When i take off my rims and wheels to paint them, do i need to have a torque wrench to put them back on?

No. Just need it to torgue them to the correct specs. LOL

I took wheels on and off for years without a torque wrench. Never had any issues. Now I have one. Is it calibrated correctly? I dunno.

You don't "need" to have one, but it's a good idea, especially if you're at the track. They will come in handy for other applications where you do need one, such as any suspension work you might do. In the past I have tightened my lug nuts with a regular old 3/8" ratchet and they came loose. Also for 5-lug vehicles it's a good idea to put the lug nuts back on in a star pattern, i.e. don't tighten one nut and then tighten the one right next to it. Instead, tighten one nut and then do one across from it.

A torque wrench is always nice to use, but I have found that it is damn near impossible to over torque a lug unless you have a wrench with a handle longer than 2 feet. That said, it is always handy to have at least one or two different sizes of torque wrenches just in case you need them.

Usually the bolts will fail before the lug threading will. I found this out through experience as I did not wait for my car to cool when I was taking my summers off last year. I sheared the lug bolt off and had to have it replaced.

What they all said, but a concern that you need to worry about is crossthreading your nut back on. I did it to my Titan and had to sheer the stud. Simple fix, just a pain for ANOTHER fix.

Thanks for all the advise. NOW, if i were to buy a torque wrench what would be a good price and where to buy one?

I have a $100 Craftsman (Sears) torque wrench.

yep! sears

ouch.. $100 dollars for a wrench ill use like maybe twice in the next 6 months. Ill have to check with a buddy to see if his shop has one i can borrow. Is there any specific wrench i should buy? size?

Well, my wheels haven't fallen off yet and I've never used one lol but I def would use one if I had it.

deepSpeedMS3 wrote:ouch.. $100 dollars for a wrench ill use like maybe twice in the next 6 months. Ill have to check with a buddy to see if his shop has one i can borrow. Is there any specific wrench i should buy? size?

You can do the Autozone rent-a-tool program if you really want to torque it, but don't want the wrench.

ne idea how that works?

Just buy one.......it will come in handy numerous times and yep mine is a hand me down Craftsman from my dad........about 15 years old and use it a good amount. I use it every time I remove my wheels.....I recheck them after a few days of driving, you would be surprised how many lugs lose their torque.

what size wrench? is there a special size? i saw a couple at sears