Anti seize on wheel hubs

[lew]

I made a recent post about changing flat tires and now I have a question.

 

I put my winter tires on last week and had a bit of trouble getting one of the summer wheels off presumably because of a bit of corrosion between the aluminum wheel and steel hub. Took me a few minutes with a bit of persuasion but wasn't a big deal in the garage but could be an issue on the side of the road with limited tools.

 

Never had this issue before but I'm thinking a bit of anti seize or good grease between the 2 surfaces would eliminate the problem.

 

What do you guys use ??

 

And FWIW I torque my wheels to the proper setting.

[Bernie]

Good morning Lew.
What has happened to you is a very common issue.

Glad you were able to get the wheel off without a whole lot of difficulty.
Generally I clean the rust off of the hub and then apply some thick grease or anti seize to help prevent further corrosion.
They say not to apply any lube to the studs either, but I do anyway. I believe that the rust on the studs when retorquing is more of an issue than the lube.

[lew]

Thanks Bernie, I'll take your advice and apply some anti seize. As mentioned I've never had a problem before and it would be a real issue if it happened on the hiway.

[Fisherman]

Anti seize = anti hammer.

[lew]

Anti seize = anti hammer.

 

And alot less work & possible wheel damage too.

[outllaw]

grease the rim at contact to hub lew. I know exactly what yer saying. aluminum rims suck in my opinion anyhow. to me the leak and are not durable as good old steel.....excellent point lew . most never notice

[lew]

Will do George, thanks.

[BillM]

Lew the next time they're off take a wire wheel + drill to the hub face to get all the rust off. I put a light coating of anti-seize on the hub face anytime I'm swapping from summers > winters.

 

I usually don't have problems getting them off come spring time, but if I do a 2x4 and a sledge (light taps) makes quick work of it.

Edited November 22, 2014 by BillM

[Sinker]

I had a guy come in to my work with a brand new F150. He parked the truck, and went for a hike with his family. When they came back his tire was flat. I noticed him trying to get it off, so offered some help. That tire would not come off that truck. We tried everything from a 12lb sledge hammer, to a bottle jack against the frame!!! We eventually just put a plug in the tire and got him going, but my lord we worked hard trying to get it off!

 

Glad yours wasnt the same Lew, and if it was my truck i'd be doing something about it too.

 

S.

[lew]

I've got the anti seize and will be removing the 4 winter tires in an hour, cleaning everything up and applying the lubricant. As said above, I've never had any major problems ever getting a wheel off but if it happened with a flat on the highway it wouldn't be too much fun.

 

When I had the one stick on me last week I had to put an 8' 4x4 on the inside of the wheel and hit it with a sledge to get the darned thing off.

Edited November 22, 2014 by lew

[Bernie]

Have had to back wheel nuts a couple threads then drive the vehicle in the parking lot making turns until the wheel lets go.
Steel rims you can add heat to loosen.

[lew]

Have had to back wheel nuts a couple threads then drive the vehicle in the parking lot making turns until the wheel lets go.

 

 

 

Good tip Bernie, never would have thought of that one.

[DOS]

Looking at your picture I have the exact same truck. This summer I did my brakes for the first time since new and although I had the rims off 1 year previous I had to use a sledge hammer to take the tires off. Then the fun came, trying to remove the rotors. Well lets just say, a bunch of cursing and swearing, 3 busted knuckles and a real nice dent in the front quarter when a hammer slipped and we finally got it done. Needless to say there has been a liberal coating of that silver wonder on anything that needs to be removed in the future.

 

Dan

[irishfield]

Yah.. my '11 was about as much fun a month or so ago when I had to pull a tire to find a nail in it and it was pretty fresh from a tire rotation at Ford. I have a 5' long 6 x 6 for such occasions, but damn near gave up on this Ford! Darn near knocked it off the axle stand!

[lew]

Got it all done.

 

Even though the winter wheels were only on a week or so, I pulled them all off. There was some rust on the hubs & wheels so I used a wire wheel on my drill and gave them a good cleaning, wiped them off and applied a coat of anti seize to all surfaces and re-installed the 4 wheels.

 

Didn't take me too long to do the job and I should be good now and will hopefully have no issues when I put the summer wheels back on in a few months.

[Fisherman]

no issues when I put the summer wheels back on in a few months.

A few months.. You heading south..

[lew]

A few months.. You heading south..

 

I get them off as soon as possible and usually try for early April but that could be a bit optimistic this year considering the long range forecast LOL

[bigbuck]

Lew you did the right thing in cleeaning the hub surface with a wire wheel and coating with anti seize. Check the back of the rims too, if there is corrosion abck there, do the same thing. I remember many moons ago in high school auto shop, I was told to take my shop teachers late 70s Impala with a hopped up 350 o go in the back parking lot of the school and do some hard turns with loose lug nuts to break the wheels loose.... went back to the shop with the mission accopmplished and the car filled with tire smoke for some reason.....

[lew]

Check the back of the rims too, if there is corrosion abck there, do the same thing.

 

Back of the rims were done at the same time Bruce so both surfaces are nice & clean with a coating of anti seize.

[outllaw]

for years I was the chrylser Canada tireman. we did the tractor trailer tires and cars. thru out the years auto companies went to alloys,cuts weight on vehicles down. corrosions and metal reactions. sure glad lew brought this to attention.. off topic a little them alloy rims definatly have a way of losing air in cold weather also.

[lew]

off topic a little them alloy rims definatly have a way of losing air in cold weather also.

 

I have aluminum wheels for my summer tires George and another set of aluminums dedicated to the winter tires and none of them lose hardly any air in cold weather or warm. There's some fluctuations with pressure as the temperatures change but other than that their pretty darned good. I check the pressures about every 2 weeks and very seldom need to add air.

Edited November 22, 2014 by lew

[davey buoy]

 

I have aluminum wheels for my summer tires George and another set of aluminums dedicated to the winter tires and none of them lose hardly any air in cold weather or warm. There's some fluctuations with pressure as the temperatures change but other than that their pretty darned good. I check the pressures about every 2 weeks and very seldom need to add air.

Once your rims are 15 years old Lew ,you will lose some air over a month .

[irishfield]

For sure Davey... I already have one that leaks down on my '11. Leah's old '03 is a weekly affair for two wheels. Aluminum and road brine do not play well together.

[Bernie]

When you begin to lose air in aluminum wheels it's usually corrosion between the tire and rim or at the valve stem.

Cleaning this corrosion, replacing the valve stem and then painting the cleaned surface will solve the problem.

[irishfield]

If I only had a tire machine Bernie... keep thinking about an old manual one just to do such a thing. Many times a good air gun blast, while wobbling the stem, and some fluid film around same solves the problem on many.

 

We don't all live close enough to Powassan to get good auto service!

Edited November 22, 2014 by irishfield