aemeijers wrote in
:




The air wrench guys are supposed to use calibrated 'torque sticks'
between the wrench and the socket. Discount Tire does- they have a row
on the wall, all color coded. Like the clutch on a cordless drill,
they only let the nut tighten so far.




And those sticks are calibrated for a particular output by the air ratchet.
If the rattle gun is out of spec or set too high, or the wrong gun is used,
the torque stick will happily allow (sometimes severe) overtorque on the
lug nuts.

This is why you can end up with four or five wheel nuts all requiring
vastly different levels of removal effort by you the next time you have to
tackle them.

A manual torque wrench, properly operated, is the only way to go for final
tightening.


--
Tegger