Lug Nut torque 2016

[rabbitdog]

The owner's manual for the 2016 Edge lists 162 lb.ft. as the torque for the wheel lug nuts. That seems kind of high to me. Is that right? I've been around for a while and am use to seeing 100 (plus or minus a little) for most passenger vehicles. Just wondering if this 162 is correct.

[macbwt]

The 2011+ are all spec to 100 lb ft.

[chefduane]

100 ft/lbs was spec'd on my '98 Explorer and now on my '11 Limited. I think 100 is pretty standard. 162 seems way too high.

[akirby]

100 lb/ft has been the Ford standard for decades. 162 does sound way too high.

[ben senise]

I'd like to revive this thread. I put on my winter wheels a few weeks ago and I too find the torque value printed in the owner's manual to be extremely high. while i appreciate people's opinions, i'd like to know if there is a ford published value somewhere that contradicts the one in my 2016 owner's manual of 162 lb ft as the OP stated.

[Quila]

162 lb ft seems high, but that's what Ford has printed in the Edge owner's manuals since at least 2016. I originally thought it was a misprint, but it's still in the 2018 Ford Edge manual. Every other vehicle I have owned has always been 100 lb ft. I'd kind of like to know why they went so high as well.

[akirby]

Let me see if my Ford engineer contact can shed some light on it.

[ben senise]

162 lb ft seems high, but that's what Ford has printed in the Edge owner's manuals since at least 2016. I originally thought it was a misprint, but it's still in the 2018 Ford Edge manual. Every other vehicle I have owned has always been 100 lb ft. I'd kind of like to know why they went so high as well.

 

i share the same thoughts with you. i'd love to know why.

 

Let me see if my Ford engineer contact can shed some light on it.

 

that would be great.

 

i called my local dealer today and talked to a service rep but not my usual one. he said that it was correct but i think he was just blowing me off and couldn't be bothered to look for the correct answer. i'll try again when my rep is back from vacation.

[akirby]

Apparently the Expedition now recommends 150 lb/ft.

 

No definitive answer but best guess is larger wheels and tires on the Utilities. Fusion is still only 100 lb/ft.

[IWRBB]

162 N-M is basically 120 lb-ft. I wonder if they used the metric rating but English units.

[Quila]

162 N-M is basically 120 lb-ft. I wonder if they used the metric rating but English units.

 

The owner's manual says "162 lb. ft (220 Nm)", so I don't think they mixed the units up.

 

I did a bit of Googling on this last night and it looks like 150 lb. ft and higher is not all that uncommon these days, especially for wheels with larger lug nuts.

[normkol]

Which makes me wonder what the effect of tightening to roughly 100 lb. ft. would be? The average garage probably has their guns set to that, and won't change.

 

I wonder if even the Ford mechanics know to adjust for the higher torque on these suv's.

[IWRBB]

No- the average shop runs those nuts on until the gun won't spin them anymore. I just pulled some lugnuts off our Fusion that were easily at 200 ft-lbs. I had to give it pretty much everything I had on a 4 way to break it loose. A bunch of pinging, squeaking and tinking noises as they loosened- you know what I'm talking about if you've had to removed overtorqued lugs before. Tire Discounters put the tires on before we bought the car according to the Carfax report, so it was those assholes that did it. Luckily none of the lugs were damaged.

 

What size lug studs and what thread pitch do these newer ones have? You should be able to get a good estimate of the required torque just from that. The point is to slightly stretch the stud to provide a clamp load, just like and bolts/studs.

[akirby]

New ones are 14x1.5 as opposed to Fusion which is still 12x1.5 and those still require only 100 lb/ft.

[chefduane]

I've gotten my tires rotated a few times at a Goodyear location (they give lifetime tire rotations when you buy tires) and later, when doing a brake job myself I've had to pound with my pneumatic impact wrench to impact those suckers off! I have a small mushroom type compressor and more than once it's run out of pressurized air after I've had to lay on the reverse setting on the wrench for a while. Now, I either do my own rotations or stand in the service bay and insist that they finger tight them and then ONLY torque them to 100 ft/lbs.

[rabbitdog]

I feel sorry for the guy that will have to try to change a tire on the side of the road with the wrench Ford supplies. I carry a breaker bar and socket for the nuts just in case. I also carry a cell phone to call AAA.....I guess that's what we are expected to do in the modern times we live.

