What role would torque on the wheel nuts play? Air guns and just-a-little-tighter-for-safety over the years may be more than the wheels designers intended?
i have had to scrap at least 7 14 inch jag wheels from mk10 - 420 g because of severe cracking between lug nuts and between lug nuts and hub which i attribute to poor design and /or treatment. corrosion not a factor. i run chev truck steel wheels with modern rubber now on one car and large chev sedan wheels on other. mk2 & 140. if in a salty atmosphere steel wheels are often rejected due to corrosion cracking etc.
You need to check wheelnut torque on powder-coated wheels because the powder-coat cracks and ācollapsesā with use over the first couple of hundred miles, resulting in reduced tightness of the nuts. I have put a torque wrench on a wheelnut tightened to 80lbsft and found it at 45 2 weeks later. It hadnāt turned.
Cant help, certainly.
I certainly donāt use air guns on old steel wheels, just a good quality torque wrench.