Thought I would try and see what the general consensus is on this, as I am a novice mechanic and I have no idea what the right answer is. A few of my more mechanically inclined friends have told me that torquing isn’t all that important for most things and that torque really is only important for certain parts. Is this true? Because when I look in my service manuals for my vehicles it seems like they have recommended torque for most bolts… is this more of a recommendation? Is it okay to just make most bolts “tight’nuff” and call it a day? Interested to see what people’s thoughts are on this.
torquing is becoming more and more critical as carmakers have shifted to lighter weight components that can be easily damaged by over-torquing. Plus, more and more fasteners on newer cars are torque-to-yield. So if you’re tightening bolts on control arms, struts, brakes, wheel bearings, ball joints, axle nuts, steering components, spark plugs, lug nuts, you’d better be using a torque wrench. Same with all internal engine and transmission parts. If you don’t use a torque wrench on torque-to-yield bolts, you can break them or even crack the component.
DIYers most often overtighten and strip the threads in aluminum engines/heads, especially valve cover bolts, ignition coil bolts, and spark plugs. That’s just plain stupid. Why make your life so hard when torque wrenches are so cheap?