The idea of torquing the bolt is to stretch it just enough so that it acts as a spring on the rim to keep it under constant load. They count on friction to keep the nut in place. In BIG machines, they actually measure just how much the stud elongates to calculate the correct torque, and sometimes use smaller bolts through the nut to do the actual stetching.
If the bolt is stretched beyond its elastic limit, it gives, changes the spring constant, weakens it, and guarantees failure. Ater reading Steve's earlier post about how hard it was to get the lug nuts off, I'd recommend replacing the studs.
Bob
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