WARNING: Genuine Nissan Rims are becoming a HAZARD!

[Bigrig]

DON"T use rattle guns doing up wheel nuts! Using rattle guns can strip threads on wheel nuts and studs. Most people incorrectly use rattle guns, You should brake your wheel nuts loose with rattle gun and finish pulling them of by hand, asto, not over spin the thread of the nuts on the end of the studs. Same as when putting them back on, wind wheel nuts on by hand, ensuring you feel it has the correct threading(not cross threaded) and wind them all the way by hand then finish tightening by rattlegun to desired tension. DON"T be tempted to keep rattling, thinking your doing a better tight job, because you are actually damaging the fine thread in your wheel nut.

If you can't under your wheel nut using a hand brace, you have actually over tighten your wheel nuts and stretched the threads.

Wheels studs and nuts have a fine thread and are design that way to enable sufficent tension to be placed on them to hold wheels on sufficiently, without being strong man.

I know some wheel shop personel will argue with me on this, but have they been lectured by an automotive engineer on the forces of wheels, stresses, forces, and tensions put to wheels, rims, tyres, nuts and threads? To put some facts to this, think of this:

A truck registered to carry 20 tonne needs no more tension on its wheel nuts and studs than a boat trailer needs on its ones. The difference is the size of the studs and nuts. I have put wheels on a HG holden and travelled the simpson desert, and not lost a wheel, and we even used anti sieze on the studs! So if they were going come undone, they would of on that trip, considering I personally hand tightened all 20 nuts after applying the anti seize.

All mynuts on all my vehicles, inc alloys on past vehicles have always been hand tightened evenly ie tighten 1st nut, 3rd nut, 5th, 2nd nut and 4th nut and recheck each one.

End of lesson

Tim

Hmmm ... I hear ya mate, but sort of sounds to me to be at the 'overly dramatic' end of the argument ... not out to start anything, but like us all I've had multiple cars that have traveled multiple terrains, and whilst I am a bit of a 'tighten by hand' guy anyway, I also have used a rattle gun on countless occasions (personally) as well as having wheel rotations/balances done countless times by retailers who use rattle guns ... my understanding (and happy to be wrong), is that over torquing of the nut is far less likely to cause stretching of the thread and more likely to cause metal fatigue over an extended time, and it is in fact this that causes fractures/failure of the studs ... most rattle guns don't place as much strain on the nuts as big units like me in most cases, and hence are a safer option (especially for DIY individuals who use the good ole Super Cheap Auto air compressor etc) than hanging off the end of a breaker bar and socket ...

Or am I completely misguided???

[Finly Owner]

Hmmm ... I hear ya mate, but sort of sounds to me to be at the 'overly dramatic' end of the argument ... not out to start anything, but like us all I've had multiple cars that have traveled multiple terrains, and whilst I am a bit of a 'tighten by hand' guy anyway, I also have used a rattle gun on countless occasions (personally) as well as having wheel rotations/balances done countless times by retailers who use rattle guns ... my understanding (and happy to be wrong), is that over torquing of the nut is far less likely to cause stretching of the thread and more likely to cause metal fatigue over an extended time, and it is in fact this that causes fractures/failure of the studs ... most rattle guns don't place as much strain on the nuts as big units like me in most cases, and hence are a safer option (especially for DIY individuals who use the good ole Super Cheap Auto air compressor etc) than hanging off the end of a breaker bar and socket ...

Or am I completely misguided???

Putting that way makes sense in so many ways, supa (weak) cheap rattle guns half inch drive do have less force than breaker bar, and so would a typical 4 post X wheel brace have less force than a breaker bar. But I hear you, and will remember to do some follow up on your fatigue theory as it sounds very plausable to me. A lot of wheel shops do use good strong rattle guns though. We actually had some wheel nuts at work that caught me out, that had been in and out of Tyre shops having flats changed reguarly on a Sports field Mower. I spun the nuts on a bit lazely at work and noticed they felt strange, thought to myself(no one will want me to buy new nuts etc) so I continued as I was, and had one not want go all the way on by rattle gun, and couldn't get it back off either. I did check the other nuts, and you could see threads stripped and metal slivers in the threads. So just be aware of it everyone, occassionly feel the fit of your wheel nuts on your studs when you are next doing a wheel change.

Tim

[Silver]

I remembed when alloy wheeled GUs came out there was a fair bit on the 4x4 press about losing wheels, and the need to use a torque wrench to accurately fit them.

