In mounting my race tires for a track day this weekend, my torque wrench malfuntioned & I overtorqued 8-12 nuts, without immediately realizing it. When I went back to double check I found that I had stripped, or damaged, most of them. Fortunately the lugs were fine, the nuts were made of softer material and gave way first. So I was able to remount my snow tires & do the track day on them. In order to prevent a repeat of this I am getting a new torque wrench. Does anyone know what the recommended torque setting is for the stock wheel/nuts? I have been using 85 lbs.

 

It's 73~75 ft*lbs. According to the service manual at least.

The tech guys always give me grief during inspection at HPDE's because all the porsches and bimmers are in the 85-90 ft*lbs area. They walk around with their own TQ wrench check TQ. BACK OFF I say!

BTW, what TQ wrench were you using? I bought a Craftsman TQ wrench that reads up to 80 ft*lbs. I have it calibrated for free annually.

 

85lbs of torque. thats too much. i usually do jus 80 . u can do 75. but 80 is tops. if u have a torque stick that would work so u wont over torque it.

 

I use 90, especially when autocrossing.

 

The torque wrench was an el cheepo. I'll invest in something decent this next time. My friend who was with me in his BMW M-3 said spec on his lugnuts was 73. That seemed way too low since my Miata had a range of 75-80 & I routinely did 85 for track work.

 

How's the car on snows.. is it total crazy drift machine?

 

Lots of tire noise, that's for sure. I was able to keep up with comparable cars on race rubber (M-3's, Acura NSX, Boxster, etc). It was fun when we'd talk afterwards & they'd say "You were really giving me a battle out there!" & I'd say "Yeah, pretty good for snow tires". I did the same track last summer on Advans and the snows only gave up 1 1/2- 2 seconds a lap.

 

I also use a Craftsman TQ wrench. I set mine to 85lbs. On all my cars.

 

73lbs +/- 7 in the service manual. cincievo if you need to borrow a torque wrench I've got a snap on clicker and digital.

 

Thanks Jamie, but I do enuf wheel changing to warrant buying a replacement, of higher quality.