Went out to the garage last night to do a simple "in between" oil change and tire rotation on my '05 S. However, the drain plug was in so tight I rounded off the bolt head trying to get it off and had to resort to vise-grips to get it off. Luckily the filter cannister came off with no issue.

On to the tire rotation. No problem on the left side, so on to the right. My impact wrench couldn't take off lug bolts off the right front. I have an 18" breaker bar and by me (165 pounds) jumping on it I was able to loosen the bolts. I estimate that was about 240 ft lbs of torque - about 3 X what it should be. The car was at the dealer last week getting a noise diagnosed in the right front.

I called the service writer to day to complain. Naturallly they admitted no wrong doing and told me that if I had brought the car to them instead of doing it myself I wouldn't have had these problems. However, he did state that they use airguns to tighten lugs and told me that the wheel bolt torque spec is 180 pounds. Yes, 180. Sounds about 100 pounds hight to me.

Bottom line: they are sending me a new drain plug and 4 new wheel bolts. I'm happy about that, but not about why they have to do it.

 

According to Bentley, the torque specs are like 87-93lb-ft per wheel bolt. Prolly somewhere near 200 lb-ft came out of that impact gun. Techs don't care when they're getting paid flat rate to fix your car. Instead of taking 5 seconds to get a torque stick to tighten wheels, they just balst them with their Snap-On gun on 11.

 

Son of Kong works at my dealership. Yep way tight drain plug & filter housing. I told the SA at my last service not to let son of Kong do it. I'll find out in another 5,000 miles if Kong was there.

 

my local dealer did that to me on my front right lugs too a few months
ago.

it's too common...

 

I had to use an 18" breaker on my drain plug.
I am surprised that a Mini service center would use an impact gun to put wheels on. My dealer said that they do all wheel installs with hand wrenches.
I guess everybody is different. ;(

 

They do use a torque wrench, they just go about half way past the "click" indicator.

 

I see this a lot at the track - people yanking on the torque wrench rather than tightening smoothly and slowly, so they end up going 45 or 90 degrees past the "click".

I suspect that they mistakenly believe that once the wrench clicks, it doesn't apply any more torque to the bolt.

 

That's a great way to throw a torque wrench out of calibration as well. Once it clicks, apply no more torque!!

 

My dealer over-torqued my drain plug too, after the car was past the 'free service' part. They agreed to provide free labor the next time the oil needed changing.

 

[quote=Super Coop;1891164]Went out to the garage last night to do a simple "in between" oil change and tire rotation on my '05 S. However, the drain plug was in so tight I rounded off the bolt head trying to get it off and had to resort to vise-grips to get it off. quote]

Same thing happened to me, and used the vice grips also. So I switched to a fumoto valve. I think the drain bolt actually has too small of a head for the diameter of the threads.

 

Is it safe to use a breaker bar on the drain plug? should i squirt the plug with something first to ease the release? cause mine is not going anywhere... Afraid im gonna strip the pan...

 

That's a frustrating experience to go through, but unfortunately not all that uncommon.

I know MINI recommends about 90 lbs.ft. as the stock lug nut torque, but I torque mine to at least 110. For a car that can do 100mph+, 90 lbs.ft. just doesn't seem enough for me. Anyone feel the same?

Ah, for the days of knockoffs that simply spun on tighter as you drove. Wheel torque? Just carry a knockoff wrench and a BIIIG hammer.

 

on the Fumoto...

 

I like the idea of the fumoto valve, just not sure I trust them...............

Buy a 6 point socket from Sears for $6 or so and use that on your drain plug, then you won't round it off. Make sure the socket is squarely on the bolt and apply torque at 90* to the direction of the bolt. I've seen many people round things off by mis-application or using the wrong tool.

Never use a crescent wrench or channel locks on a drain plug...........

A little extra torque on the lug bolts won't hurt them, but getting them even is very important, hence the proper use of a torque wrench. If it took over 200 lb ft to get those lugs loose, I'd be worried that the threads were stretched and I'd consider replacing them.

 

Removing the drain bolt at this point will not strip the pan - it's either damaged already or not. And the bolt HAS to come out. Use a breaker bar or hand held impact wrench and be smooth in your use of force. Here's my $.02 on overtightend drain bolts (post #20):

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=131129

 

Make sure to use either a six point socket or a six point box wrench. If you don't you run the risk of rounding the drain plug head off. Sometimes it helps to cuss a bit while doing this job.

 

I have to cuss ALOT

 

Truest statement of the day!

 

Yes 6 point socket and an impact driver tool. An impact driver tool is a great hand tool to have for this type of issue. Motorcycle mechanics use these to loosen case screws/bolts.

 

Nice car in your sig................

 

BTW FWIW I do all my maintanence on my MINI and here are my results.
I hit my lugs with the impact driver set on middle setting about 50ftlbs and then torque to 95ftlbs (I autox alot and never lost a lug) I change my wheels alot. The oil drain plug (I replace everytime) is torqued to 25ftlbs and never a leak. I guess the Bently manual has good info in it. My $.02

 

THATS GERMAN TIGHTENING. " GOOD EN TIGHT" IS THE SPEC I BELIEVE

 

Better than some methods I've seen, such as the "torque it 'till it strips, then back it off a quarter turn" philosophy...

 

I've had Fumoto on my Bimmer, S2K and Mini. The S2K is slammed and it's never had any problems. Highly recommend this valve if you do your own oil changes.

Best,
T.

 

We torque the racer's wheels to 90lbs - these are VW's with alloy wheels and race slicks. They don't hit 100mph except at the ends of the straights but the cars do get tossed around much more extremely than a street car; race slicks can put a lot more lateral force upon a rim than DOT street tires are likely to see.

I'd stick to specs; Hondas were once known to get warped wheels with too tight lugs, I would wonder if over tightened lugs might even stretch just a little or be weakened or pull out of the hub?