If I were to buy something to ensure that my lugs are torqued properly if I were to take my tires off... What do I need to look for to buy? And are there manufacturers/brands to stay away from when looking for the cheapest?
So are you trying to say a torque wrench isn't necessary to put wheels on a vehicle? That's terrible advice.... Wheels always need to be torqued on properly. There are a ton of other items on a truck that need to be torqued on properly as well. A torque wrench is pretty much a must have tool for any mechanic. To say "save your money" and not buy one is simply foolish.If you're not going to be doing alot of mechanical work on your truck, save your money.
The biggest problem is getting lugs off. The tire guys rarely put grease on the threads and are tough to get off when needed, and that is at night in a storm on the side of the road.
Get a quality truck size 4-way wrench, they put plenty of torque on the nuts and after driving a couple of miles you can just check them again. They store nicely under the front passenger seat.
They give you that because a spare isn't meant to be used for every day driving. It's meant to be put on just to get you home or to the tire shop. Then changed right back to your proper wheel/tire.That's what I'm saying. If It was so important, the manufacturers would give you more than a toothpick to change a flat.
If a 4-way wrench isn't enough torque, then perhaps you should leave working on your vehicle to the pro's.
Next!
I agree with the first part of your post. There's a lot of things I don't use a torque wrench for that a manufacturer would recommend. I just don't see it as necessary.... The fold flat floor example that you said is a perfect example of that. In no way does that need to be torqued to a proper spec. It just doesn't make sense. But there are a lot of items that do. Where it matters more is where you have multiple nuts holding something on that has the possibility of getting hot. Wheels are an example of that. It's not the wheels that are going to have the problem from not being torqued properly, but the things behind them will. If everything isn't torqued equally (or close to it) you're going to have way more problems with warping disks, hubs, or drums. It's not as extreme or as likely, but it is possible.Sometimes people are way too technical. There are oem specs for just about everything. When I added the fold flat floor to the rear of my truck under the seat I did not bust out the torque wrench to tighten the seat bolts to the oem spec. I paid attention to how tight they were before and tightened them to roughly the same. Yeah it's not exact, but it really does not matter. It's close enough for this application.
I've put hundreds of thousands of miles on vehicles and never once used a torque wrench on a lug nut. Never broke a lug nut and never lost one. Use common sense, get it tight enough but not too tight. It doesn't have to be perfect.
BTW, torque readings will vary GREATLY depending on how clean/dirty the threaded surfaces are, if a lubricant is used, etc. So even using a torque wrench there's a large variance. And I doubt anybody wire brushes the lugs off then applies a torquing lubricant to get it exact. It's just not necessary.
But to each their own. It takes long enough to rotate tires, I don't want to make it longer lol.
That's a pretty damn bold statement...I pretty much guarantee I've done way more mechanic work in my life and am far better at it than you are.