Sounds like time to invest in a good socket and torque wrench. Oh yeah, and put the key for the locks in the armrest.

i put spacers on my rear wheels last winter, and didn't retorque them after 100miles. of course they started coming loose and the rear end was shaking and making terrible noises until i took the wheels off and retorqued the spacers.

glad you got it figured out zoro :tup:

Related question: there's no need to jack the car up to retorque lug nuts right? I have a torque wrench and sockets but just have never used them.

Assuming you put the wheel on correctly the first time and it was sitting flush, then no, you do not need to jack the car up.

Remember to always tighten and loosen your lug nuts in a star pattern to avoid op's issue!

And get a real torque wrench!!! The equipment in the trunk is truly only meant for emergency on the side of the road use!

:iagree: and not the $20 beam type from Advance Auto... get a good 'click' type from Sears. Keep it in it's case when not in use. I'd also invest in a good 24" to 36" half inch drive breaker bar to keep in the car to break lug nuts loose.

this is good advise. i have a breaker bar with the deep socket attached in each of my cars. the beauty of these breaker bars is that you can loosen the nut, then straighten the handle and just twist the bar in your hands to unscrew the nuts out of the wheel bores.

makes for a much safer nut removal vs using the trunk jack which will damage your wheel's bores (and spokes/rim) if not careful.

tape up the sockets where it contacts the wheel bores too. :tup: just a few layers of masking tape is all that it takes.

You know, when I come across a good idea that's so stupid simple and obvious I can't help but be a little mad at myself for not thinking of it to begin with on my own. But I'll just give you some rep instead and hopefully remember this when I do the next wheel swap. :rolleyes:

:tup: i also have those fancy sockets with plastic protector sleeves, but sometimes they are just too thick to fit in some wheels. the masking tape works great. easy to replace too... and you can write on them with a big 21 or 19 or 17 watever sizes they are. :icon17:

yah, there's these easy-out like impact sockets dedicated for removing stripped lugs. it works on most keys if you have an impact gun.

something like this. the lock will need to be replaced as they eat into the metal. usually most tire shops have this.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/oe...FcdAMgodAk8AeA

a more barbaric way to remove is to hammer in a socket over the lock and remove it using hand tools. but this usually costs your socket. :icon17: