Over the last 24/18-months I've had a number of RS3's in and out of my garage (brake squeal/POR-15/etc) that I've had to remove wheels from, many of which I've 'sensed' have either 'under' or 'over' tightened' wheel bolts.
To say one is worse that the other (under-tightened/over-tightened) would be foolish as the potentially catastrophic results of either would be the same.
A recent RS3 owner/driver (and he knows whoâ¦) had wheel-bolts so tight I couldn't move them (for f**k sake was the technical term I used). I was then shown the 'bejasus!' wheel-brace with which he (a nice man(!)) had tightened them and suggested (respectfully) that he now undo (as I've a bad-back and so has he) the said wheel-bolts with that same 'bejasus!' wheel-brace and weâd start again, and so we did.
Having had him tighten the first wheel-bolt with my nice, new (used but carefully calibrated) torque-wrench, and him using the same 'way-over-the-top' leverage as with his 'bejasus!' wheel brace, he undid that one and started again. This time, with perfection, all 5-wheel bolts were tightened surprisingly-lightly, but correctly, to 120Nm.
Recently, no longer having the facility to be able to check/calibrate my own torque-wrench's, I investigated (on line) the availability of a suitable but cost effective wrench that would give me the confidence I needed to secure both my own, and others, wheel-bolts correctly.
This is IMPORTANT stuff guys, as many of us feel the need to remove a wheel at some stage (or CHECK what the local tyre fitter/garage has done, even) as wheel-bolts can shear and alloy wheels fracture due to over-tightening!
And we all know what can happen when wheels are under-tightened, of course.
With a suitable source found I paid £36 (plus delivery) for a near new but 'calibrated' to 120Nm 'Norbar' torque-wrench from an Evesham based eBay (2010toolmaster) seller of near-new torque wrenches. I asked him (Simon) to specifically 'check' the torque wrench at 120Nm (and had told him why it was important). And Simon did just that, writing back to me (helpfully) to confirm.
For me it was NOT a lot of cost to ensure that the wheel-bolts on my TT and RS3 (and of others in and out of my garage) are tightened correctly.
CAUTION: UNLESS calibrated individually no torque wrench will give confident loadings. :thumbsup:
To say one is worse that the other (under-tightened/over-tightened) would be foolish as the potentially catastrophic results of either would be the same.
A recent RS3 owner/driver (and he knows whoâ¦) had wheel-bolts so tight I couldn't move them (for f**k sake was the technical term I used). I was then shown the 'bejasus!' wheel-brace with which he (a nice man(!)) had tightened them and suggested (respectfully) that he now undo (as I've a bad-back and so has he) the said wheel-bolts with that same 'bejasus!' wheel-brace and weâd start again, and so we did.
Having had him tighten the first wheel-bolt with my nice, new (used but carefully calibrated) torque-wrench, and him using the same 'way-over-the-top' leverage as with his 'bejasus!' wheel brace, he undid that one and started again. This time, with perfection, all 5-wheel bolts were tightened surprisingly-lightly, but correctly, to 120Nm.
Recently, no longer having the facility to be able to check/calibrate my own torque-wrench's, I investigated (on line) the availability of a suitable but cost effective wrench that would give me the confidence I needed to secure both my own, and others, wheel-bolts correctly.
This is IMPORTANT stuff guys, as many of us feel the need to remove a wheel at some stage (or CHECK what the local tyre fitter/garage has done, even) as wheel-bolts can shear and alloy wheels fracture due to over-tightening!
And we all know what can happen when wheels are under-tightened, of course.
With a suitable source found I paid £36 (plus delivery) for a near new but 'calibrated' to 120Nm 'Norbar' torque-wrench from an Evesham based eBay (2010toolmaster) seller of near-new torque wrenches. I asked him (Simon) to specifically 'check' the torque wrench at 120Nm (and had told him why it was important). And Simon did just that, writing back to me (helpfully) to confirm.
For me it was NOT a lot of cost to ensure that the wheel-bolts on my TT and RS3 (and of others in and out of my garage) are tightened correctly.
CAUTION: UNLESS calibrated individually no torque wrench will give confident loadings. :thumbsup:
