Hi Scot,
I rally appreciate your knowledge in mechanic field. I have seen you videos related to engine warming. I am living in Ontario, Canada and have Honda Civic 2018 and since I purchased I have been warming it before my ride. I have also heard from other people to do that. So, can you please suggest me if that is necessary? Many times in winter even after warming up for good amount of time, temperature gauge does not rise. Should I be looking for the temperature gauge before my ride? What about the engine oil, should I give some time to let the engine oil circulate before my ride?
Second question is that Should I really use torque wrench to change or replace tires? As I recently get to know about that and I have been changing my tires twice per year for summer and winter. What about tire rotation at each replacement?
Thank you so much for your time in advance.
A little warm up is good (many cars now have a cold start program with slightly higher idle; I usually wait for the revs to come down before I take off). But an extended warm up , like waiting until the water temp comes up, is not necessary and is just wasted wear on the engine. Just drive slow for the first few minutes.
As far as torque on lug nuts - yes, a torque wrench is absolutely necessary. People (especially low budget tire shops and dealers) love to overtorque the nuts with an air gun and it damages the threads. To properly install the lug nuts:
- hand start the nut to make sure it is not cross threaded
- tighten to just snug with a hand socket or lug nut wrench until the wheel sits flush and even against the hub
- lower the car until the weight is back on the wheels
- torque to spec with a torque wrench in a star pattern
- Retorque after driving a few miles
as far as rotation - rotation is probably not that important if the alignment and tire pressure are correct. But if you have the wheels off anyway, then yeah, rotate positions.
it's a good idea to use a torque wrench on the lug nuts so the force is even and consistent on all of them.
I rotate wheels around every 7,500 mi.
In the future try not to lump multiple different questions into one topic.
As a guy who has had a wheel come loose while on the freeway, please torque your lug nuts to spec.
I always use a torque wrench on lug nuts so as not to distort the rotors. And I always let the engine warm up until I see a reading on the temperature gauge before putting any appreciable load on it, no matter what anybody else says.
Torque to specs and re-torque after 20 miles (32 km) or so if they are aluminum rims.
All rims, not only aluminum ones. I do safety checks also after 50-100 km.