OK - I finally got tired of looking at my plain black 15s w/ Blizzaks. My new set isn't here yet, so I reinstalled my 17" S-Lites (a real misnomer if you ask me.) I set my torque wrench to 70 ft/lbs and took a little drive then checked them again. Am I close? Should it be higher? Lower?

Thanks for the advice!

 

I think the torque for those bolts is 88 ft/lbs.

 

London - for your 2003, 88 lbf-ft is the correct torque setting.

 

95 just to be safe.. especially for painted wheels, then recheck.

if your like me your wheels are off every weekend so that isnt necessary

 

Thanks to all! I JUST took care of it. Aren't I supposed to recheck after a couple hundred miles?

Of course, I hope to have my new wheelset by then. I'll be sure and add a pic to the gallery.

 

Over-torquing wheels can cause rotors to warp! True warping is rare, but this is one condition where over-torquing will cause warping - it will occur under high heat loads. 12:00 then 6:00 then 9:00 then 3:00 - and that's the order. Basically begin with whcih ever lug nut you wish and call it 12:00 and follow the procedure. 88ftlbs is enough.

 

In addition, it's not a good idea to use the final torque value right from the start. I torque all four nuts in a criss-cross pattern to 45 lbf-ft, then repeat the procedure using 65 lbf-ft, and then once more using the final value (88 lbf-ft).

If you don't want to do that many steps, at least get all four nuts/bolts firmly seated before you set the wrench to the final value and start torquing down. The conical shoulders on the nuts/bolts will center and align the wheel on the hub as you're tightening them, but if you insert the first bolt and immediately torque it all the way down to its final value, you'll bind the wheel in place, and the other three bolts might not end up centered in their holes as you tighten them.

 

Man I love this place! Yeah I knew about the tighten sequence, so I am good there. I hadn't thought about the rotor warp possibilities, so thanks for the heads-up on that one.

Y'all are the best...

 

This procedure is new to me...I was under the impression that torquing should - after your initial suggestion of 45lbs in this case - should continue in a rather smooth and continuous motion until the desired value is reached. I believe the reasoning has something to do with the momentum and or the force required to ovecome friction from another mid-value - 65lbs - torque setting??? Though I'm not sure.

I do snug things up, and then continue onto the desired torque setting in one motion - assuming their is room ...perhaps this is wrong.

 

Pretty damn good for a doctor...You are correct!