Wheel nuts and hubs - To grease or not to grease?

[trastevere]

Having encountered probs in the past with rubbish jacks and wheel braces that do not provide enough leverage, I invested in a trolley jack and extendable brace. This morning I saw tyre was punctured and within a minute and a half the car was jacked up and the wheel bolts were removed. I had deliberately set about timing the operation hoping to complete it within five minutes or so. Anyway, an hour later and I still had not removed the wheel. It was jammed solid onto the rusty hub. It took a hell of a lot hammering from behind to free it . Furthermore, I did not have WD40 to had which probably would have eased it. Is it good idea to grease the hub and wheel bolts /nuts? There are four cars in the immediate family. One good one and three over ten years old. I could go round them all making sure that they are greased unless, and a big unless, there are important reasons for not carrying out this procedure. After all, new cars do not come with greased bolts and high street tyre places do not use grease when replacing wheels in their typically overtightening manner. If it is a good idea to use grease, what sort/brand should be used?

[Toureman]

It will be interesting to see what other people say but in the 47 years I have had cars I have always very lightly greased the wheel nuts and torqued them up to the right specifications and never have i had any problems with them coming loose or being hard to remove.

The hub the wheel goes on to should be cleaned and lightly oiled to prevent the wheel rusting on to it.

Any normal car grease would be OK.

[NORMANTHEDOG]

as my old mate toureman has said,but be very carefull no grease or lubricant gets anywhere near the discs or brake pads.

[ChuckFickens]

I'm going to disagree with both above.

I wouldn't grease the wheel nuts at all just do them up to the correct torque using a torque wrench and they shouldn't seize and they should be easy enough to undo.

I would, however, put a small amount of copper slip in the hub to stop the wheel binding to the hub, especially if it's an alloy wheel.

[bigboots]

I'm with chuckfickens on this one
We use coppaslip on the hubs but not on the nuts
if the threads protrude through the end of the nut then a light machine oil will do

[weggiewabbit]

I had the same problem, but only once - it was on an old MGB with wire wheels. I freed it eventually by applying heat with a blow-torch. I'd definitely apply some copper grease before re-fitting the wheel, and also to the wheelnuts so that they're easier to undo next time. You're very wise to carry one of those extending wheel wrenches, because the short one in the average car's toolkit is as much use as a cold f@rt.

[TWR]

We used to get this trouble with HGVs big difference I know but same thing, what we used to do undo the nuts a few turns and run the car around the block and swerve to the side that is tight they soon came undone.

[beso]

A general rule I read in an engine rebuilding manual is to lubricate threads if they are exposed to oil in operation but to otherwise leave dry.

A lubricated thread will stretch the bolt more for the same torque. However a rusty thread will result in an undertight situation. So it is a matter of judgement to some extent expecially with wheel nuts.

I have always applied a small amount of grease to wheel studs to prevent corrosion. I find that the single application lasts for many wheel changes mainly due to the molybdenum disulphide in the grease having an affinity to steel leaving a trace on the threads. MoS2 is also an excellent corrosion inhibitor.

I only use MoS2 greases in all applications as its load carrying capacity exceeds that of steel making any joint effectively unseizable under any load. The steel will deform before the lubricant fails.

I have experienced excessively tight wheel nuts from some tyre shops carelessly using rattle guns. In an unlubricated situation excessive tightening can actually cold weld the surfaces.

I experienced this once in a large nut holding on the rear wheel hub of a Voltswagon Kombi belonging to a friend. I think the nut is about 38 mm.

I started trying to undo it with my trusty 3/4 drive socket set, then extended that with a five foot pipe. Next I hit it with the oxyacetylene and was surprised to find it still wouldn't budge.

So I drilled one of the faces and split it with a cold chisel. As I picked up the socket bar my friend handed me the five foot pipe and I commented that it would no longer be necessary. Incredulously it did need the bar and a lot of grunt finally letting go with a bang.

On inspection I discovered a small part of one thread in the nut had folded back on itself. This could only have happened by the point having cold welded.

Incidentally stainless steel fixings will cold

[beso]

Well so much for the 2000 character limit. It got the message that I had 2002 so I removed two characters and it left of the last few anyway.

....will cold weld incredibly easily.

[beso]

Actually I remembered I copied to the clipboard before I posted and it has also left off

......This is why it is best to use two different grades of stainless for the nut and bolt.

Looks to me like 1900 characters is closer to the true limit.

[bonchurch]

hello mate go to a good car accesory shop and buy a tube of copper slip grease and apply spearingly this will do the job .