The subject of lubing lug nuts or not to lube lug nuts is a subject I would like to get some input on. I've heard that yes it's the thing to do and no it's not.

I lube my truck's lug nut because I swap out my street tires for a set of mud tires a couple times a year. One of the places I like to go dirt biking requires me to drive down 7 to 8 miles of snotty, muddy, hilly dirt road. My Dunlop Mud Rovers have saved my butt a few times now. I'm worried about stripping the wheel studs because of the higher then normal wheel changes. I use a torque wrench and torque each nut to 100 foot pounds.

My questions are what do you guys do? Should the lug nuts be torqued dry and if so how much does the torque value change with lubrication? I’ve been doing this for a few years now and the wheels haven’t fallen off yet, and I hope they never do.

 

Simple answer....

ANTI-SIEZE COMPOUND , its the grey messy stuff that makes your rags glitter... It won't effect torque readings.. but provides a nice graphite based coating on the threads

Its also good to use on the slides for your Brake calibers!

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 01-Aug-02 AT 03:16 PM (EST)]I have been greasing my lugs for over 25 years and I have never used a torque wrench. Never had a problem.

 

I've been using anti-size compound on my lug nuts for many years without a problem. I don't use a torque wrench, I just snug'um up tight. It also makes it easier for the Mrs. to break loose the nuts in case she has to change a tire.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 02-Aug-02 AT 01:16 PM (EST)]I feel the torque on lug nuts is fairly critical, having experienced both warped rotors (claimed due to overtightening on a sports car), and a loose wheel (almost lost an aluminum wheel on a van when the shop left them wrench tight but not torqued). In my experience, recommended torque values are given for unlubricated fasteners, and I just don't know if lubricating them might allow me to stretch the studs or do some other damage, or alternately, allow the nuts to loosen.

I do apply anti-sieze compound around the studs at the back of the wheels (but not actually on the threads) to keep the wheels from sticking.

MrBSS

PS: It would be nice if anti-sieze compound did not affect the torque value, but it seems like it would. Can anybody verify that?

 

Anti-sieze will affect your torque readings because it is a lubricant.

Torque values on most fasteners, including lug nuts, are meant only for clean, dry threads. At the proper torque, the studs are stretched to a certain length. It's this stretching that holds the wheel on. If you stretch the bolts too much, they will lose elasticity and become weak.

If you use a lube on the threads, it takes less torque to get the studs to stretch the same amount, so in theory you wouldn't need to tighten the nuts as much. And that's where the problem is.... you have a fastener that's not as tight, and it's lubed, so it's subject to becoming loose from vibration. The friction of the dry threads is meant to help keep the nut from coming off.

But the studs on most cars/trucks are fairly strong, and most of the time when you lube them and tighten them down, you are still within the elastic (stretching) limits of the steel studs, and so everything is usually ok. And there's usually not enough vibration to cause the nuts to back off.

 

Just wanted to update this. I think it's important that a lot of people see LW555's information.

MrBSS

 

Over 50 years I have used steel wheel 15inch rims on all my passenger cars and trucks. Being a shade tree mechanic, I never thought about torque values; rather I just wanted the damn thing to stay on and not get rusted there. So, I used 30w motor oil on them. Never did have a problem, even when disc brakes came out. I always used the factory tire iron to hunker them down with my 150 lb butt. Now that I am a FTE wanabe gearhead, I bought a fancy torque wrench,...never use lubricant and can hardly get up enough umph to reach the 150ft lbs recommended for my '99 F250 Superduty. Signed..."Old Guy".:+

 

On my vehicles I use anti-seize (copper stuff) though anti-seize just for wheel studs is available. I think the important thing is to wipe the stud clean with brake clean and remove the crud and brake dust before putting the nut back on with a fresh coat of anti-seize. I use a torque wrench set at 110 for my trucks and aluminum Aerostar wheels. No warpage or lost lugs yet. I think the trick is not to get it on the seat part of the acorn cone.

If the studs are extremely rusted I use blue wheel bearing grease and keep an eye on the lugs and on the next wheel swap/LOF I take the grease off and use anti-seize. I would not recommend just doing this and "forgetting" about it or not checking the nuts frequently or driving at 100 mph afterwards.

I just find this the easiest way to avoid stripped threads.