Tyre puncture experience!..mostly for newbies...like me!

[wanted Member Find all posts View Profile Close wanted]

Had a flat tyre, nail went through side wall, tyre cannot be repaired,,,,ring around,,,good price...please fit the new tyre to the vehicle and move the existing tyre to the spare location.

All done happy customer drives out of the repair shop and I notice the mechanic using a cordless device to tighten a fairly easy nut and I thought humm is that how the spare wheel cover nut has been tightened on my vehicle? Park the vehicle, pull out the spanner from Toyota Genuine tool kit, try one ..no go...humm...flex arms try two..no go..embarrassing..try three more muscle and I could almost see the spanner slipping over the nut....turned back to the shop the senior mechanic comes out and first comment upon seeing the spanner ....is that what you have to use to open this nut...yes sir it is factory supplied...mechanic tries the spanner and fails....at this point I am thinking Hume highway...recent rains and a poor slim guy trying to get the spare wheel cover off...well the mechanic returns with a socket set and and long lever and again with some considerable force opens the nut. My next question to mechanic... is that same force been used to tighten the wheel nuts as well?...nah nah it is all torqued to the specific vehicle...no argument ...drove off..back home...Toyota genuine kit again and almost needing a hammer and a heavier person to undo the wheel nuts....re-tightened the wheel nuts to a reasonable torque and some thing that I can manage on a road side.

Question...what is a reasonable way a person on the road side changing a tyre know that the wheel nuts are done up safe? Do people carry another tool kit or is there a bare essential that you need apart from the Toyota supplied jack and tool kit. I have not mentioned anything about the jack...it could take two pages for that

Thanks for reading.

[wv1 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wv1]

At my last service the dealer did not tyre rotate the spare just front to back tyres (normal dealer practice) so I decided to do it properly. At the caravan park I was staying at and could not get the spare off. The wheel nut under the locking cap would not budge. Back to the dealer who used a long pinch bar extension to get it off. Returning to the caravan park got talking to another 150 series owner who had the same experience. He said dealers use super glue on the nut so he checks it after service and carries an extension bar for the tyre lever.. As I have said before, do not trust dealers they are idiots..

[Guest Close Guest]

Refer to this
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...ck-nut-warning

[Guest Close Guest]

I carry one of these for the wheel nuts

[sweetpea Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sweetpea]

I always request in writing on the service job sheet that the nuts on all 5 wheels are torqued correctly by hand. I have threatened them that having requested that and I find myself stranded because they are overtightened they will be required to pay for the rescue.

I always check the wheel nuts before I go bush anyway to make sure they are done up.

One advantage of driving the Prado in remote locations is you know that the likelihood of passing traffic being a compatible Prado within a few days is quite high. Another reason to stay with standard wheel and tire sizes.

S

[gspy4u Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gspy4u]

I ALWAYS tighten them to torque specs on all my cars. At least that way i know i have some chance of removing them if ever needed. I never trust others unless i see them using a torque wrench to tighten them in the first place but still check when i get home. But i also have a torque wrench in each of my 4x4's anyway.

[ozimacca Member Find all posts View Profile Close ozimacca]

Torque wrench available at Aldi for about $30 $40 ?? May not be perfect but I use one to check all the wheel nuts after a rotation by Toyota.

I use the wheel brace to undo them a bit then tighten up with torque wrench (112 I think)

After changing wheels in a few "interesting" places I will keep doing it this way.

I also check them all before a long trip and before turning for home when away ( maybe every few days on rough roads)

[wanted Member Find all posts View Profile Close wanted]

Thanks to all for their input. I did not know this was such a wide spread problem! Seems the first thing to do is to keep a 3 footer extension bar/pipe in the vehicle to over come any over tightened items! Time to invest in a good tool kit.

[brogers Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close brogers]

Make no mistake...trust no one...no need to be rude or obstructionist...but never forget this rule...trust no one!

