E30 Zone

How anal is everyone with keeping to torque values?

I don't have a torque wrench, but have just spent a small fortune on other tools and jacks etc. really don't want to fork out another £50 odd quid on a torque wrench.

Bear in mind I've never used one of them before, but I was looking into the ranges on each tool, and it looks like for some of the more menial jobs I've got planned, like taking off the auto gearbox sump and magnets etc. I'm going to need more than one of these wrenches... as there is a wide spectrum of values for this job.

so back to the original question, how important are they?

Me personally I always use a torque wrench on every wheel I take off. I hate over tightened wheels.

Other than that, the only the I would use a torque wrench for is when building an engine.

As above, engine internals/rotating parts, flywheel etc, diff internals

If your just removing the gearbox pan you wont need a torque wrench, just common sense really, you will get a good enough idea of how tight they need to be when removing.
1/4 drive is best for 6mm bolts

Cheers lads! I presume that's the same for suspension parts?

In general, I only use torque wrenches on things with bearings or on bolts which would result in my immediate death if they were to come out, but it's not really that difficult and can save you major ball ache. In my opinion they are very high on the priority list of 'buy quality, buy once' tools. Proper care and maintenance are key too to retain accuracy.

Yep, I always wind it off after use.

These are good - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Teng-Tools-3- ... 339ab726e7

Angle gauge built in and the torque settings cover about 90% of what you need for an E30

Even this is better than nothing for someone who doesn't have a clue what correct torques feel like. Doubles up as a handy breaker bar as well!: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/draper-1-2-Dr ... 417ed29b3c

There was some wally on here a while back who used a bl**dy great torque wrench to tighten his sump nut, and stripped the thread.

Brianmoooore wrote:Even this is better than nothing for someone who doesn't have a clue what correct torques feel like. Doubles up as a handy breaker bar as well!: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/draper-1-2-Dr ... 417ed29b3c

Excuse my ignorance, but what the ell's bells is that?

Mitchen wrote:

Brianmoooore wrote:Even this is better than nothing for someone who doesn't have a clue what correct torques feel like. Doubles up as a handy breaker bar as well!: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/draper-1-2-Dr ... 417ed29b3c

Excuse my ignorance, but what the ell's bells is that?

A torque wrench.....but instead of having a rotating setting guide on the handle, it use's angular deflection to indicate torque applied. It can be used in both directions.....

kam-325i wrote:

Mitchen wrote:

Brianmoooore wrote:Even this is better than nothing for someone who doesn't have a clue what correct torques feel like. Doubles up as a handy breaker bar as well!: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/draper-1-2-Dr ... 417ed29b3c

Excuse my ignorance, but what the ell's bells is that?

A torque wrench.....but instead of having a rotating setting guide on the handle, it use's angular deflection to indicate torque applied. It can be used in both directions.....

In plain English, it's a steel bar that bends, with an indicator to show how much it's bent. Far from accurate, but they have their uses, and better than nothing.
One thing I use mine for occasionally, is to measure the torque required to undo a particular nut or bolt, which you can't easily do with a conventional one.

Well I've just brought one now, so let's see how I get on! Thanks chaps

I've just had mine calibrated at work, and it was nearly 25% under-reading !

set at 20Kg M, it clicked at 17.5Kg M...

Who did you use to calibrate it? I've got a big 3/4 one I need doing for work.

I've bought a few off this guy, all X MOD stuff most of it is still in calibration to.

I have one the same as this which does most things on my car easy to read not like the pressed metal ones which always seam to be marked at odd numbers.

 http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 54&alt=web 

As a rough calibration check, I occasionally check mine off against each other. Set them at the same value, in opposite directions, stick a large male hex. or torx socket on one, a matching female on the other, and pull them against each other. If they don't click at almost exactly the same time, then there's a problem.