Greasing Road wheel bolts.

[ratm]

Normal grease works just as well as copper grease on wheel nuts/bolts and doesn't cost half as much. Alternatively rub them with a pencil.
The trouble with the torque setting is the extra lubrication of the grease reduces the friction so the torque is affected, but by how much I don't know.

 

[Djnikon]

Just a little smear of coppaslip on the thread won't do any harm. And as for affecting the torque........ who torques up their wheel bolts anyway ?!

Bet 90% of garages just do them up with the air gun and that's it.

Dunno about the equipment that 90% of garages use but the air wrench I have in my garage has an adjustable torque setting that once it whizzes the bolts on to that torque the collet goes loose and doesn't apply any more pressure. So if garages are using similar then torque settings are being used.

 

[djrock]

Normal grease works just as well.

I was told not to use Lithium based grease on threads due to the possibility of the grease setting solid.

 

[stuartturbo]

Never used anything on bolts as never had an issue. However i will always put it on the spigot of the wheel after being under a car with sledge hammer to remove wheel.

As for torque I do have one set and had to educate a "fastfit" place that used a gun to put my wheels on, then used a torque wrench to check. " all torqued up for you sir". Unfortunately i made them undo all the bolts and use the wrench to do them up rather the use the wrench to prove the gun had reached the the specified torque.

 

[nickso]

If you do use Copperslip dont use huge amounts, I find it often has the opposite effect when applied to threads that get extreme heat and sets like glue. I use a tiny smear on the end of the thread to hopefully prevent water entering the thred but not necessarily coat the entire length of the thread.

As for affecting torque values, an untreated, sticking and corroded thread will also be affected by torque variance so I personally prefer to do something to make it easier to get off at least. In 20 years I have had one road wheel loose and that was due to the floating cones on the bolts.

 

[Trazor]

Bet 90% of garages just do them up with the air gun and that's it.

The air guns they use are adjustable for torque.

 

[Peter.N.]

I have greased my wheel bolts or nuts as they used to be, for well over 50 years of motoring without problems although now waxoil might be a better proposition as it dries but still protects the threads.

Peter

 

[Avocet]

The trouble with the torque setting is the extra lubrication of the grease reduces the friction so the torque is affected, but by how much I don't know.

I think lubricating the threads (but not the cones) makes very little difference, as the friction between the cone and the wheel is enormous compared to what's going on in the threads. I tend to put a very faint smear of Copaslip on the threads, but not the cones. If I did, I think there might be a danger of them being over-tightened at the correct torque.

I'm not too hung up about torques. as has baan said already, regardless what the manufacturer specifies for a brand new set of components, you can prety much guarantee you won't get the same clamping force for the same torque by the time they're 5 years old!

 

[Peter.N.]

I agree about torque settings, we never worried about such things until comparativly recently, no mention was made of it even when fitting cylinder heads in the past, you just pulled it down until it felt right, the size of the bolts was the best indicator of the torque needed, most mechanics then just knew how much torque to apply.

Peter

 

[heliosuk]

Greasing or any type of lube on the bolts is an absolute no, no. Wear on the bolt is taken into acount in the design. The problem is that you may get the torque but you won't get the required clamping force required and that is the important bit. This is not a yielded joint so it's paramount you get the correct clamp force.

 

[JohnD]

but the grip is on the cone, not on the thread (which stretches anyway)

 

[heliosuk]

Yes the thread does stretch but it is in it's elastic stage which is why you need to re check after a some miles. Reducing the thread resistance which is where some of the torque loss goes means that the clamp force either through the cone or more importantly for flat faces, is reduced. If you were to increase the torque to get the required clamp force you run the risk of going into yield.

 

[Avocet]

I think it's the other way round. You'll actually get MORE clamping force if you grease the threads, not less! That said, in the case of a wheel nut / bolt with a conical seat, the surface area of the seat and the distance out from the centreline of the bolt are both so huge, that I don't imagine greasing the threads would make any real diference to the clamping load for a given tightening torque. Greasing the conical seats, on the other hand, is something that I think ought to be avoided (for precisely the reason you state - an increased risk of snapping the bolt).

 

[Trazor]

No manufacturer ever uses any Grease/Coppaslip on wheel bolts/nuts.
They are designed to be torqued up clean and dry.

 

[JohnD]

do manufacturers ever put grease or copaslip on anything? I bet you've tried to undo seized old nuts and bolts.