I was replacing my upper control arms today, however the manual I simply stated "tighten" the bolts (they're meant to be self-locking). So after some googling my car model (Audi B8 A4/A5), I wrongly thought I should tighten them to 90nm (first tried 40nm as I saw, but it didn't seem tight enough). The torque wrench never clicked, so I kept tightening them. I then reduced it to 70nm, and it finally clicked, and I stopped.
Now, thinking about what I did, I did more googling and it turns out the bolt should've been tightened to 40nm + 180 degrees stretch.
Here's a picture I took of the original set up:
And after (note there's no gap between the pinch weld)
So my questions are:
- Is it possible to fix what I have done?
- If so, how?
- How badly did I mess up my car?
- Should I use a new bolt and nut?
Thanks.
Update: Tried to take the thread out, got it about an inch out, then it just started spinning. Had to call a thread repair specialist to pull it out. The bolt was completely deformed. Slightly widened the pinch, and used a new nut and bolt and tightened to spec. All looks well (for now).