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One tool that imho is often misunderstood, is the torque wrench. One, its calibration, the importance thereof, and secondly, that they are not accurate below 20% of their upper end of the range. For example, if I wanted to torque something to 17 ft. lbs., it can be accomplished with one that has a range of 5-75 ft. lbs. Such a wrench is inaccurate below 15 ft. lbs. So if I needed to torque something to 14 ft. lbs, this wrench cannot accurately do it. Some say they are totally unnecessary they do it by feel, but I'd rather use one.
I've heard people compare a HFT wrench to a calibrated one, and they have found them to be close. So it's like buying a dog without papers if you will.
BTW, Moderators......this thread probably belongs in the Maintenance Forum, not Car Chart.
I will add a sixth tool often used incorrectly.
NEVER use an air/impact wrench to tighten lug nuts. It's OK to use one to loosen them, since you are not putting stress on them, but impact wrenches are notorious for over-tightening the lugs and possibly stripping the threads and/or warping the brake rotors. The correct (and generally accepted way) to tighten the lugs (after you screw them on hand-tight) is with a torque wrench. Most non-heavy-duty vehicles require around 75-80 ft-lbs. of torque for correct tightening of the lugs. Years ago, some alloy wheels, because lugs could work loose, required an immediate re-checking of the lugs within about 50 miles of so of first putting the wheels on, but I haven't seen that since the 1980s.
YES.
NO.
Last edited by mmarshall; Apr 22, 2018 at 02:55 PM.
BTW, Moderators......this thread probably belongs in the Maintenance Forum, not Car Chart.
I will add a sixth tool often used incorrectly.
NEVER use an air/impact wrench to tighten lug nuts. It's OK to use one to loosen them, since you are not putting stress on them, but impact wrenches are notorious for over-tightening the lugs and possibly stripping the threads and/or warping the brake rotors. The correct (and generally accepted way) to tighten the lugs (after you screw them on hand-tight) is with a torque wrench. Most non-heavy-duty vehicles require around 75-80 ft-lbs. of torque for correct tightening of the lugs. Years ago, some alloy wheels, because lugs could work loose, required an immediate re-checking of the lugs within about 50 miles of so of first putting the wheels on, but I haven't seen that since the 1980s.
YES.
NO.
Yupp had some clowns at mavis do that to my moms car and 3 studds broke off at he same time on the highway while they were taking my little brother to college, Its super dangerous.
Technically, not everyone even understands why it's called an impact wrench. Let's say you had some rims that cost $4,100 each like on a Alpina B7. Better yet, say it were a Bugatti Veyron (forget the number but astronomical, isn't an oil change on that car like $20k?). That's gonna be a hand remove lugs, and hand tighten as well. Impact wrenches have a hammering effect--ever see what the socket looks like after a single use? But on everyday 100k cars, I think impact wrenches are ok for removal only....
5 Tools You are Using Wrong
