I was peacefully gliding down the Angeles Crest Highway, listening to tranquil music, enjoying the beautiful serene scenery, and not even having touch the gas pedal as pure momentum carried me calmly down the mountain. All was well. And then, just up ahead, big rocks on the road.
"No problem, I'll slow down and drift into the other lane to avoid them. Oh crap, cars coming the other way. Well, that limits how much I can maneuver out of the way. Bam. I hit one. That doesn't sound good at all. That sounds like it did damage." That was what went through my head in a matter of seconds, and I was right. A few miles later, it was obvious I had a flat.
Thankfully, turnouts are plentiful on the Angeles Crest, but I still had to bide my time waiting for one that was sizeable and safely level, which is fairly nerve-wracking when you're driving down a one-lane mountain highway with no room for error. Eventually, I did and was able to harmlessly pull over into a huge turnout with plenty of room to change out to the spare tire.
Changing a tire in the mountains was definitely daunting, but hey, it wasn't my first rodeo. I'd changed a few tires in my day, so it shouldn't be a problem. Boy, was I wrong. I put the torque wrench on a lug nut and casually tried to pull. No budge. Huh, okay, I'll come back to that one. Try another one. No budge. Another. Same. The other two, nope. What the hell?
Turns out, the lug nuts were so drastically over-tightened, it took me an hour to get them all off. I had to take breaks because the effort was so draining, not to mention I was afraid I was going to pull or break my back. And although I'm certainly not super duper strong, I'm no weakling either. I've now put in fifteen hard months of serious weightlifting. I won't bore you and brag about numbers, but let's just say that with what I can deadlift, I should have no problem loosening a little itty bitty lug nut with the law of physics aid of leverage via torque wrench. So the fact that it took me an hour, tells you just how insanely over-tightened they were. I don't know how I got it done, but somehow, with brute strength and sheer force of will, I eventually got them all loose.
I wish I could say it was smooth sailing from there, but the vaguely illustrated diagram and instructions in the car manual for where to place the jack for the rear wheels were so bad, I had spent an hour and a half to change a tire when all was said and done. Quite humbling. But that's neither here nor there. We're here to talk about needlessly over-tightened lug nuts.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out how and why they were overtightened. You don't even need to google it; it's pretty obvious. They were over-tightened because whichever shop last rotated/serviced my tires use a pneumatic wrench to tighten them, and pneumatic power can reach some serious RPMs. That means lots of power, more than enough to satisfy Tim The Toolman Taylor. Why would anyone do that? Simple: it's faster and easier. Efficiency to service more customers and make more money, and laziness to make their job easier. Understandable.
However, it should absolutely, positively, no questions asked be illegal. People can hurt themselves trying to loosen over-tightened lug nuts. People can be put into danger on the side of the road if the time it takes to change a tire is lengthened. People can get screwed and stranded if they can't loosen them. I'm pretty sure that a year ago, without the strength I now have, I wouldn't have been able to get them loose, leaving me stuck in the mountains with no cell signal. Although I'm confident I would have been able to flag down help from strangers, highway patrol, or the forest service, I shouldn't ever be put in that situation when it's completely unnecessary. No one should.
Any automotive repair service business is responsible for ensuring your vehicle is safe to drive. Part of that safety means ensuring that lugnuts are not over-tightened to the point where anyone, of any size or strength, can't loosen them by hand with a torque wrench. People have to be able to change a tire themselves. When businesses overtighten pneumatically and take that ability away from customers, they screw them over and put them in potentially dangerous situations. It's unnecessary, it's immoral, and it's unacceptable. It has to stop.
I propose that pneumatically tightening lug nuts should be illegal. Businesses should have to do the final tigthening by hand with a torque wrench, thereby ensuring they aren't over-tigthened and can be loosened by hand. No excuses. I can't believe this isn't already law. Fellow drivers, it's time to stand up and revolt!
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