Quote:
Originally Posted by MAXUM
I always thought the proper spelling was doughnut.
This is becoming the norm unfortunately. First it was the crappy doughnut spare but the well could take a a full sized spare. Now more and more new cars don't even have a well that can fit a full sized spare. With an AWD system driving with mismatched tires that far out of whack for any great distance will damage the vehicle so if you must use it, don't use it any longer than you have to. Then again those things were intended for emergencies not as a 5th tire to use indefinitely. The way some folks use them I don't think they understand that.
Far as lug nut torque, a big pet peeve of mine is the fact many technicians use the impact wrench to put the nuts back on and blast away on them... not realizing that a typical good quality 1/2 drive torque wrench can put upwards of 300 foot pounds on a bolt. That's one reason why I do my own Mork. If I must get my tires changed I have no choice but you can bet soon as I'm home I re-torque the nuts. There are extensions that can be used that act as a torque wrench set for specific specs, however they are not fool proof and have a shelf life. Drop one on the floor and the calibration can go bad and therefore render the thing useless. Nothing beats doing it by hand. Of course that takes an extra 5 minutes most shops won't spend doing the job right.
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ALL Excellent points. A good "Mechanic" doesn't need a torque wrench to FEEL how tight a nut or bolt should be. (
Building an engine is a different story). We are not building an engine here. We are changing a tire.
Unfortunately..We don't have any more "Mechanics". "Mechanics" could FIX things. Now we have "Technicians". They don't know HOW to FIX things. They know how to REPLACE things. In the old days you replaced the brushes in your cars generator. A few bucks. Now ...you Replace the entire Alternator. So why is this..? Two reasons: It's because labor rates at your local dealer are $98 per hour. They havn't got time to THINK about what might be the simple solution.
The other reason is..components today are NOT designed to be fixed. They are designed to be replaced.
Back to your regularly schedualed program: NB