Dealer torques lug nuts to wrong spec = warped rotors?

I have a 2024 with about 24,000 miles. Started getting pulsating in the brakes at highway speeds. Figured I'd check the run-out on the front rotors and noticed the lugs were torqued to over 170ft-lbs. Specs are 97 for alloy wheels and 154 for the steel wheels. I have the 20" wheels which are alloy.

So my tires were rotated twice by the dealer when I brought it in for it's included oil change services. My question is how likely is it that they caused the issue by over torquing the lugs? Seems like every Toyota I've owned blows through rotors like crazy but I wasn't expecting this at 24k.

 

It's very possible that the over-torqued lug nuts caused the rotors to warp. But, good luck proving the dealership was responsible.

Just out of curiosity, do you use the radar cruise a lot?

 

Dealer replaced tires on my other car snd torqued the bolts that a spindle snapped when I went to get brake fluid changed(long story). I also have alloy wheels on her. Uneven brakes can be felt when almost stopped.

 

Yup, which I need to get my loosen up. Dealer did my oil change and then rotated tires back in January l, allgood. Went back again in March for the same. Now they say they couldn't remove the lugnut. I dont know how ya removed them last. O we can remove them for 800 bucks. Get home and double check all lug nuts are tight. Nope

Atleast give them training

 

Yeah I definitely use cruise but I thought that was more likely to eat through the rear brakes, not the front. Is that accurate or do I have that wrong? Thanks

 

I don't think over torquing the lugs would do anything to the rotors. An uneven clamp load on the hat of the rotor wouldn't do anything to the rotor surface itself.

 

I think I read that here, too, but I'm not convinced. It seems the adaptive cruise system would apply the brakes the same way they are applied during normal driving.

I've also seen several reports of warped front rotors at less than 20K miles, which were attributed to the adaptive cruise. But who knows.

Sadly, I think the factory brakes on Gen 3s are junk.

 

I wouldnt think over torquing the lug nuts would warp a rotor.
Did you hit any water when the brakes were hot?
Thats the normal reason for warped rotors.
Or they were resurfaced improperly.

 

At 80,000 miles with original brakes, still stopping fine and they have lots of life left.
My wife can warp those suckers on any brand within 60,000 miles. Jack rabbit driver.

 

Why use a torque wrench when you can rattle them on with your fancy Snap-On air impact at 200ft-lbs!

Not just the dealers, even tire shops do this crap. When I take mine in (only for balancing), I immediately retorque them when I get home.

 

When I got my 35s, the shop that put the tires on cross threaded / torqued the lug nuts so hard that 3 lugs were completely stripped on the passenger rear side. Took many ugga duggas to get em off but I was able to clean up the rest of the lugs with new nuts and grease. I had pulsing brakes shortly after that lol

 

Almost 91k miles with original brakes. At my last tire rotation I was told to keep an eye on the pads, but they still had some life in them. No issues with rotors, ever, on this truck. I only trust one shop that I have been dealing with since the '90's. I've never heard of over torqueing lug nuts causing rotor issues.

 

Absolutely a possibility. after my last Toyota care service, I started noticing some pulsation while braking. I just did my 35k mile service and rotated my tires. I always use a 4-way to remove to lug nuts. It was all I could do to get the frontwheel lug nuts loose by hand. I thought to my self, yup, that why the brakes are pulsing. I had an 07 Tundra years ago, and after 3 sets of rotors warped, after 15-20k miles, I was convinced the dealership was using the impact to tighten the lugs. after that was corrected, no more issues.
I'll just deal with it on my 3rd gen. They'll never work on it again, I hope.

 

Bought new tires from Sears one year and after seeing everyone using an impact to tighten down the lugs I requested that upon putting them back on the truck they use a torque wrench and not the impact. When I requested it the sales person said they use torque sticks and not to worry, I told him I've seen 3 techs not using them. Tech that was assigned my job refused to do it when he saw the notes about using a torque wrench. Had to wait an extra 2 hours for a tech to be freed up. Needless to say I called the GM the next day, they refunded me $300 and fired the tech. Saw him loading his box on a tow truck 2 days later.

 

I’m at 50k with some mild warping but not terrible, yet. I’ll upgrade to slotted and drilled rotors soon, which I’ve done all my other vehicles in the past and I’ve never had an issue. I’ve even had a couple cars that literally warped the oem rotors in a matter of months, and I switched to a slotted and drilled rotor, and I went the whole car’s life without ever changing them again. Never had an issue with over torquing but definitely gonna look into that.

 

DO NOT EVER take your truck to the dealer, repair shop, quicky lube or your ex father-in-laws, for which they remove and replace wheel lugs UNLESS you will go straight home, jack up your truck, break all the lugs loose and then torque them yourself to YOUR spec. (97 lb-ft, 154 lb-ft, 6 ugga duggas, etcetera).

Because I know you're gonna ask I hand torque my wheels, allow or steel, to 76 - 80 lb-ft. Have since 1985. Here's the zinger >>> YMMV.

Perhaps of little consequence or interest, but, my 1997 (I bought it new from the dealer, 275,500 miles) still has the original front brake rotors on it and they work just fine.

 

I've had similar experience with over-torque of the lug nuts when I had new tires installed. Drove up and down I-70 the day after install and had bad shuddering on the way down. Grabbed my torque wrench and went through all wheels and didn't have any issue after that.
It's annoying that you have to re-do their work, but can't change my tires at home.