On Tue, 2011-09-06 at 14:54 -0600, YES NOPE9 wrote:
> I drove back to Fairplay.  ( I am omitting a lot of swear words in this d=
escription ).  After trying to find an impact wrench ( none ) , finding a h=
uge crescent wrench ( did not work ) ..... I called a tow truck.  Just then=
 a large teenager happened by and he and I applied the T-lug wrench to the =
lugs.  He was utterly amazed at how tight they were.  We got 4 of the 5 lug=
s off and then ( as I feared ) , the lug wrenched snapped  ( previously cou=
ld see that it was winding up ).  With even more difficulty we removed the =
last lug with the one-side wrench ( which flexed quite a bit ).  As each lu=
g released , it made a cracking noise.

Unfortunately I can't comment on the tires, but I can on "too tight"
lugs. This is actually pretty common. MANY shops (and this includes
dealers and "brand name" shops) don't always torque lugs properly. To
save 5 seconds they just use the impact gun and tighten to "feel". More
often then not this means they are WAY over torqued. Sometimes (which
happened to me) they are undertorqued and the wheel almost falls off
(luckily I caught it before it happened). Most people never notice
because they don't take their own wheels off. Most shops don't notice
since they just turn up the torque wrench and leave it hammering until
the lug comes off (which will sometimes cause ABS sensors to fail...).

My dad (master mechanic by trade) and I once helped a guy who had been
in this situation. We had the tools to apply WAY to much torque to the
lugs, and they still didn't budge (we actually started to MOVE THE CAR).
In the end, it took both of them with about a 1 meter long breaker bar
and me, revving the engine and applying the brakes as hard as possible
to undo the lugs. AMAZINGLY none of the lugs broke. He was VERY lucky.
(pays also to have good tools, old Snap-On sockets can take a beating!).

> I oiled the lugs , put on the spare , cancelled the tow truck , and went =
back to Denver using an alternative route.

This is VERY DANGEROUS. NEVER lube lug nuts or studs. All that will
happen is the lugs will come loose and eventually fall of. I've suffered
a blow out, it's scary, but controllable. A tire falling off? That is a
disaster that is VERY likely to get you killed.

Please: Do what you can to remove every trace of oil on your studs, look
up the PROPER amount of torque (should be in your owners manual, if not,
google is your friend, a normal amount for alloys is around 80-90ft/lbs)
and torque them to that amount (if you don't have a torque wrench,
please get one, they are pretty cheap these days).=20

TTYL


--=20
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