Anybody have problems with Ford over torquing the lug nuts?

I just recently got my tires rotated at Ford (Works package, oil change, ect) and after that developed a slight vibration through the steering wheel. So I went to my tire shop today to get the tires re-balanced and they couldn't get the lugs off. Said they tried five different impacts and none of them could get them off.

Then thinking about it when I took my wheels off to do the leveling kit I had to use a breaker bar with a cheater bar to get the lugs off, also after being at Ford.

I'm going to go bust some heads on Monday, what if I was on the side of the road with a flat? I wouldn't be able to change the tire!

Anybody else have this issue with their dealer? The torque spec for an 04-08 is 150 ft/lbs right?

 

I never had this problem, but I am also rotate my own tires. I would be chewing some rear at the dealership if I were you. And yes the correct torque is 150 lbft.

 

I would definitely talk to them about this. An unfortunate side effect of over-tightening the lugs can be warped brake rotors. That could be the vibe you experience from the steering wheel. I wish you luck.

 

Dealerships normally have the compressor pressure set at about 175 lbs. Your not gonna get that much at the wrench but still when you have the compressor set that high, even a normal impact is capable of some awesome power. The tire shop may not have theirs set near that high. 150 ft. lbs. of torque is a lot. I ALWAYS torque my wheels and when I take them back off I have to use a breaker bar, even when they're torqued at 150. It's not good to have a flat out on a dark night and not be able to get your wheel off after you've made a pretzel out of you lug wrench is it?

 

I have a air-hydro pressure tester that only takes 80 psi of air to produce 5000 psi of hydraulic pressure. 175 psi sounds like a lot for shop air lol. I remember stretching and breaking bolts on a harmonic damper with a 500 ft-lb impact wrench and it only operated on 90 psi shop air (noob mistake... I know -- it was a long time ago).

It should be noted that it's improper procedure to use air tools to torque fasteners in the first place, though. I don't like to tell people how to do their job, but I always make sure my lug nuts are torqued with the proper tools. Also, I don't think most places apply anti-sieze compound to lug bolts very often. It makes a huge difference when one has to loosen them later on.

 

it doesn't matter what the shop air pressure is set to


no self respecting tire shop installs rims with an air gun. they may use the gun to run the lugs up snug, but a good reputable shop will always break out a torque wrench and do the final tightening by hand in the star pattern.



@OP
I wouldn't be surprised if your vibration is because the wheel is too tight, and they didin't torque it down in a star pattern.

 

Lucy, you got some splainin to do.

 

Exactly, you never, ever use an impact to tighten the lugs. Most shops are in the habit of it because the people are lazy and can't be bothered to use a torque wrench to do it right.

 

I have yet to see a tire shop use a torque wrench.

We have experienced several warped wheels on our 2006 F150's when we have to use any of the local tire shops.

we have a large farm shop and can do most repairs, but we have never added tire balancing or alignment equipment, we normally use local shops for those tasks

We have tried to get them to use a lug wrench, specifically the one we keep with each truck, we put a 4 way wrench on or in each car and truck

sometimes the tire shop will be willing, but most refuse citing liability issues, that they must use the impact wrench.

yesterday we rotated the tires on my F150 and one side came off with the 4 way ut the other side would not bulge. we tried the 1/2" impact and they would not buldge, so we went to the 3/4 set at 250 ft lbs they came off hard.

they went back on with the 4 way.

I am glad i was not on the side of the road with a flat.

I spoke to the owner of the shop yesterday afternoon and got the usual garbage

I should have taken it to him to remove with the 4-way, but he would have refused

I have asked shops if they use a torque to set the torque and get funny looks

most shops have no clue what the ft lbs setting is

 

then you should explain to them the fact that if they warp a wheel, they are buying said wheel's replacement.


the industry standard is to use a torque wrench

Ford specifically says to use a torque wrench and tighten to 150 ft-lbs



and saying liability + impact gun in the same sentence means that the shop is utterly worthless and you should spend your money elsewhere.



it takes maybe 5 minutes longer to use a torque wrench. there is lazy, and then there is just incompetance.

 

That sucks. I bet they just hammered away with the impact wrench, tightening them way beyond, then put the torque wrench on and it clicked right away.
There is one tire shop I used to go to and they ALWAYS over-tightened everything. I think they broke 2-3 wheel studs over the years even. I would even see them use the torque wrench, watch it click, and they would still put their weight on the end and keep going. ARG!
Obviously I stopped using them when I moved and found other shops, but man was it frustrating. Every time I tried to take them off myself I had to use a 1/2" breaker bar and a pipe over the end and hang on it. Retarded. Idiots can't be trained to use a torque wrench properly I guess, I didn't think it was a difficult task..

On the other hand, when I paid a shop to fix the pinion seal on the front of my sport trac, he didn't tighten anything down. Caliper bolt came out on the highway, caliper locked in the wheel, and when I checked both front wheels had 4/5 lugnuts finger tight. I could literally turn them by hand. I was surprised that I couldn't feel it at all while driving!

 

we have had 6 warped wheels so far on the 2006's

it took 3 to find the real problem as warped wheels

the tire dealers deny any responsibility for warped rims.

while we were messing with my tires, we replaced the first set of tires on the 2006's. we can not complain, we got 90,000 miles on the set, they were special ordered option michelins, the truck spends its life on the road, so it gets road miles and not city twisting and turns. on this truck we removed the rims and sent to the tire shop tohave the new tires mounted and balanced. we them put the wheels back on the truck. this one truck has not had an alignment since the factory, tires wore square, we probally will not alaign at this time, we know, not the norm, but 90,000 miles, something must be right, we do not expect any of the other trucks to get any where near that mileage. several of the ohers have had aliganments

since we have a farm shop we are going to do more and more of our work we have always done a lot but the incompedence and lazyness is forcing use to do more

on the initial warped wheels, when we figurered out the problem, the tire shops woould not accept responsibility for the damage, but were more than ready to sell us replacement wheels ford chrome clad wheels at a cost in excess of $400.00 per wheel, yet right, little did they know we can buy at the dealer the same wheel at $150.00 the first, the last sixth was $170.00.
we will buy the wheel and have tire mounted and we will reinstall the wheel in our shop

they ruin our rims and then stick us for the replacement.

about 2 months ago one of the sister in laws had a flat in Mobile, she tried to change, same problem, she was unable to get off, the car had had an alaignment at a shop and the shop swapped the tires, and did the alaignment. we did not want the swap, but the car had a wear pattern and needed to be checked.

she called several of us and one of the rare times that we were all busy, so she called a sister in law, who went to out shop and got the farm shop truck that has a compressor, air jacks amd impact tools.

when the sister in law got to her they changed the tires, much to the surprise of 2 police officers who offered to help, when I got to the parking lot where they were, the officers told me they were stubborn and told them thanks, but we can do it ourselves

the cops were impressed, they said most women have no clue what to do much less the ability to do the work. They were impressed at how they knew the tools and what to do. I told the officers that a lot of farm wives know things that a city girl woiuld be unable to do, besides these ladies work out, I would not like to meet them in an alley.

we hate being stopped on side of the road and no way to remove a tire.

we are lucky, we can usually get the service shop truck there faster than road service (AAA) and most of them use and impact wrench and we have had problems with that too.

just another issue to be a problem

 

I'm sure it does make a big difference if you use anti-sieze on the lugs, but as far a I know, ALL car manufacturers explicitely state... NO lube on wheel lugs! Almost a guarantee that on a winding mountain road that you're gonna have lug nuts loosening.

 

I'm sure you are right, that there are areas of the country that you wouldn't catch anyone using a torque wrench, but in our area (So.Cal.) every time I have had anything done (balance, replacement, new wheels, whatever) in the last 15 yrs. they have always used a toque wrench. And they definitely have the charts of torque settings, and they use them. I always do my own X-switch's and I have torqued my wheels for the last 20 yrs. or more. I have 5 torque wrenches and you better believe they get used on everything!

 

I have only seen one tire shop ever use a torque wrench and that was when I went to Oregon last summer. I got a nail in one of my front tire's and went to a small tire store in town and the guy used an impact to get the lug nutt's tight then used a torque wrench to set all the nutt's at the proper torque spec's. Every tire shop I've used in Louisiana tighten's the nutt's so tight that you have to use a 3' breaker bar to loosen them.