Torque Wrenches are 50% off until Friday at Canadian Tire

[AudubonB]

Rats - my friend never saw any Canadian Tires open when he drove back to Alaska 2 weeks ago - he knew to be on the lookout for them and this to pick one up for me. At that price, I sure would like that 1/2" one....

on edit - just found out he's hauling fuel throughout Yukon - from Haines to Dawson City - all winter, so I've alerted him to check out the Whitehorse store. Interesting to learn if they have them there....

 

[agileone]

I bought the 1/2" last year and it works great. At 54$, it is a great value.
You will need to add a 3 inch extender when using it, as the head does not rotate and you end up with the handle scratching the side panels.

 

[KenN]

mknox, I've done my own tire rotations/changes for 20+ years always put a thin layer of white lithium bearing grease on the studs. Never had a wheel come loose.

I choose the bearing grease as it's made for high pressures without breaking down.

 

[CaptainKirk]

On a related note, is anyone using any kind of anti-sieze on the lug threads at tire change time? I have always heard you shouldn't, but when I swapped the tires on my wife's car, I snapped off five (5) lugs removing the summer tires. They were not over-torqued or anything like that. The bolt just seems to have rusted to the nut, and when I applied pressure with my breaker bar, it just snapped. One (1) broke on me last year, too.

As I did a little Googling on this, there seems to be those in favor of a little grease or anti-seize on the threads.

No problem with the lugs and nuts on my Model S, but as I think about using something on my wife's car, I'm wondering about the Tesla too.

My dad who's a retired industrial machinist has always instructed me to apply a little bit of anti-seize during each tire rotation. He refers to it as giving your car some TLC and having pride of ownership because "nobody else will care for your car as much". I apply anti-seize to the wheel studs? and some to centre ring? as well (sorry if I used the incorrect terms).

 

[mknox]

The shop that repaired my broken studs slathered them with what looks like graphite when they re-mounted the tires. I think I'll go with the anti-seize in future.

 

[Doug_G]

I offered to have one of the local guys bring his car over to put the winter wheels on recently - he got caught out with the summer wheels when the snow hit (it's since melted).

The tire shop (a well-known chain!) that put his summers on must have used an impact wrench. The rears were massively overtorqued and the lug nuts were ruined. They had twisted slightly and the driver wouldn't go on - had to use one size up to get them off. And it took a LOT of force on the breaker bar - it must have been 200 ft lbs! And the fronts were actually undertorqued!!!

Fortunately his winter wheels had a separate set of lugs. He's going to have to buy new lugs for his summer wheels.

Goes to show - you're way better off doing this yourself!!! Or get Tesla to do it. Don't trust the tire monkeys.

 

[mrElbe]

I once mistakenly had the local Cdn Tire mount my Mercedes 560SEL winter tires. They were on so tight that using a breaker bar, the bolts sheared at the neck. Of course one sheared off per wheel. Trying to drill them out was futile. Only way I could get the rims off was to core drill them with a 30mm bit. Of course the rims were toast. Lesson learned. These impact gun artists have the gun at max for removal and never reset them when they mount the rims.

 

[mknox]

In my case, I had mounted the wheels and torqued them to spec very carefully as I always do. When I went to put the winters in it was as if the nuts had rusted solid to the studs. Five snapped flush with the rotors. I think I'll go with a little anti-seize on the threads in future. (Note: this was my wife's ICE, not the Tesla). I haven't had any issues swapping the Tesla wheels but am debating using anti-seize on it too the next time.

 

[mrElbe]

In my case, I had mounted the wheels and torqued them to spec very carefully as I always do. When I went to put the winters in it was as if the nuts had rusted solid to the studs. Five snapped flush with the rotors. I think I'll go with a little anti-seize on the threads in future. (Note: this was my wife's ICE, not the Tesla). I haven't had any issues swapping the Tesla wheels but am debating using anti-seize on it too the next time.

Probably a good idea with the high torque specs for Tesla wheels. Just re-torque every now and then to make sure they did not loosen.

 

[SMSMD]

Great deals right now. On sale for 125.99 GST included. Regular price 279.99

Mastercraft and Maximum individual wrenches and breaker bars also on sale.

 

[sakimano]

That's the same torque wrench I use. Works well.

Tip: to maintain accuracy, reset it to zero after each use.

Pro tip

 

[Lon12]

I keep forgetting to reset to zero.... thanks for the reminder.