Lug Nut Tightening Sequence

At Express Tire Center we take our customer's safety very seriously.  This is why we ask our customers to bring their vehicles back to us after being serviced.  Below explains why and how we torque your lug nuts and why it's so important to have your lug nut torque specifications rechecked. We begin by checking the wheels, studs and mounting faces of hub and wheels, for dirt, rust or damage.  We use a wire brush to remove dirt and rust and then replace any damaged parts if possible.  Careless installation of wheels on a vehicle is a major cause of tire and wheel problems.  Proper installation, including correct lug nut torque, is essential to safe, economical, trouble free service. Next we install the wheel being sure to hold it tightly to the hub as we hand tighten the lug nuts (we never use pneumatic guns to install tires).  We tighten the lug nuts following the criss-cross sequence shown above.  This is very important.  Failure to tighten the nuts in this criss-cross sequence will cause misalignment of the wheel.  Now using a torque wrench to finish, we continue using the criss-cross pattern until all lug nuts are tightened to the automobile manufacturer's specified torque. We ask every customer to bring their vehicle back to us after running the vehicle for a short distance, usually 25 miles,  so we can check the lug nuts for tightness.  Parts will usually seat naturally and torque on lug nuts may drop.  We will retighten all lug nuts to the specified torque.