Realized I was torquing my lug nuts completely wrong for 5 years

I’ve been doing my own brake jobs and tire rotations in my garage since I bought my 2012 Civic. Just last month I was helping a buddy swap his wheels and he asked why I was doing a star pattern backward. Turns out I had been tightening them clockwise the whole time. No wonder I had a slight wobble at highway speeds. Anyone else find out they were messing up something basic for years?

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2 Comments

the_jason5mo ago

I mean I get that it's annoying but are you SURE that was actually causing your wobble? Like the star pattern is for even torque distribution yeah but going clockwise on a 4 or 5 lug wheel isn't going to make THAT much of a difference on a Civic. I've seen guys just send lugs on with an impact gun in a random order for years and their wheels never fell off. Half the shops out there probably don't even bother with a torque wrench on lugnuts. Maybe your wobble was just a tire balance issue or a slightly warped rotor. People act like lug nut order is rocket science but it's really not.

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parkerk564mo ago

Well torquing them properly just prevents headaches down the road.

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