The day a cracked rotor taught me my torque wrench was lying

I've been turning wrenches for 12 years, mostly brakes and suspension jobs out of my garage in Akron. Last Tuesday I pulled a front rotor that had heat cracks running all the way across the face, and the customer said it started vibrating after I did their pads two months prior. I checked my torque specs, then checked my torque wrench against a cheap beam style unit I keep for backup, and it was off by a full 18 ft-lbs on the low side. That's when I realized I'd been under-torquing lug nuts on nearly every job since I dropped my old wrench on the concrete floor last spring. Has anyone else bothered to calibrate their torque sticks or wrenches on a regular schedule, or do you just trust them until something like this happens?

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