How to Torque a Vehicle's Lug Nuts

Video Transcript

"In this clip, we're going to talk about the proper service procedure for removing and replacing a front strut on a front-wheel drive vehicle. In this step, we're going to talk about the proper service procedure for torquing your vehicle's lug nuts. What I have here is my four way and we're going to use what they call the star method. The star method is going to have me starting off at the lowest lug nut. I'm going to use this one here as my bottom. I'm going to torque that down to approximately a hundred foot pounds. And from there, I'm going to go to here. From here to here, from here to here and here to here. The reason why you torque it in that star patten is to ensure that the vehicle seats or the vehicle's wheels seats flat and true to the hub mating surface. If you just torque it all the way around, your wheel will not seat flat. It will vibrate and wobble and possibly come off the vehicle. What we're going to do is take our four way, we're going to give them a crank right there. The specification for an aluminum rim is approximately a hundred foot pounds. What you're going to want to do after you torque your wheel is drive the vehicle for 25 miles. After 25 miles, you're going to want to get out and recheck the torque on the lug nuts. If you have a steel wheel, that isn't necessary. You're going to torque it to 80 foot pounds and forget about it. Right there. That is the proper service procedure for torquing your vehicle's lug nuts."