Suspension re-torquing?

[JaxPlanet]

1300 miles of pure joy after overhauling my suspension, a voice in the back of my head is telling me that I should re-torque all the nuts. It's telling me that the components probably have settled/compressed to some degree after this many miles.

I am not a mechanic and I am working in my driveway with hand tools so I would feel better if someone could tell me if the "voice" is making any sense before getting to it.

Do you think that I should re-torque the suspension nuts at this point?

If so, would it be appropriate to re-torque them at longer intervals (10K?) to compensate for ongoing settling/compression/wear?

TiA!

[ColtonBH]

If you're up to it, it never hurts. Too late now, but what I always do is take a white paint pen and mark across the nut and whatever it is against to visually be able to inspect if the bolt has loosened. There's something called torque sealant which does the same thing and is mentioned to crack if the nut/bolt moves.

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[ColtonBH]

Like this

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[schatzy62]

Never a bad idea to check them.

And just in case you did not know. You MUST make sure the car is Loaded. In other words do not jack the car up and let the wheels sag. As there is not really enough room to get under the car with it on the ground it id best to do it on an alignment rack. But without one of those get the car off the ground (all 4 wheels) on ramps or something like that so that the suspension is in normal driving position before doing any work on the suspension.

[computiNATEor]

Not a bad idea at all. In fact, pretty much any tire shop worth their salt will suggest you come back after driving ~25 miles or so to have your lug nuts re-torqued, so 1k for suspension seems reasonable.

How has the suspension refresh changed your driving experience? I'm about to pull the trigger on ~$1500 worth of control arms and wheel bearings and whatnot.

[sienayr]

Never a bad idea to check them.

And just in case you did not know. You MUST make sure the car is Loaded. In other words do not jack the car up and let the wheels sag. As there is not really enough room to get under the car with it on the ground it id best to do it on an alignment rack. But without one of those get the car off the ground (all 4 wheels) on ramps or something like that so that the suspension is in normal driving position before doing any work on the suspension.

Other option is to measure from top of fender to center of wheel while car is on the ground. With the car in the air and wheel off, jack up till the distance from the center of the hub to the top of the fender matches what you measured.

[geargrinder]

Can't hurt and I love the desire for perfection, but honestly... Not necessary.

There's a very very few situations when a retorque might be 'needed'. I would not typically count suspensions like this as one of them. Places where there's a compressible gasket etc. etc. that might settle a bit... OK. Still rare but OK. Maybe. But none of the compressible rubber bushings/links/etc. in suspension are actually in tension with their bolts, or at least not in such a way that they'll settle/compress and need tightening - every bolt I can think of is hard metal-to-metal bottomed out, and in no way are the compressible bits the driver of the final torque spec, even if the rubber is compressing (aka thrust bushings or something).

Again - cant hurt. But IMO - waste of time unless you're worried you missed something, which is a different story. I've gotten paranoid before "gee did I do the final torque on those 3 bolts on the left side after the phone rang?" and done a check like this... but absent a 'reason' like that...

Find something more value-adding to premptively-maintenance with that same time I say!

[Ed CT]

Agree, not really necessary IF the bolts were all torqued to spec using a reliable torque wrench. On the other hand, if you used the "calibrated hand-feel" tool, it would be wise to go back and check. easy to do on a pair ramps, with some family members in the front seats to approximate the running weight distribution.

[JaxPlanet]

Thank you to all!

Sounds like re-torquing, if nothing else, will silence the voice in the back of my head. Then I can forget about it

FWIW: 2-cinder blocks, 2-sets of jack stands (1/2 ton & 1/3 ton), all control arms, shocks and two front springs will get you to ride height for 528it (tu) with sport struts:
2017-Suspension-Front 05.JPG