You may see a tire technician use an impact wrench to tighten every lug nut until he hear many clicks. However, not too many people notice that all the lug nut could be over tighten that way, and this is NOT something you should copy when you DIY. Tight is good, but over tighten is NOT. Over tighten can stretch the stud and cause failure around the rotor. Every car has a lug nut torque specification from the manufacturer. The proper way to tighten the wheel is to use a torque wrench to torque every lug nut to its recommended torque when the car is on the floor. Some cars even require more complex procedure which is hand tight first, torque to a specific lower torque while the car is up in the air, then torque to its final torque specification when the car is on the floor.

There are a few different types of torque wrenches in the market. The most common type is the CLICK TYPE torque wrench, you simply turn the torque wrench handle until it reaches the torque mark you are looking for, then start tightening the nuts slowly, as soon as the set torque is reached, you will feel a click around the head of the torque wrench, we will always recommend you to try turning it one more time just to verify. Do not turn it more but barely apply the force one more time just to verify there was a click. There is also the DIAL TYPE torque wrench, it has a little meter on the handle, and you can see the torque getting higher and higher while you applying force, you can stop whenever you reach the desired torque. Some DIAL TORQUE WRENCH comes with a electronic meter on the handle which allows you to read the exact torque. You may also find TORQUE ADAPTERS, it is a little electronic device that goes in between a regular wrench or a breaker bar and the socket, it will act like a torque meter, these are more affordable than the actual torque wrenches which are very handy for home use.

The general rule for steel wheel lug nut torque is usually around 80ft/lb, and for aluminum wheel is around 100ft/lb. It can be used in most cases, but we would still prefer you to research for the exact torque for every particular model before you start working.

At Your Dream Garage Do It Yourself Garage, We always want you to do everything right, therefore we stock more than enough torque wrench for everyone to use when they work on their own cars. We use the click type torque wrench.

Let us go over every step on how to tighten the wheel lug nut properly:

1. Wipe every stud with a rag and air blow the inside of each lug nut to clean them.

2. USE HAND to tighten each lug nut onto the studs.

3. If you have a impact wrench, you may use it to barely snug up each lug nut, STOP ASAP when  you hear a couple of clicks.

4. Drop the car on the floor.

5. Set the manufacturer recommended torque on the torque wrench and tighten each nut according to it.

ATTENTION: The right order to tighten the lug nut is NOT clock or counterclockwise. If it is a four stud wheel, you should tighten them in a cross order, which means first tighten the top one, second the bottom one, third the left one, last the right one and so forth. If it has five studs, then you should follow an order of drawing a STAR.

Take care of your car and it will take care of you with less failure and have a longer lifespan.

We always say that DIY is good when it comes to cars, it saves money, time, and let you have fun at the same time. However, certain jobs are not that DIY friendly.

For instance, a transmission fluid exchange can be very simple or extremely complicated. There is not much for a manual transmission fluid exchange, all they contain are most likely gear oil and it could be changed with a simple drain and refill. Some people also change their automatic transmission fluid by draining it from the drain plug then refilling it from the dipstick, but this is not quite correct. There are more components within an automatic transmission that holds up the fluid from draining out; therefore a mechanic shop would use a machine which cost at least $3,000 to flush the entire transmission from either the transmission fluid cooling hose or dipstick while the engine is still running which can exchange at least 90% of the old fluid.

MANUAL TRANSMISSION

The good news is that we DO HAVE a professional grade automatic transmission fluid exchanger. This allows you to do a REAL automatic transmission fluid exchange by yourself for only $25/hr,which is less expensive compared at a regular shop that has a $200 service charge with a equipment rental fee.

AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID FLUSH

ATTENTION: Some of the more advanced transmissions require A even more complicated procedure when it comes to flushing the fluid. For instance, the Mercedes Benz 7-speed transmission (722.9) can be found on CLK350 and E350, etc. This is a sealed transmission, it has a drain plug, but no dip stick so you cannot check the level of the fluid. It is almost impossible for you to DIY the transmission fluid exchange for this one. The dealers will have a machine that cost over $100,000 to change the ATF with some special adapters under certain temperature and pressure, the service would cost around $400. The 40,000 miles service interval is not that bad, but this type of transmission definitely Limits what you can DIY on them.

 

Don’t be scared by the Mercedes transmission though, most of the cars can still have their ATF flushed easily at “Your Dream Garage” with our ATF exchanger. If you are not sure about how yours work, just stop by and we can check it for you. We will also give you free advice and recommendations. We are always here to help people fulfill their dreams.