hi... i have an 09 JCW MCS... i was just rotating my tires yesterday (just to keep even wear)... and was surprised... i had my car in for service at the dealer a little while back... i want to go back and complain... the bolts on my front tires were put back on sooooo tight... i couldnt get them off.... i used a breaker bar, but ended up snapping my socket wrench... (craftsman so ill get it replaced)... this was a 1/2"... so on my 2nd one... i got them loose... i swear, i thought my breaker bar was going to break...

i cant find my manual... what's the standard setting the wheel bolts? i suspect that the service techs didnt even bother to use a torque wrench... it seems as if they felt fine to just impact the ***** out of the bolts until they were practically cemented in...

i believe it was their doing because they never touched the rear wheels, the bolts came off without too much work, as would be expected...

i would guess that because the mini's dont have studs and lug nuts, but rather bolts that go in... that perhaps the torque setting should be a bit higher... but geez... you should have felt how tight on these bolts were.... i was pissed thinking about it as i was taking them off...

 

103 Ft/lbs

 

103 ft lbs is the recommended torque, I believe.

 

thanks!!!

 

sry im a noob at tools.
is there a special wrench that measures the force your applying?
if so how much and where can i get one?
thanks

 

Yep, you want to be looking for a torque wrench. They come in various price ranges. A good hardware or auto parts store should be carrying one.

 

This happened to me with my Jeep. The f'in idiots had it on there so tight, it almost broke the lug wrench and broke the locking lug nut. I suspect it may be a little joke they play on each other, or the owner. I was stranded with a flat and couldn't get the lugs off. I was pissed. Stupid little aholes. Find out who worked on your car and have them fired. They shouldn't be around cars.

 

and.... i will have a chance to chew them out... i'm taking my car in right now for a check engine light.... arggghh...

whatever it is... they'll probably blame me for rotating my tires...

 

buy one of these and use it to loosen lugs instead of a socket wrench.
http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/detail.jsp?ID=59

It's cheap and by the virtue of a design (only 1 moving part) it's nearly indestructible. it also extends to 2ft (the only moving part) so it means even if a lug is torqued to 200ft/lbs you only need to apply 100ft/lb at the end of the lever to loosen the lug. (i usually use my legs instead of my arms)

I bought one about 9 years ago and it has saved me and my friends butts many a times.

tirerack also has a good enough torque wrench (good enough for wheel lugs)
http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/...category=Tools

 

Also make sure that you use a 6 point socket, rather than a 12 point one.

 

I use the standard 1/2 17mm 6pt impact socket with the torque wrench. It works great!

 

tightening those down too much can ruin the bolt holes on your wheels.

 

Besides a torque wrench, I bought a long breaker bar, the 1/2" by 21 " long with a 3" extension which I like a lot better than the foldable breaker bars. But it is not very portable so I use it pretty much use it in the garage.

 

You want a torque wrench that will cover 103 ft. lbs. That would probably be a 10-150 ft. lbs. torque wrench. A reasonalble quality one can be had for starting around $40. I think I paid $60 or $70 at a NAPA auto supply, but it looks just like the one linked above. Mine has a different brand name label stuck on, but probably the same thing. Even the case is identical. Contrary to the one review at Amazon, you can set it below 20 ft. lbs. I've used it for the oil filter at 18.5 ft. lbs. and 22 ft. lbs. for the oil drain plug. It is difficult to get it much above 110 ft. lbs. but you only need 103 for 2nd Gen. MINI wheels.

Stay away from the needle type torque wrenches. They are inexpensive, but not very accurate. The better quality wrenches are adjusted to a specific torque and click when it is reached.

Another useful item when rotating wheels is a wheel hanger. It needs to have 14M x 1.25 threads. Sometimes you can find them on ebay. It is essentially a rod with threads on the end. When you go to put a wheel on the MINI, you screw this into the highest lug hole. Then slip a lug hole in the wheel over the rod. It makes it easier to hold in place when you put the lug bolts in because it aligns the holes and keeps the wheel from falling off the hub.

 

You could try this one: http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...3524_200263524

 

The other side of the story:

Up 'til recently I'd have agreed with the last recommendations .... and then I stripped a lug...

I had an 'inexpensive' click type torque wrench that I was very familar with having used it for several years with no problem (came in a similar nice case too). Not long ago I was using it to tighten the lug nuts on my 79 - which uses a fairly low number of ft lbs and as I carefully turned away on the first lug of the wheel I began to think 'this is too much' but no click ... I backed off everything, reset and went at it again.... "too much" .. sure nuf just about that time I felt the sickening feel of the threads going south.



I bought a beam type wrench. These were around long before the clickers. Other than the type of material a beam is a beam is a beam and you can SEE exactly where you are force wize. Don't drop it an you should be fine for years and years altho the instructions in my box say you can bend the indicator back into place with no significant loss of accuracy for minor dings. True it is hard to read the thing in 1 ft lb increments.

