Wheel Torque Procedures

Course Summary

To understand how and why you correctly torque wheel nuts

If the wheel nuts are too tight, they can cause severe problems such as stripping the fastener threads or stretching the wheel studs. They could also warp the brake drums, brake discs or wheel hubs. With loose nuts, meanwhile, there’s a small risk that the wheel could come off while you’re on the road.

To tighten wheel nuts correctly requires a special tool called a torque wrench.

The technician will initially set the torque wrench to half of the required torque and tighten each wheel nut according to this setting. Then the setting on the wrench is adjusted to tighten all the wheel nuts to the correct torque.

The wheel nuts are tightened in a specific sequence to provide the proper torque. The correct order for any wheel with five or ten wheel nuts is a star-shaped pattern. A wheel with only four wheel nuts, meanwhile, is tightened in the shape of a cross.