Quote:
Originally Posted by Clifford Pope
I've hardly ever bothered with the torque wrench, apart from on really critical things like cylinder heads. I read once that the size of a normal spanner gives a good enough guide to how tight a nut should be. Applying normal but not gorilla force, a big spanner = very tight, a small spanner = gently. Most nuts are over-tightened, by amateurs because they think very tight is best: by garages because they use air tools and can't be bothered adjusting the setting.
The most useful thing I use mine for is applying leverage to undo really tight nuts. It's long, has a good tight grip on the socket, and unlike a breaker bar the line of the lever is very close to the nut, so you don't waste force having to hold the thing straight.
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Well, that is an opinion, but I have to disagree with you this time Clifford.
My background is more with bikes than cars (so more aluminium parts, generally smaller fasteners ...). I may be tainted by that, but my view is that the manufacturer's torque settings are there for a reason (most often to stop things being over-tightened, sometimes to ensure they are done up enough).
We will have to agree to disagree, my advice to the OP would be to buy a torque wrench for at least the larger fasteners (something like a 20-200 Nm range - costs less than £20) and use it whenever there is a setting stated. Being a biker I also find it useful to have another wrench that works at a lower range (mine is marked in lbf.in, but there is an easy linear conversion); on a car this is less important as long as one has some feeling for what lower torques (less than about 20 N.m) feel like.
I'd still advise the OP to get a torque wrench and use it on the suspension components.
:-)