Peter,

I agree. I watched a tire changer use a air gun to replace wheels on my old Valiant. It looked like he fell asleep while "pounding" the nuts on because he "pounded" so long. After he was finished I handed him the factory lug wrench and asked him to loosen the lug nuts. He couldn't loosen one. So I had him loosen all the nuts with his air gun and retighten with my lug wrench.

When asked how I was supposed to remove the wheels somewhere on the highway, his answer was "DUH" I complained to management and they told me the air guns were set to the correct torque. When I told them they were full of s***, they got an "I don't give a s..." attitude.

I don't go that establishment anymore. I wonder how many people got straded when they couldn't remove their lug nuts when they gat a flat tire.

The only place where I saw a tire shop use a torque wrench was in Canada but it was a long time ago and I can't remember where it was. They also immersed the tire in water after mounting to check for leaks. I had respect for that place and I complimented them.

P E H