Wheel nut tightening.

[Johnsonsyard]

Hi had two new tyres on Friday . They told me to tighten up wheel nuts after 24 hours. Can I do damage doing it myself. ?How do you know how tight they should be ? 

[unofix]

You need to use a Torque wrench to get the correct tightness. Also you tighten them in a diagonal pattern.

If you take your car to any tyre garage they will normally check them for free while you wait.

[TomsFocus]

That's really just a disclaimer, most garages will recommend checking wheel bolts a day or two later to cover themselves if your wheel falls off a week later.  Having said that, I did lose two wheel bolts driving home from a major tyre chain once.   

If you're concerned, just go round all the nuts and put 'moderate' downward pressure on the wheel bar.  None of the nuts should move if they were all tightened correctly.  Don't put your full weight on the bar, and definitely don't stand on it...remember you may need to remove the nuts with the same bar during a roadside wheel change if you get a puncture.

You can bend hubs if some nuts/bolts are much tighter than others but as long as they're all roughly equal you can't really do any damage.

[Johnsonsyard]

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

That's really just a disclaimer, most garages will recommend checking wheel bolts a day or two later to cover themselves if your wheel falls off a week later.  Having said that, I did lose two wheel bolts driving home from a major tyre chain once.   

If you're concerned, just go round all the nuts and put 'moderate' downward pressure on the wheel bar.  None of the nuts should move if they were all tightened correctly.  Don't put your full weight on the bar, and definitely don't stand on it...remember you may need to remove the nuts with the same bar during a roadside wheel change if you get a puncture.

You can bend hubs if some nuts/bolts are much tighter than others but as long as they're all roughly equal you can't really do any damage.

Thanks for reply. Went round with wrench , not torque wrench, moved the nuts half turn. Still room for movement but stopped there. The chap at the garage said tighten them up but don't think it is as simple as that.  Think a visit to garage again . 🤔 never had this issue before and first time heard about torque in 50 years of driving.