Wheel nut torque settings

[capt jack]

Not a Volvo, but my daughters '08 Mini Cooper 1.6 auto. Have just had to remove a wheel in order to change a sidelamp bulb (!!!!!!!). I checked the torque setting for the wheel bolts, and as per the manual it say 140Nm, 103lbft. Now my wrench won't set that high, added to which those settings seem inordinately high.

In the end I tightened them to 120Nm, which is higher than the 110Nm that I always use for our Volvo alloys.

I tried checking out some Mini websites but just got even more confused, finding recommendations from 90Nm up to 140Nm and just about everything in between.

So, can anyone on here shed any light? I don't want to think that a wheel could fall off, but equally, I don't want to do things up so tight that I end up damaging the alloys, or the wheel bolts, or not being able to undo them in future.

The other lesson I've learnt is that Minis are bl**dy horrible cars to work on. Everything is so tightly packed in, and really, where on earth is the sense in having to remove a wheel in order to change a sidelamp bulb?

Or is it because most owners would give up and take the car to a dealer and pay the hour's labour?

£75 to change a £2 bulb anyone?

Jack

[Clan]

Originally Posted by capt jack

Not a Volvo, but my daughters '08 Mini Cooper 1.6 auto. Have just had to remove a wheel in order to change a sidelamp bulb (!!!!!!!). I checked the torque setting for the wheel bolts, and as per the manual it say 140Nm, 103lbft. Now my wrench won't set that high, added to which those settings seem inordinately high.

In the end I tightened them to 120Nm, which is higher than the 110Nm that I always use for our Volvo alloys.

I tried checking out some Mini websites but just got even more confused, finding recommendations from 90Nm up to 140Nm and just about everything in between.

So, can anyone on here shed any light? I don't want to think that a wheel could fall off, but equally, I don't want to do things up so tight that I end up damaging the alloys, or the wheel bolts, or not being able to undo them in future.

The other lesson I've learnt is that Minis are bl**dy horrible cars to work on. Everything is so tightly packed in, and really, where on earth is the sense in having to remove a wheel in order to change a sidelamp bulb?

Or is it because most owners would give up and take the car to a dealer and pay the hour's labour?

£75 to change a £2 bulb anyone?

Jack

Just tighten them as much as you can with the supplied wrench , the length is designed so that average person can tighten them properly .. Hardly anyone owns a torque wrench do they ...

Not sure which volvo you have but if later than 2000 it will be 140 nm with the Meaty 14mm thread ..

Minis have always been horrible to work on since 1959 !

[migrator]

Have you tried this web address?

https://www.minimania.com/Mini_Torqu...h_Settings_597

[ITSv40]

'Er indoors has a '07 Mini Cooper with alloy wheels. I always do the wheelnuts up to 110Nm. Not had a wheel come loose yet. Whenever a new tyre has been fitted the first thing I do when home is to undo the nuts and torque them up, it is surprising how tight they sometimes are.

[capt jack]

Ta All. Our Volvos are both pre-2000: one's a 97 the other a 98, and I always tighten to 110Nm as per Haynes.

The Mini site as linked looks to be for "classic" Minis not the later BMW ones. I'm going to stick with 120Nm for now. As has been said, most people would simply use the supplied wrench and do them up to a grunt and a half each.

And yes, I've never had to do more than change the odd bulb on my daughter's Mini Cooper. She's always trusted the Mini dealer over me, and to be honest I'm not sorry. Even changing bulbs is a knuckle-grazing nightmare. I looked at doing the discs and pads a few months back, but the quote from Mini wasn't that much more than the cost of just the parts to me. Mini main dealer prices aren't too bad and (touch wood) the car has actually been pretty much trouble-free.

"Proper" Minis were pretty awful to work on it's true. I only ever owned two although by today's standards the mechanical simplicity of the original did help.

Jack

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by Clan

Just tighten them as much as you can with the supplied wrench , the length is designed so that average person can tighten them properly .. Hardly anyone owns a torque wrench do they ...

All of my family cars have an extendable wheel wrench in them (like this other brands are available) and the rule is do them up with it short (less leverage) then you can undo them with it extended, no idea what the actual torque is one day I'll blow the dust off of the torque wrench and check.

[green van man]

Bloody hell, am I a freak of some sort? I carry a torque wrench in both my cars, No one, repeat NO ONE tightens my wheel bolts without a torque wrench.

Landrover wheel nuts are 129Nm and that's what they are torqued to on greased studs. Never had a wheel come loose and never struggled to remove a wheel when needed. Both the landrover and volvo carry manuals giving the torque setting. The landrover I remember as the wheels are off that more often. I even have an arrangement with a local garage to check my torque wrenches against their calibrated ones periodically to ensure they are accurate.

In fact I cannot recall a tyre fitter not useing a torque wrench to refit wheels in recent years, often checked by a second employee in the chain outlets, the days of windy guns and tighten till they stop are long over.

Clans point about people not owning torque wrenches may be true for the masses but for any enthusiast to not own one is unforgivable given that they are cheap enough to buy.

Paul.

[canis]

^^^ This.

Overtightening is NOT safe.

'round my way, the tyre fitters do not use torque wrenches. They use an impact driver, coupled straight into their compressor lines without a regulator. "Correct" torque is when they hold the button for as long as possible until the wheel nut really won't twist any further.

[DaveNP]

Yes the impact driver held until it turns no more is a dangerous method.
I once watched a tyre fitter trying to remove a wheel nut on a truck, what he didn't realise, nor I watching, was he still had the gun set to tighten, a couple of pulls on the trigger and he sheared the stud! Pretty impressive when the studs on a truck are over an inch thick.

[Stu B]

A 2008 MINI will be an R56 model, the earlier R50/R53 ones are a bit nicer to work on as the bonnet lifts all in one piece making access to the sidelight bulbs possible from the top without removing any wheels or bumpers.

My wife has an R53 Cooper S which I’ve maintained at home over the years, though I did leave a clutch and flywheel change to a garage given how tightly packed everything is.

I do the wheel bolts to 110 - 120Nm on our cars unless the manual states otherwise. Never had any issues.