Rotating Tires: Torque Important?

[MrFoggy]

also this coming week is craftman days. So 10% off if you have a craftsman's card.

Wanna let me borrow yours? (wiggle)

 

[Action Jackson]

87 lbs/ft using star pattern. Rotate at every oil change which is every 6000km for me.

 

[Rock]

ok guys I'll help you out

OK guys I'll help you out if you do your own rotations.
Ok before you remount your wheels inspect the assembly for rust,dirt,etc.
The assembly is consisted of the Studs and rotor where the wheel lines up against.
I usually use a wire brush to scrap all those materials off esp on the studs as that is a common cause for lugs to get crossthreaded.
If your lugs were fairly difficult to remove, it'll be a good idea to put some anit-sieze on the studs after you have cleaned them off.
Now mount your wheel onto the assembly, making sure it's flush against the hub. You do this to prevent crossthreading lugs and misaligning the assembly.
next manually put all the lugs on and screw them a few times to make sure they don't get crossthreaded.
If you are using an impact wrench don't have it tuned to more than 80psi,(to prevent overtorquing if you screw up)and bolt em up till the lug "snaps" into place. After it snaps just feather the trigger lightly for 1 second.
Finally drop the car after all four wheels are mounted and torque em to 80lb.ft.
Overview:
1)Inspect assembly, clean hub and studs
2)mount wheel flush against hub
3)manually screw each lug onto the assembly screwing 2to 3 turns to prevent crossthreading
4)bolt up in a star pattern to insure even assembly.
5)tighten in a star pattern
6) drop vehicle and torque to manufacturers specs.: 80ft.lbs
a)torque in a star pattern, don't snap or speed click the torque wrench as it doesn't ensure an accurate torque rating
b) double check torque in a circle pattern, to ensure you didn't miss any lugs and make sure the torque is corect.

Ok guys there ya go
Also rotation should be every 6-8k mi. so every other oil change if you do it every 3kmi.

 

[Flipper]

Inexpensive torque wrench

Quick threadjack. What kind of prices did you guys pay for your torque wrenchs? Just curious.

I just got mine this weekend at Sear's Hardware for $19.99 minus 10% for Craftsman Club membership. It's a simple "beam" type torque wrench. Rather than click at the desired setting, it has a very simple indicator at the end of a rod that moves along a dial as the torque wrench bends a little. The more torque applied, the more the wrench bends and the more torque indicated on the guage. This works perfectly fine - simple physics. The plus is that there is no mechanism to break. The drawback is that you have to be looking at the guage while torquing instead of just feeling for the click in the other type. Rotating tires on 2 cars isn't worth the extra money for me.

Those clicker-types sell for about $60 for a Craftsman, but I saw several on the web for about $25 - $45. Just make sure you get the right torque range. Smaller ones will not go high enough for the torque required for our wheel nuts.

 

[grindMARC]

A couple of thoughts.... there's a device called a torque stick that fits on the end of your impact wrench and limits the torque. They come in ~5 pound increments. Harbor Frieght has SETS of them, but some dude sells them individually on ebay for about $18.

Am I the only one that torques at a lower setting first and then goes up to the final setting? I usually do ~50 all the way around and then move it up to 75 ft/lbs. for the final tightening.

 

[gino]

...Also rotation should be every 6-8k mi. so every other oil change if you do it every 3kmi.

Rotation of any radial tire is front to back on the same side of the car. If you rotate as they used to with bias-ply tires--crossing over in an "X" pattern--you can have problems with belt separation in a radial.

 

[Rock]

I agree gino, but I never stated how one should rotate thier tires...
when rotating you always rotate front to back unless you have 2 different size tires or 2 different speed rated tires then you would do a side to side rotation, like this:

LF <---> RF

LR <---> RR

You cannot have 2 different size tires or speed rated tires on each side for example LF is a Z rated tire and RF is a H rated tire. This is bad.

 

[gino]

You cannot have 2 different size tires or speed rated tires on each side for example LF is a Z rated tire and RF is a H rated tire. This is bad.

(rlaugh)Reminds of a guy I knew in high school who put 4 unmatched tires on his car and couldn't figure out why it pulled so badly...

 

[Flipper]

Am I the only one that torques at a lower setting first and then goes up to the final setting? I usually do ~50 all the way around and then move it up to 75 ft/lbs. for the final tightening.

It's always good to start at a lower torque and work your way up to the final torque. Starting with the final torque could cock the wheel and it might not be set right in the end. I know this from tightening big pipe flanges, having worked in the chemical industry.

Here I'm the guy who started this thread! I should've trusted my experience and gotten the torque wrench without asking. Oh well - done deal now. Still haven't rotated tires yet, but the oil change was a piece of cake.