Back in the day I'd just guess at torque specs, now I look them up every time

I used to think I could feel out lug nut torque by the sound of the impact, especially on older cars. Last year, I warped a rotor on a customer's Civic because I over-tightened them. Since then, I grab the manual or my phone app for every single job, no matter how simple. It adds maybe a minute but saves a ton of headache. Anyone else make that switch after a specific mess-up?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricia_schmidt141mo ago

Honestly, I was the same way for years, thought I had a good feel for it. What changed for me was stripping out a drain plug on my neighbor's lawnmower. It was such a simple job that I got lazy, and that little repair turned into a huge hassle. Now I just grab the torque wrench for peace of mind, even on small engines.

joelh641mo ago

My old boss used to say "tight is tight" until we snapped a caliper bracket bolt on a Ford F-150. That was a five hundred dollar lesson. Now my torque wrench is the first tool out of the box for anything critical, even oil pan plugs.

jessica_ross381mo ago

I get the lesson, but I still think "tight is tight" works fine for most non-critical fasteners.