Pro tip: I torqued lug nuts to 150 ft lbs for a decade at my shop in Reno and that was a mistake

Leo Kelly · 2026-10-02T16:15:06.543191+00:00

I always figured tighter meant safer, so every car that rolled through my bay got the impact gun on max and a final ugga dugga pass. About 8 months ago a regular brought back his F150 with warped rotors and a stud snapped clean off, and my stomach dropped when I checked the spec, which was 150 ft lbs on paper but the wheels had been way past that. The tipping point was a young guy I hired who asked why I never used a torque wrench, and I had no good answer besides habit. I bought a $90 click type wrench that week and started actually looking up specs instead of guessing. Turned out I had been stretching studs on half the cars I touched, and two customers had already paid other shops to fix my work without knowing it was me. Any of you had to own up to a bad habit you ran for way too long?

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Pro tip: I torqued lug nuts to 150 ft lbs for a decade at my shop in Reno and that was a mistake | Auto Mechanics - HW Forums