56killa

Hey All,

I have some dorman lugs torqued at 80 ft/lbs on my 1999 Civic CX; over the past few weeks I started hearing some sounds and thought perhaps my cv joints were starting to give (or that I needed to change the engine mounts; theyre really cracked so I might still pursue that). I had been putting it off and finally got to looking around and under the car and long story short it ended up being my lug nuts; 2 on the front drivers side wheel were pretty much a few twists away from coming off. Any particular reasons lugs might come off on their own that I should be on the look out for? I haven't found any bad reviews on dorman lugs here or on google. Any damage that I should look out for that might've occurred? I've been driving this way for about 2 weeks.


Thanks!

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

What wheels do you have would be important to properly answer your question

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

If they aren't properly seated, they'll come off. If one comes loose, the extra force on the other 3 will push them off. If the lugs are the wrong size, they'll come off. Start off by telling us what kind of wheels you have, and if you're using all four on all four wheels, and we can work from there.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Ypur lug seats on your wheels may not match your lug nuts.

You may have anti sieze or grease or oil on your lug nuts. Remove it.

Your hub may need to be scraped/wire brushed off if its excessively rusted.

Always re check lug nuts after the first 25 miles of driving (after putting wheels back on).

56killa

Oh man, I thought I included the link to the rims I have. Dumb!

I have these exact rims on all four wheels:
Kudo Rims

They were already on the car when I got them. However, now that I think about it I did remove that wheel a couple of months ago, so not rechecking them might be the reason the lugs eventually loosened. I'm also wondering if my torque wrench is maybe inaccurate.

Thor294

I just use a 4way tire wrench and make sure they are all secure. b srs is right on all fronts. Aluminum and steel do not like each other and can cause a lot of corrosion. You can put some anti-seize on the hub to prevent rust... make sure you scrape down the hubs and inside of the wheel where it touches the hub real good.

80 ft/lbs sounds loose to me for wheels, even if honduh says that. I never do under 100 ft/lbs. Again, I just use a 4way tire iron to tighten my wheels

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

And what kind of lug nuts are you using? If you're using stock lugs, that's a problem. You need to use tapered nuts with those wheels, not acorns.

56killa

NotaRacist, they're tapered/conical dorman lugs.

Red Dorman Lugs

B srs, I'll note your suggestions and take a look at these things if I start hearing the same sound again (meaning, if it starts loosening again). Appreciate the advice.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

lol what? That's the opposite of everything I said.

You should never use anti sieze on lug nuts or hubs or studs. All of the lug nuts, studs, hubs, wheels, etc, should be clean and dry before you bolt them on.

You can scrape off corrosion with a wire brush to make sure that the hub surfaces are clean before you bolt stuff on if needed.

Then torque to 80lbs. 80lbs on clean, dry lugs with clean hub centers, is plenty to keep the wheels on.

Often, what happens is that corrosion builds up on the hub center. You remove the wheels and try to put them back on over the corrosion buildup. That makes it so that the wheel doesn't fully seat against the rotor hat, even with the right torque and torquing pattern. A wire brush goes a long way to clean that stuff off.

If you're using 100LBS (!!!!!!), that's way too much pressure, even if you're NOT using anti sieze. You may not really be doing any harm to any of the components if you're dry torquing to 100lbs. That's FAR too high still.

If you're using anti sieze AND torquing to 100lbs, you're going to break something. That is a ridiculous amount of pressure and you're likely stretching the lugs/warping the wheel/rotor hat.

Once those lugs are stretched, you'll have all kinds of problems retaining the wheel.

If you're only using anti sieze on the hub surfaces...it's not nearly as bad as using it on the lugs. But...it will flow onto the lugs one way or the other. I wouldn't use it on wheel mounting hardware or surfaces at all.

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

Im wondering if he used hubcentric rings or not..

B serious

iTrader: (1)

^^!!

56killa

Are hub centric rings necessary for safety reasons or are they just to combat vibration? Would they affect the torque values in anyway (I imagine not?)

B serious

iTrader: (1)

They are there to center the wheel on the hub and transfer load to the hub. They do help with wheel retention....especially since most people need to put the car on the ground to torque it.

Thor294

No anti sieze on the studs sillywilly, just on the hub to prevent the corrosion... You don't have to do it if you want to just wire brush everytime . I don't think 100lbs is overkill lol. If that is the case then people using the spare tire kit would break their own donuts when they did a spare swap

B serious

iTrader: (1)

I hurrrrrrrd dat. 100lbs dry is overkill...but won't hurt the studs too much. I go with 80-85 and have never had a stud break or a wheel come loose at the (road course) race track.

A little dab of anti sieze on the hub ring won't hurt. However, most people use enough anti sieze that you'd think they've got stock in the anti-sieze company. So it splatters all over the lug studs anyway. Not to say that you're practicing this method of over applying. I just don't use it at all.

A little polyurea grease or anti sieze on the inside of the wheel bore would work too.