Date:         Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:51:54 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: Pulsating Brake Pedal (Need Solution)
Comments: To: Ed McLean <email99@BELLSOUTH.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <vanagon%2009032618173348@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

I meant to say this!  I'm quoting the whole thing because it's
absolutely true, all of it, so you can read it again if you're not
already fanatic about this.  One of my nicest experiences at the
local VW dealer was watching his young Vgon "specialist" torque up
the wheel nuts by hand, in correct pattern, in steps, with a torque
wrench.  And my invariable principle whenever a shop has remounted a
wheel for any reason without following the same procedure (so far N
of one, the local dealer) is to immediately loosen and retighten them
myself.  They are *always* too tight, and usually warping things
because they pinned one tight together right away.  Torque stick --
pfui!  Pleh!  :-p

David

At 06:15 PM 3/26/2009, Ed McLean wrote:
>You can try cleaning the drum and then reinstall the wheel, torquing the lug
>nuts to 129 ft-lbs in a star pattern with a torque wrench evenly in three
>steps.
>
>You have to torque the lugs yourself every time you have your wheels mounted
>by someone else because you just can't get any tire shop to do this
>properly.  Never, ever let anyone mount a wheel "NASCAR style" using an
>impact wrench, even if they say they will check it with a torque wrench.
>They simply don't understand that your concern is not that the lugs might be
>too loose but that you don't want them too tight.  I've had a Volvo dealer
>service manager argue until he was blue in the face that lugs were torqued
>properly (to 63 ft-lbs on the Volvo) because his technician used a "torque
>stick" with his impact wrench.  I then got him to loosen the lug nuts with
>his expensive SnapOn torque wrench and and watched his face get redder and
>redder as he found that lug nut after lug nut required considerably more
>than 150 ft-lbs of torque to remove, even though they had been tightened
>only minutes earlier.  Improperly torqued wheel lugs can cause pulsing
>brakes and tires that shimmy.

  --
David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'89 Po' White Star "Scamp"