Because the lug nuts seat into a tapered hole (steel wheels) or have a
significant shoulder (alloys), the weight of the car tends to push
outwards against the nuts or rub against the shoulder, throwing the
torque reading off.  If the car is not level (side to side), that can
throw it off, too (camber pressure).  I know I'm sounding a little picky
here, but the object is to get all the nuts as equally and correctly
torqued as possible.

Driving habits can also exaserbate warping.  If you have a long, hard
stop from highway speed, then sit on the brake pedal, say at a
stoplight, you will concentrate major heat to a very small portion of
the rotor.  In this situation it's best to let the car creep a little to
spread the heat around, rather than cook the one small area.  I
personally have no trouble remembering to do this.  Getting the wife to
is another story!

Hey, I'm no expert here - just telling you what has worked best for me.  
I learned my lesson a few years back when my Eclipse went in for its
first new set of tires.  Within a month my rotors were trashed - all 4
of them!  I discovered that about half of the lug nuts were way too
tight.  I bought cheap aftermarket rotors from Advance Auto, started
torqueing the nuts, and 50K miles later braking is still smooth.  I've
also read many other stories confirming the importance of equal torque
on wheel nuts where disk brakes are concened.

Geary

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