My neighbor's torque wrench advice nearly cost me a wheel hub

Old Mr. Delgado across the street told me to skip the torque wrench and just "tighten till it grunts, then a quarter turn." I did that on my 2011 Civic last month. Three days later I heard this clicking sound turning left. Pulled over, the lug nuts on the front passenger side had backed off almost two full turns. Could have lost the wheel doing 70 on I-40. He swears his way worked for 40 years. I bought a $35 click-type torque wrench the next day and re-did all four corners to spec. But part of me wonders if he's just old school and I got unlucky with a bad set of studs. Anyone else had a backyard mechanic give them advice that almost caused a wreck, or was it actually fine for you?

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cole_mitchell88d ago

Mr. Delgado must have some mystic lug nut radar that skipped a generation with you... 40 years of grunting and a quarter turn and the only sound he hears is his own hubcaps flying off down the street. Glad you caught it before I-40 did the catching for you.