbrace. I find a good guide if you don't have a wrench is tighten the bolts with the brace as much as you can by hand. The correct 120 Nm is, as others have suggested, not as tight as you may think. Overtightened bolts can stretch and get damaged.