A GOOD clicker is gonna cost over $100 .... and the aviation folks and other heavy users will tell you the clickers should be calibrated annually or when ever in question. High end clickers have a guage that allows you to see the actual force being applied as you get there..... (on my ships we had engines of 2500 hp and larger .... we used serious tools .... )

http://www.skhandtool.com/Default.as...e=10&pid=74450

My problem may have been trying to use a cheapy at the low end of it's range and one should appreciate that any low end tool like this is going to be OK in the middle of the range and perhaps questionable at the far end. And cheapy rated for over 100 ft lbs may be questionabe at the low tor' of a classic's wheel lugs. I'd proably have been fine with good judgement on this one vs a technical wrench {that's tight enuf}. MAYBE the lug or stud was bad .... but I'd used that same wrench on that wheel probably 20 times ....

I still have the wrench in question and rather than try to exercise the lifetime warranty (for a POS) I'm gonna get around to welding up a test bench where I can safetly tighten a bolt via the POS and use the beam to loosen and see how they compare. After all I can read the beam all the way thru.....

I'm trusting a beam over a clicker for the time being
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...=torque+wrench

 

I agree that a beam type is more accurate on the long run, provided it's not damaged. However, it does take a bit more skill to use correctly vs the click type.

I spent the money and bought 3 click type SK handtool torque wrenches in various range. I use the big one (50-150ft/lb) for wheels and wheels only. I have 2 other ones with the smallest one going from 12inch/lb to 120inch/lb. Worth every penny.

 

As an aviation type, I'll say that even beam-type torque wrenches should be checked regularly. A well adjusted click-type wrench is always more accurate than a beam because of the nature of the indicator, but for automotive uses the beam wrench is plenty accurate enough. The only time I wouldn't use a beam wrench is when assembling the internal parts of an engine.

The thing to remember with click wrenches is to store them set at zero, or minimum torque setting. Storing them for long periods with a non-zero setting eventually compresses the springs that make the wrench work, which throws off their accuracy.

 

'cept if a click is broken you'll know when????

and if a beam is off you'll be off by a few percent?

is a "well adjusted" the same as a $25 POS?

NO....

I always zero'd my POS .... a POS is a POS .... hard to miss zero on a beam!

Your choice ... a decent beam, $30 .... other than POS clicker....$125 +


BTW ... "I'll say that even beam-type torque wrenches should be checked regularly"

I don't disagree .... HOW????

Sounds to me like you bought the advertising w/out looking into the details. "A well adjusted click-type wrench is always more accurate than a beam because of the nature of the indicator " ... isn't a well adjusted wrench PROBABLY better than a not well adjusted wrench?

Is a $15 clicker from Harbor Freight better than a $30 beam from Craftsman? Opinion rather than fact .... ? That's why I'm planning to build a test bench (being one willing to go THAT far)

{btw I know some other automotive sites with really REALLY good TOOL threads if anyone is interested. NAM has been consistenly UNinterested in supporting one.....one I know has had a running torque wrench discussion for over 3 years!}

 

Captain:
The same way you test all torque wrenches, by placing a known load on the wrench. For bar wrenches, you observe the difference between the tester's torque and the torque reported by the wrench and you're done. For click wrenches, you set the wrench and apply the test load until it clicks, then adjust the wrench so it clicks at the right load. I've used a wrench tester, there was one in my A&P school.

I'm not talking about missing the zero. Click wrenches work by compressing an internal spring, which controls the force needed for the click to release. Storing click wrenches with that spring compressed eventually distorts and compresses the spring, which results in inaccurate torque wrench settings. Any piece of metal that gets bent eventually work-hardens. That changes the force needed to deflect the metal a given distance, which is the source of inaccuracies for all torque wrenches.

I haven't bought into any advertising, I'm simply stating what my experience has shown me over many years of working on machines, automotive and aviation. In addition, I'm a certificated aircraft mechanic with a bachelor's in Aeronautics, so I can even say I've studied this.

Look at it this way: twisting the handle of a click wrench to an exact setting is a lot easier than reading a bar wrench's torque application down to single digits on a scale that cover 150 ft-lbs over 5 inches. Does this make the click a better wrench?

No, not inherently. All this means is the click has the advantage when you want accuracy and consistency, particularly when tightening many fasteners. But the price of that advantage is greater expense and greater maintenance required for the same amount of ultimate accuracy, which renders the click inferior to the bar for many other jobs.

It's a matter of selecting the right tool for the job, not which one is better overall.

 

Lowes sells American made Torque Wrenches.
Ronnie948

 

I didn't know that, have to check that out. Not that I need another wrench.

 

I just have a mid-priced craftsman that seems to do the same job that my friend's expensive snap-on does... in any event, everyone should have one... including the dealer's mechanics!!!!

 

never trust anyone else w/ your car(s) is the lesson here. I've found stripped oil drain plugs, over and under tighten lug nuts, hoses that weren't tightened properly, etc... I do all maintence work myself now.