Torque to me....

[recycled sixtie]

Well the noob is coming out of his office and into his garage to upgrade his tools. I think that a torque wrench is necessary for the Boxster I now have . Can u suggest the appropriate size to change my wheels this spring? Half inch? 3/4 inch? They seem to come in all sizes. What do you suggest? Any particular make? How much should I spend? Apparently foot pressure on a basic wheel wrench did not impress the seller of my winter rims/tires Please.....help me upgrade to Porsche standards

[adbm3]

I use a 3/8" Craftsman that goes up to 110nm. Also, pick up one of the special sockets that Pelican has for the wheel nuts. If you need a half inch drive a 3/8 to 1/2 adapter works. Unless you are doing the axles - then you'd need a full on 1/2" drive wrench for the higher torque values that the wrench can handle. I'd also consider getting an extremely light torque wrench in inch/lbs for the extremely light stuff that seems to be more endemic to a Porsche, which I have yet to do but found necessary for stuff like the oil sump pan.

What to buy? The best! Never scrimp on tools, pay the money and have them last a lifetime. That's my opinion.

Oh, and you should also start collecting as much data as you can on torque values for the car on your own as, for some odd reason, not as forthcoming information as you should expect.

[JFP in PA]

I would be concerned about using 3/8 to ½ inch adaptors on a higher range torque wrench; above some value, the adaptor is going to start to twist, throwing off the values. As for ranges, I prefer a 3/8 drive inch pound for many smaller fastener applications, simply because it is more accurate at lower values. A ½ drive 150 ft lb is good for most other fasteners. If you are into tools, a mid ranged 3/8 drive 5-75 ft lb would be the third wrench for lower range accuracy, and a long handled high range 1 inch drive (200-1000 ft lb) for the “killer” fasteners like the rear axel center nuts. As for suppliers, for me there is only one: Snap-On. I have owned and used their stuff for years, the tools hold their accuracy very well over many years of daily use.

[adbm3]

Please note that I do not advocate using a 3/8" to 1/2" adapter where its clearly foolish to do so, especially where the wrench is clearly incapable of the torque values desired.

[MnW's 987S]

If the only thing you are looking to use a torque wrench for is to make sure the wheel lugs are properly secured then just about any 1/2in. one should be fine. Don't bother blowing $150 on a digital one just for that. Even the $20 Harbor Freight one is accurate to +/- 6% which is plenty good enough for wheel lugs. Now for head bolts and such then a serious one is in order. I have a couple of cheap ones in various sizes and also a Snap-On one in the 1/2 inch size because that is the one you usually use for head bolts and such.

[bala]

pepboys has one for 20 bucks that can adopt a 3/8 as well as a 1/2". It can do upto 150 lbs. I found it very good. I just up the torque requirement on the big nuts by a few lbs just to be safe - wheel lugs etc.

[amschnellsten]

1/2 is a bit better, 3/8 you are normally too limited.