[enigma-2]

One nice thing about having an Extended Warranty on my 09 MKX. Flat tire, I call Lincoln, they call a repair service and they come out and change the tire. Last time it was in the pouring rain.

(He did use a torque wrench on the finl tightening).

.

Edited December 18, 2017 by enigma-2

[haedgy]

That is nice do have the road service here too. I also have a torque wrench as a just in case. Sometimes you don't want to wait an hour for a guy to show up....haha Either way it's always nice to have a good sized breaker bar with you even a small air pump that will plug into the 12V line so you can deal with issues quickly. Even to help someone else if that's the case too.

[roots57]

I've gotten my tires rotated a few times at a Goodyear location (they give lifetime tire rotations when you buy tires) and later, when doing a brake job myself I've had to pound with my pneumatic impact wrench to impact those suckers off! I have a small mushroom type compressor and more than once it's run out of pressurized air after I've had to lay on the reverse setting on the wrench for a while. Now, I either do my own rotations or stand in the service bay and insist that they finger tight them and then ONLY torque them to 100 ft/lbs.

 

My dealership did this to mine after the last oil change/tire rotation. A week later I got a flat and fatally deformed the cheap sheet metal wrench that comes with the equally cheap scissor jack, all because the lazy ass service tech hammered the lugs on with the impact wrench insanely tight instead of using a torque wrench. I had to use a huge breaker bar to loosen all the rest. Threw the cheap wrench in the garbage because its useless. It will work if the lugs are tightened to the proper torque, but not much past that. Bought a decent wrench that fits in back in case I run into this again (I suggest you all do this). But I'm also going to make sure they use a torque wrench next time because I'm checking afterwards.

[lildisco]

My lugs are torqued to ~95 ft/lbs, probably at 100. I've had 0 issues with vibration or wheel wobble. 165ft/lbs seems very excessive. I use a torque stick on my impact & then a torque wrench to get around 95 ft/lbs. Re checked after a few hundred miles, still at/above 95 ft/lbs.

 

The stock chrome lugs did bend/flatten out the when i tried to torque them down with a impact. Had to pound a socket on with a Dead Blow hammer & replaced with an aftermarket brand. Have 0 issues with them.

 

2016 SEL FWD with Chrome 18's.(Wife loves them,i HATE them,you know how it is)

Edited December 19, 2017 by lildisco

[roots57]

I replaced the factory lugs with black Gorilla Acorns and they held up to a 3 ft breaker bar. Probably because they aren't a hex drive, it resembles more of an offset Torx drive (the safety lock feature), which is a much better drive system, plus I think they're made out of better material.

[haedgy]

Funny I had seen 100ft/lbs online somewhere too but the manual does say 162. My Mitsubishi was more like 65 min to 80 Max. I would always tell the guys at the tire places don't hammer on the damn wheels! There's nothing worse than busting a knuckle trying to get lug nuts off or better yet hurting your foot or shin because you have to jump up and down on one of those little manf. lug wrenches.

 

Also to check torque you have to back them off to be sure they didn't over tighten. sometimes it's just better to retorque them yourself so you know they are to spec. The dealer should know better unless they want you to come back to change your rotors out.

[Mikula]

I replaced the factory lugs with black Gorilla Acorns and they held up to a 3 ft breaker bar. Probably because they aren't a hex drive, it resembles more of an offset Torx drive (the safety lock feature), which is a much better drive system, plus I think they're made out of better material.

where did you pick those up? i want to grab those and some new black center caps

[enigma-2]

I ☆think☆ 100 ft/lbs is good for tires up to 20" & 168 ft/lbs is for 21" tires.

As for using a torque wrench, remember that about 50 lbs is the practical limit for "most" people to be able to use, so you will need a 2' wrench to reach 100 lbs and a 3' wrench handle to hit 150. (I remember whole in the service, the mechs used 3/4" sockets with 4' torque wrench to torque nuts on helicopter transmission.

[roots57]

where did you pick those up? i want to grab those and some new black center caps

 

They're great, at first I just got them because I wanted black lugs to complete my chrome delete, but I'm glad I did because they seem to be much better than the stock lugs anyway. Got them off Amazon:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004U3THY8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1