So I drove a whopping 75 miles on them this week, and found some lugs loose on the front wheels. When I put the rims on the car, I used a torque wrench and had it set to 100 pounds.

I'm wondering if I need longer studs because of the spacers on the new rims?

Anyone?

Well since I am on here and thoughts.I assume you needed the spacers for the proper offset (look) or so the rim would not hit the rotors,calipers? In short if you had used a gm wheel no spacer is required and our cars can handle a 16 rim with a factory rim for sure.In short it very well could be the studs might be too short for the type of rim you have and the reason the lugs may have backed off is they were not seated far enough to stay tight on the OEM studs.And while I have aluminum wheels on my 87 mazda never had one issue with lugs backing off if torqued.I only torque my wheel on sunny to 85ft lbs and no issue either.I would measure studs sticking out of the rim(new) versus the old rim as you might just need longer studs.However unless your torque wrench is not calibrated correct could be the variation.I generally use a 4 way lug to break mine loose and a good way to measure the general tightness versus the TW.Another thought is aftermarket wheels once the lugs seat into the metal especially aluminum they generally do not get distorted unless some idiot installed the lugs with a IMPACT a big NO NO as this crushes the metal in and the lugs will not stay tight even torqued as the threads may have lost the grab on the nut.In short check the stud length with one lug off,compared to your old rim on even if you do not have the tire mounted on it.If there is a big difference your studs may need to be swapped.Hope I did not ramble on with all over the place thoughts.I am kind of tired.

1 more thought and or ? did the lugs that came with the wheels were they the correct size.If the lugs had any slop side/side and or not a long enough lug could be another reason some may have backed off.

Ron, only 85 foot pounds...how not factory

Specs in the owners manual show 100, my wrench is good. The lugs came with the rims and spacers from Tirerack, so I'm sure they're the right lugs for the job.

I re-tightened them with the torque and I'm gonna see what happens. When I put them on Monday, I had another wonderful day of sinus issues, and you'd be amazed how that affects even some basic thought process.

With the weather, I don't expect to drive the car again until after Monday, so I guess I'll just wait and see if I have problems again at this point. Glad to know my thought of longer studs might be the issue. Those lugs go really deep into the holes of the rims to reach the studs, and I remember when putting them on how I really didn't like the feel. My rear lugs seem to be doing better, but there's less stress there, and I did put the fronts on first, so maybe it was simply Wayne at work screwing it up somehow.

See Hugh, even something as simple as new rims and I need help, but the car isn't destroyed.

aluminum rims should be torqued at 85-90, steelies at 100-110. the proper torque for your rims should be on the box the rims came in. over torquing aluminum rims can damage them. on any type of threaded fastner you must have at least 3 threads engaged for a proper/safe hold. on a critical thing like your wheels i would double that number for safety. i would not drive on those wheels untill you are absolutly sure they are on there correctly. it is not safe and all kinds of damage can result. way back when i was about 18-19 yrs old i put on some unversal chrome rims on my 74 nova without the proper lug nuts and spacers.........it wasnt pretty. here is a pic of 2 different styles of lugnuts. one has a tapered end and one has a flat end. i would bet you have the wrong lugnuts and your studs are just fine. you also might not even need any back spacing if the wheel clears the caliper and spins freely.

I will say in short I torque most wheels at my 85 since most rides I service or maintain are right around 80-85 point on average.My Toyota is 83 wifes accord 79-82 or so.To me this is more than adequate for most cars old or new today in general.In the end I have had zero issue's with my preferred number torque wise unless it is something much bigger ride wise.

Why Tirerack couldn't send the slitest bit of instructions with my wheels to let me know about this, but I found it on their website in faq's somewhere:

Note: After installing new wheels you should re-torque your lug hardware after the first 50 to 100 miles of driving. This is necessary because as the wheels are breaking in they may compress slightly allowing their lugs to lose some of their torque. Simply repeat the same torque procedure listed above.

Well I guess I have my answer, I did re-torque them and drove in to work today. I'll be checking the lugs again at lunch and again when I get home, but I'm guessing I won't have any more problems.