I will be ready to paint my calipers in a few days. Last month, I took my rims off to give them and the caliprs,springs, etc. a thorough cleaning. When i put the wheels back on, i tightened the lugnuts a tight as possible w/ the Lexus wrench. That night i was driving home, and heard this noise. The lug nuts had loosened up and one was about to come off.:eek: :eek: This time, I am thinking about tightening them w/ our lug nut tightener. Bear w/ me i dunno what its called, but it is in the shape of a + and has three different fittings for three different size lug nuts and on the 4th side, the end is thin, like a phillips screwdriver. Anyways, would this be sufficient to use in tightening the lug nuts?????

 

The cross lug nuts is better than factory one, but you still don't know the exact ft-lbs. You could be over tighten it or under tighten still like last month.
It is better if you buy a "Torque Wrench"; go to Sears and get the torque wrench and a 21" socket if your 92 SC300 lug nuts are the same as my SC400 . After you tighten as much as possible all the nuts with the wheel off the ground, lower the wheel until it touch the ground, tighten the nuts again with the torque wrench set it at 76 ft-lbs. Then lower the wheel completely and take the jack out

Remember to alternate nut when you're tighten

That way you'll know that you tight the wheel correctly.

 

VQT, how much should a tourque wrench cost????

 

make sure you check the nuts and retighten after driving on them the first time around. Torque wrenches usually run about $50 for a decent one. For your purposes, make sure it is long enough to give you the appropriate leverage. Do not overtighten as you can damage/break the stud bolts. You might also think about applying some anti-sieze compound on the threads.

 

The one I bought from Sears cost me about $70 + tax, I never saw them on sale

 

The one I bought from Sears cost me about $70 + tax, I never saw them on sale

 

Bought my torque wrench (fairly high quality one) at Sears for $99.

Learned the hard way. Over torqued my lugs nuts several times to the point where I had to replace the wheel locks with the actual nuts.

 

sc400 - I brought the same one as you . I brought it to install my stb .