Torque Wrench Question

[Qmulus]

You have brought up one of my pet peeves. In my business I work with auto service shops all over the front range. If you go to automotive shops, dealer or independent, I bet you will find 90% of techs don't use torque wrenches on anything, except MAYBE engine internals, but many don't there either. These days most guys use electric or air impacts on everything and if I ask where their torque wrench is some don't even own one. They think because a bolt is tight and not stripped, that is good. Almost everything is overtightened, especially lug bolts/nuts. For things that need to be really tight, like crank bolts, suspension parts or axle nuts/bolts they just use their big 1/2" drive impact set to full torque and hit it until it seems right. Who knows what it ends up at... Yikes.

I know of one shop where EVERY bolt gets torqued and marked. It is a local independent Porsche shop that specializes in race cars and doesn't advertise. In the last month I saw TWO 993 RSRs, two 996 GT3 Cup cars, a 964 Cup car, numerous turbos, and a slew of spec Boxsters. They are doing something right...

A bolt is a bolt. It doesn't matter if it is on a bike or a car. In my opinion, the average bike mechanic is far more careful and meticulous than an auto mechanic, because they have to be. I would also say that beam type torque wrench is just as good as a Harbor Freight wrench. They are very simple and accurate. The problem with them is that they can be tough to use as it is not always easy to see the scale dead on. It would work perfectly on the oil drain plug. The click type wrenches are easy to use, but are also easier to get out of tolerance, especially if you don't zero them after use.

My bottom line is that by using a torque wrench on your drain plug you are already doing better than the vast majority of anyone that you might have work on your car. Splitting hairs about which torque wrench you use is pretty silly IMO.

YMMV

Steve