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Step 1
Use a hydraulic jack to safely lift your vehicle off the jack stands. Take the jack stands out from under the vehicle and look to make sure there is nothing else under the vehicle that could damage the undercarriage when you set it back down. This is a good time to look for forgotten tools, too.
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Step 2
Gently let the vehicle down with the jack by loosening the screw on the side of the jack. Once the vehicle is down on the ground, remove the jack from beneath it and prepare to tighten the lug nuts.
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Step 3
Use a torque wrench to tighten the lug nuts for all of the tires you took off or replaced the lug nuts for. The torque should be around 100-foot pounds for aluminum rims and 80-foot pounds for steel rims. Check your vehicle's manual for more specific torque settings.
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Step 4
Tighten the lug nuts in a star pattern starting at the bottom. It doesn't matter if the star pattern goes to the left or the right, but this is the proper way to tighten your lug nuts. Tight lug nuts are extremely important to the safety of you and other drivers when you are out on the road.
