Lug nuts need to be tight, but not too tight. When you’re putting them on it’s ideal to use a torque wrench to make sure that they’re just tight enough. If they’re on too tight or unevenly tightened, it can cause problems like warped rotors, and can be hard to take off to change a spare tire on the side of the road.

How the lug nuts were on so tight on this car, I don’t know. The technician’s air wrench couldn’t budge them, and putting a 3 foot long pipe on his breaker bar would just bend the breaker bar. Eventually he got them loose by heating them a little bit with the torch, just a little bit.

Unfortunately, there was one that just would not come loose, and he ended up having to completely torch it out, which also meant replacing the stud as well as the entire wheel. Don’t overtighten your lug nuts, it could be expensive.

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-Dan