Should lug nuts be torqued onto dry, clean wheel studs, or apply a light oil or grease to the threads? Just concerned about possible loosening. I'm using the stock steelies. About 80 ft/lbs?

 

No do NOT EVER put oil on your wheel studs or lugs. That's craziness. Dry threads only! (Don't worry if you are changing a wheel in the rain. Water is not so big a problem.)
Oil will both make it slicker so you will never get an accurate torque reading (you'll way overtorque and strip threads) plus it will make them come loose later.
80 sounds about right. Use a good torque wrench. Do not use a torque wrench to ever loosen or break lugs, it will break the torque wrench.

 

^ what he said, #closethread

 

If you lube the threads, you will overtorque the wheels.

Example, you torque to 80 ft-lbs. It might actually be 115 ft-lbs

Clean the threads with some brake cleaner and a white paper towel, and torque when dry

 

Grease your lug nuts. If you don’t there’s a good chance that in the long run they’ll seize. Locking has nothing to do with friction at the surface of the threads; rather it has to do with the flexing of the metals. I've seen the math. But don’t take my word for it. Instead, wait about a day and those who know what they’re talking about will back me up on this.

 

I always thought dry was the way to go. Just got a fresh set of these, best price I've seen ANYWHERE:

Lug Nut M12x1.5 (Ball Seat)

to go on after the brakes are done and shooting the steel rims with black semi-gloss. Anyone else's paint on their steelies showing thru? Seen how thin they spray their paint at the factory???? Cheap-skate move IMO. Also body paint can be thin too in areas.

 

I have been using anti-seize on my vehicles since forever. Not a lot mind you just some on a Q-tip and enough to see some color on the threads no excess and have never had a problems in hundreds of thousands of miles.

And NO stuck lugs or broken studs either. Check out all the threads and posts on here for all the broken studs and frozen on lug nuts and you will learn why to use anti-seize.

 

That's what I was thinking more of. Just a finger smear of it. Been using a 4-way wrench to remove when needed to do brakes, there's always a SQUAWK when they break loose. No corrosion or any seizure, probably just too tight maybe when the tire shop guy air-gunned them on.

 

While I've never felt the need (maybe if I lived where they salt roads), here's a piece on using ant-seize compound:

I have converted to the Church of the Holy Torque Wrench for tightening lug nuts. It's too expensive, too big a pain risking stripped studs.

 

Proper torque is the key. Too little and the threads won’t flex to lock; too much and they’ll flex so much that the metal will fail. The acceptable range, while wide, can still easily be missed if you’re not careful. So, yes, that bit about not placing lubricant on the seat sounds like good advice, or at least something to keep in mind if you do place lubricant on that surface—if you do, back off a bit on the torque.

As I recall, in principle, if you reduced the friction on the threads to zero but torqued properly, the nuts would still lock and stay that way. Sounds odd, I know, but the math was quite convincing.

 

Hey thay was a good blurb on using anti sieze... I've also often wondered this. When I took shop class we were instructed to apply it liberally (then again all the cars were old as hell and often required significant torque to remove some of the lug nuts.

I have some friends who work at a Mercedes Benz dealership and they never use anti-sieze, but I think that's more a function of dealer policy and following exact procedures - even though many of them don't make sense.

It would make sense that as long as you keep the anti sieze to a minimum and make sure it doesn't get on the seat of the lug or the wheel that the lug would still torque properly (assuming the seat is where the majority of the friction is generated). I've been wanting to get a torque wrench, but for now I just get the lugs as tight as I can with my hands (I weigh about 185lbs) using the wrench that comes with the car.

 

I worked for an aircraft fastener company, Hi Shear. We used different thread lubes to change the preload (clamping force). If the spec is for dry threads, do not lubricate them. Torque is only the means to an end, preload. Too little and the studs will break from fatigue, too much and you risk breakage from overload, actually less of a risk. As long as the stud is not stretched to yield, you are ok. Automotive grade stuff does not have the greatest quality control, so be careful.

Both the threads and mating surface (seat) count. If you insist on using anti-sieze, try a dry powder version.

 

Never use anything on my lugs, always use torque wrench, always torque to spec, never stripped threads, seized nut, broken stud, etc, etc. Re-torquing them shortly after installation i've never actually found one that's come loose and needed to be re-torqued.

 

Bad advice

My Merc GLK350 SUV bolts were seized after 4 years or so which then stripped the socket for the lock bolt. The other 4 bolts required about 400 ft-lbs torque to loosen. Now it will cost $180 to drill out the bolt and put on a spare tire as a curb split the side wall in a parking lot exit.

Thread oxidation causes rust which causes seizure.

. Anything that coats the threats such as WD40 or grease , prevents that Then be cautious not to overtorque.

 

I literally work in the factory your GLK was built, (Vance, Alabama) they're dry threads. Greasing threads is a terrible idea. That's down to the last tech to install the wheel that overtorqued and ruined your hub. We bolt those down between 110 and 140 ft pounds depending on wheel and trim.

 

Spec is always dry. There are plenty who freak out about any grease on threads, for a variety of reasons.

If, in the real world, corrosion and seizing are a real problem in your area, you can consider an anti-seize and lower your torque wrench reading by ~20% because with lubrication there is more bolt stretch for a given torque reading. All of this is somewhat approximate, and comes with risk, so YMMV and don't consider this post a recommendation from me to do this nor assurance that you'll be fine.

All that being said, I drive in a pretty corrosive winter environment and haven't had an issue with lugs since I do seasonal tire changes.

I am recently beginning to test MARINE grade anti-seize (no metal content) in the hub area for the winter (but have not had to lubricate lug threads on any of the vehicles I maintain).

 

That's craziness. Dry threads only! (Don't worry if you are changing a wheel in the rain. Water is not so big a problem.)
Oil will both make it slicker so you will never get an accurate torque reading (you'll way overtorque and strip threads) plus it will make them come loose later.

 

I put a little on mine. It's fiiiine.

 

30+ years of using anti-sieze on wheel studs on all of my countless vehicles (and thousands of vehicles in all the shops I have worked in) never a broken stud and never any issues, period. Yes, engineers usually use dry threads for torque spec'ing, but real world salt belt life dictates using a little anti-sieze, common sense and a torque wrench to get within an acceptable range. A little tighter (few foot pounds) will not hurt anything at all. Also put some anti-sieze on the wheel to hub center. You will be thankful if you ever have to change a flat in the middle of nowhere.

 

My father used light touch of ball bearing grease on stud threads and on the cone on every seasonal tyre change for 60 years, and I've used aluminum paste for over 30 years this far. Tightening by feeling. No issues whatsoever.

I've once snapped the stud when opening, and that was because previous owner didn't use any grease or anti-seize.