Seriously, when it comes to your car, and servicing and brakes and injectors etc, there are so many "pretenders" out there.
Wheel nut torque is just one example, in fact wheels have fallen off emergency service vehicles of late, brake discs can be warped by excessive wheel nit torque, and wheel studs can be stripped or broken...trust no one, check what is about to be done,and then check that things have been done to your car when you pick it up...this forum, over the years, is full of examples of things gone wrong to vehicles after servicing or having tires, wheels, brakes, injectors, etc etc attended to by "pretenders"...those who tell you they know what they are doing, some who believe they know what they are doing, but in the end don't really know and some don't really care. It was a good thing you didn't trust the tire fitter and checked the spare wheel cover nut...just out of interest, and by way of a comment...my spare wheel cover is hidden away in the shed...ill put it back on when I sell the car...its a pain to pull the spare wheel cover off on the roadside...(especially if someone has over tightened the retaining bolt) and if you unfortunately destroy a tire to the extent that steel shards are exposed you may not be able to get the spare wheel cover back over the shredded tire...on our last outback trip we came across two prado spare wheel covers discarded on the roadside...so for that reason I leave the spare wheel cover off

[wanted Member Find all posts View Profile Close wanted]

Good point regarding the tyre cover, I have seen them being tossed around. My cover has got too many unexplained scratches. Basically except for the regular service where they have always forgotten to do 5 tyre rotation despite being specifically mentioned the cover was never removed. Having read through other threads this seems to be a norm everywhere no matter the dealership or a tyre shop. Few more scratches and the cover will almost need to be kept home!

[chappy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close chappy]

I have always carried a short length of pipe to give me that little bit more leverage incase I need to change a tyre,have done since the 80's.

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

After someone in a Toyota stealership or tyre place has been playing with my wheel nuts, I loosen the nuts at home and re-tighten to what I feel is the right pressure (have been playing with my (wheel) nuts for a long time and can guess what pressure is appropriate).

I also carry a piece of solid pipe (about 35cm long) that fits over the end of a wheel cross brace, and have used it on many occasions to loosen wheel nuts were allegedly tightened with a torque wrench.

[pradosteve97 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradosteve97]

So the Toyota quality jack and wheel braces haven't improved in the last 20 years do you think Toyota could have supplied anything cheaper in the dealers defence every other bolt seams to be done up as tight as possible when me and my mate work cars don't do it up Toyota tight is often mentioned. Most tyre mobs these days use torque wrenches on all wheel nuts. If they don't throw on a shitty.

[wanted Member Find all posts View Profile Close wanted]

So the Toyota quality jack and wheel braces haven't improved in the last 20 years do you think Toyota could have supplied anything cheaper in the dealers defence every other bolt seams to be done up as tight as possible when me and my mate work cars don't do it up Toyota tight is often mentioned. Most tyre mobs these days use torque wrenches on all wheel nuts. If they don't throw on a shitty.

Well you will be glad to know that not much has changed in 20 years. Read a lot of threads about people carrying their own jacks as the factory supplied jack is useless in most situations.

Just got a brochure from ALDI and there is a torque wrench on sale for 30 buck, for few tyre nut every 6 months it should be fine. Will try to undo a nut with the specified torque right after a service at the dealership and see how it goes!

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

It's a good thread this one and quite relevant to us all. My wheel nut specification for tightening is 112nm. I own a torque wrench as I work on my car myself. To tighten the wheels to 112nm doesn't require much effort at all with something 450mm breaker bar length. I can tighten the nuts up with a normal breaker bar by feel pretty accurately too to within 2 or 3nm. From what I've experienced in the past with some cars it seemed the mechanics can tighten wheel nuts close to 130-140nm which is way too tight. Good way to break a stud, or in the case of some hapless guys on here, never be able to get them undone to change a tyre yourself on the side of the road with the conventional tools supplied with the car. The secret to helping you get the wheel nuts off with ease in the future is to grease the wheel nut threads. This should be common practice with most bolt threads in the car, especially wheel nuts. When tightened to spec the nuts will never work loose, but they'll undo with ease when you take them off. No more seizing, having to jump on the wheel brace, and that awful crack & binding sound you get when you remove wheel nuts done up too tight on dry threads.