A retired guy in Spokane told me to stop torqueing lug nuts by feel, and a comeback job proved him right

Evan Jackson · 2026-10-10T18:30:03.24754+00:00

I was at a tire shop in Spokane grabbing a coffee last week and got talking to a retired tech named Ray. He asked how I set torque on wheels and I said I just run them down with the impact and give it a good ugga dugga. He laughed and said he had done the same for 20 years, then a guy came back with warped rotors and two studs stretched on a 2016 Silverado. Ray said he bought a $90 click type wrench after that and never had a wheel come back. Three days later I had a customer return complaining about a shimmy at 60 mph, and sure enough the front lugs were at 140 ft lbs instead of 100. I bought the wrench that afternoon. Do you guys actually use a torque stick on every wheel or just when you have time?

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A retired guy in Spokane told me to stop torqueing lug nuts by feel, and a comeback job proved him right | Auto Mechanics - HW Forums