On the surface, center lock wheels like those found in the Porsche 911 GT3 RS look super cool and seems super convenient. Instead of removing five lug nuts, you just have to take off one giant nut.
However, in real life, the process of removing and installing a Porsche center lock wheel is a huge pain the butt. This is because the wheel needs to be torqued off the ground and the super high 443 lb-ft of torque needed for the nut. Naturally, special tools and techniques are required.
The process involves jacking the car in the air. Then you need a friend to get inside the car to apply the brakes. Then you’ll need a massive six-foot-long 3/4-inch drive breaker bar to loosen nut, and a similarly sized torque wrench to tighten it again. The problem is the nut is torque down at 443 lb-ft. That means even if you apply your entire bodyweight, the nut may not come loose!
Now, some of you may be thinking, why can’t I just use my big Milwaukee impact with nut-busting torque to remove the wheels? The issue with using an impact wrench is that it won’t be precise and can damage the wheels. Controlled torque is the name of the game. Porsche specifically warns against using an impact driver to remove or install center lock wheels.
Most Porsche owners will just let their dealership change their wheels. However, there’s a large group of Porsche enthusiasts who like to DIY the wheel change. This is where the HYTORC Center Lock Torque Gun comes in. The HYTROC offers a much simpler way for Porsche GT owners to remove and install their wheels. It only takes one person and it’s incredibly accurate, even following Porsche’s tighten-loosen-final tighten torquing procedure. The only problem is the thing cost $5,000, and you can only use it on center lock wheel nuts.
What’s great about the HYTROC is that you don’t run the risk of over-torquing the nut on your wheels, and the ease of removing a 443 ft pound center lock. Because the torque gun is programmed for Porsche, it tightens to 600-newton meters (443 ft pounds), backs it off 60°, and then tightens it back to 600-newton meters – making the process of putting wheels on and taking them off super-efficient. If you’re using this for a different make of vehicle or purpose, you’d have to program it with the proper specs.
Spending $5,000 on a torque gun just to remove your center look wheels may seem excessive, but considering how much a Porsche GT car cost, and how rich the average GT owner is, the price shouldn’t be too much of hinderance for the Porsche enthusiast who likes to DIY their wheel changes.