What to do after installing new tires?
Table of Contents
What to do after installing new tires?
How do I break in new tires? Focus on easy, gentle driving – smooth acceleration, braking, and cornering – for the first 500 miles. This will safely prep your tires for regular performance. After this amount of use, lubricants and other substances used in the manufacturing process will have completely worn off.
What happens if you don’t re torque tires?
If the lug nuts are too tight, the nuts can damage bolt threads, break fasteners, or warp new rotors. And if they’re too loose, your wheel could fall off when you’re driving.
Should I torque my lug nuts?
When installing the wheels on a vehicle after servicing, it is important to torque the lug nuts properly. Lug nuts that are not tightened correctly can ruin wheels, affect rotor runout and can be deadly if the wheel comes off or studs snap. Over-torqueing the lug nuts does not affect runout immediately.
What happens if you don’t tighten your lug nuts?
If the lug nuts are too tight, the bolt head can come off the lug nut. If they’re too loose, the bolts could fall out, and your tire could come off. While both scenarios are unlikely, they would both cause some serious damage if they were to occur.
Do I need an alignment with bigger tires?
Changing to taller tires will not affect alignment. You can do the alignment before adding the new tires.
Can you do alignment before new tires?
Yes, you can get an alignment before buying new tires. Most experts agree that the only effect worn tires have on your alignment is a change to the vehicle’s ride height which, given today’s steering and suspension design, should be negligible.
Do new tires need to be Retorqued?
You need to get your new tires retorqued. This needs to be done in either 1-2 days or driving 50-100 miles after the tire change. As the lug nuts might tighten or loosen during this duration due to typical stresses of the vehicle’s weight, nudges from bumps, and rotational effects of driving.
What is the recommended torque for lug nuts?
New wheels should be re-torqued after the first 50 to 100 driving miles.
| Hardware Bolt or Stud Size | Typical Torque Range in Ft/Lbs | Minimum Number of Turns of Hardware Engagement |
|---|---|---|
| 14 x 1.25 mm | 85 – 90 | 9 |
| 7/16 in. | 70 – 80 | 9 |
| 1/2 in. | 75 – 85 | 8 |
| 9/16 in. | 135 – 145 | 8 |
Is a torque wrench really necessary?
If you plan to do any major work on your engine or on some major powertrain components, you absolutely need a torque wrench. Overtightening cylinder-head bolts, for instance, can easily cause expensive damage and catastrophic coolant loss. Too-tight exhaust manifold bolts can cause the manifold to crack.
How often should you tighten your lug nuts?
Lug nuts must be torqued to the manufacturer’s recommended values, and they must be re-torqued to those values after driving approximately 50 to 100 miles on your new tires after the tire service.
Why do lug nuts keep coming loose?
Temperature. Most wheels today are made of an aluminum alloy and are held to the hub with steel lug nuts. These two different metals expand and contract at different temperatures which can cause them to loosen as they heat up and cool down. This can cause lug nuts to loosen even if they are torqued to factory standards …