Check your lug nut torque!

[BrakeDome]

Hi all,

Lately while driving, I felt like there was a slight vibration in the steering wheel, that I didn’t really remember feeling before. Since I only have about 5500 miles (so haven’t rotated tires yet), I decided I would check the lug nuts and just make sure they were fully torqued down.

To my surprise, each wheel was WELL below factory spec. I know this because when I set the 129 value on my torque wrench, I unknowingly was looking at the N-m scale and not lb-ft. 129 N-m is about 95 lb-ft and yet when I initially tighten down the lug nuts, i would guess it traveled between 3/4 - 1in. below it clicked.

Fortunately, for some reason I felt like re-checking the settings on the torque wrench, and that’s when I caught that I set it to 129 N-m! I was like “no way!”

I went ahead and set it properly to 129 lb-ft, and the damn thing traveled another 1 to 1 1/2 in. before it clicked again.

I took it for a quick spin around the neighborhood and didn’t notice the vibration, but it could just be my mind convincing me that was the issue. I’ll have a better idea tomorrow when I drive my normal commute.

In any case just wanted to share with my fellow forum mates and would highly recommend you take a few minutes and check your lug nut torque, and if you don’t know how, ask a friend, or stop by a local tire shop and see if they’d check it for you.

 

[KenC]

Good tip. When I rotated my tires at 6000 miles, I first checked the factory-set torque by checking with 129ft-lbs, and it tightened up some more! It felt like only 100ft-lbs from the factory, to me.

 

[M109Rider]

Hi all,

Lately while driving, I felt like there was a slight vibration in the steering wheel, that I didn’t really remember feeling before. Since I only have about 5500 miles (so haven’t rotated tires yet), I decided I would check the lug nuts and just make sure they were fully torqued down.

To my surprise, each wheel was WELL below factory spec. I know this because when I set the 129 value on my torque wrench, I unknowingly was looking at the N-m scale and not lb-ft. 129 N-m is about 95 lb-ft and yet when I initially tighten down the lug nuts, i would guess it traveled between 3/4 - 1in. below it clicked.

Fortunately, for some reason I felt like re-checking the settings on the torque wrench, and that’s when I caught that I set it to 129 N-m! I was like “no way!”

I went ahead and set it properly to 129 lb-ft, and the damn thing traveled another 1 to 1 1/2 in. before it clicked again.

I took it for a quick spin around the neighborhood and didn’t notice the vibration, but it could just be my mind convincing me that was the issue. I’ll have a better idea tomorrow when I drive my normal commute.

In any case just wanted to share with my fellow forum mates and would highly recommend you take a few minutes and check your lug nut torque, and if you don’t know how, ask a friend, or stop by a local tire shop and see if they’d check it for you.

If your lugs were loose enough to cause a vibration, they would have not been tight at all, so that wasn’t likely the source.

Neither a lug nut at 80 pounds nor 129 pounds would produce a vibration.
So it’s likely something else.

Always good to check them though.

 

[BrakeDome]

If your lugs were loose enough to cause a vibration, they would have not been tight at all, so that wasn’t likely the source.

Neither a lug nut at 80 pounds nor 129 pounds would produce a vibration.
So it’s likely something else.

Always good to check them though.

Seems like you are right. I drove to work today and I still did feel the same slight vibration I did prior to tightening the lug nuts.

Once it comes time to swap to winter rims later this year, I’ll take these ones and have the balance checked out.

 

[Dan203]

Had this problem with my BMW so took it to a buddy who works at the Costco tire center. He said the tires weren’t even round. They shaved a bit off which helped the vibration, but didn’t eliminate it completely. When the tires wore out and I replaced them the vibration went away immediately.