[04OFF]

I think most tyre shops now use Wheel Nut Torque bars....

http://www.sidchrome.com.au/product/...orsion-bar-kit



Without Torque bars or just the right method/skills, a air gun can definately damage components, when i started my automotive apprenticeship, we where taught to only use a rattle gun to speed up wheel nut replacement, but always finish by hand.

If nothing else, this gives the owner half a chance at getting a wheel off at the side of the road (to change a flat) and when you think about it, thats as tight as the car manufacturer ever intended wheel nuts to be.




I have GU steel wheels, but If i had Nissan alloys, id buy a Torque wrench (well i have one anyway), and do nuts up to exactly the factory spec.

[growler2058]

My ol mans just bought an 06 GU td42t 100 odd thousand on the clock he's the second owner. If it hasnt got the indicators on the wheel nuts will Nissan do it for him, or is the recall only for the original purchaser?

[nowoolies]

My ol mans just bought an 06 GU td42t 100 odd thousand on the clock he's the second owner. If it hasnt got the indicators on the wheel nuts will Nissan do it for him, or is the recall only for the original purchaser?

sorry sounding dumb here but.....
these indicators .... are they the plastic nissan badged caps over my wheel nuts

[Chappa]

DON"T use rattle guns doing up wheel nuts! Using rattle guns can strip threads on wheel nuts and studs. Most people incorrectly use rattle guns, You should brake your wheel nuts loose with rattle gun and finish pulling them of by hand, asto, not over spin the thread of the nuts on the end of the studs. Same as when putting them back on, wind wheel nuts on by hand, ensuring you feel it has the correct threading(not cross threaded) and wind them all the way by hand then finish tightening by rattlegun to desired tension. DON"T be tempted to keep rattling, thinking your doing a better tight job, because you are actually damaging the fine thread in your wheel nut.

If you can't under your wheel nut using a hand brace, you have actually over tighten your wheel nuts and stretched the threads.

Wheels studs and nuts have a fine thread and are design that way to enable sufficent tension to be placed on them to hold wheels on sufficiently, without being strong man.

I know some wheel shop personel will argue with me on this, but have they been lectured by an automotive engineer on the forces of wheels, stresses, forces, and tensions put to wheels, rims, tyres, nuts and threads? To put some facts to this, think of this:

A truck registered to carry 20 tonne needs no more tension on its wheel nuts and studs than a boat trailer needs on its ones. The difference is the size of the studs and nuts. I have put wheels on a HG holden and travelled the simpson desert, and not lost a wheel, and we even used anti sieze on the studs! So if they were going come undone, they would of on that trip, considering I personally hand tightened all 20 nuts after applying the anti seize.

All mynuts on all my vehicles, inc alloys on past vehicles have always been hand tightened evenly ie tighten 1st nut, 3rd nut, 5th, 2nd nut and 4th nut and recheck each one.

End of lesson

Tim

The problem is not with the rattle gun it is with the operator this is why rattle guns have different speeds if you cant judge how tight you are doing them up then you shouldn't be using it on wheel nuts.

[nemo]

Tyre shop I used to work at, we used a torque wrench set to 75 foot pound on every vehicle for final tension.

Before they started using the torque wrench they had a couple of wheels come loose and off from using a rattle gun to do wheels up.

[04OFF]

My ol mans just bought an 06 GU td42t 100 odd thousand on the clock he's the second owner. If it hasnt got the indicators on the wheel nuts will Nissan do it for him, or is the recall only for the original purchaser?

I was under the impression the indicators are issued for the "vehicle" as long as it was sold new with the factory alloy wheels fitted, im not sure how far back in models the recall goes, but i would ring a nissan dealer with the VIN, they be able to tell you if the car is eligible.

sorry sounding dumb here but.....
these indicators .... are they the plastic nissan badged caps over my wheel nuts

Correct, Nissan will only issue you 3 per wheel , you can "purchase" extra ones if you want to.

[Clunk]

My ol mans just bought an 06 GU td42t 100 odd thousand on the clock he's the second owner. If it hasnt got the indicators on the wheel nuts will Nissan do it for him, or is the recall only for the original purchaser?

I'm pretty sure they will mate, after all a recall is a recall, no matter how many owners the car may have had, my brother just purchased a 05 3.0TD and it has them on