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Do you use a small amount of grease on wheel bolts to stop them from seizing on or do you think this can cause problems ?
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Some people use copper grease on the threads tp prevent seizing but this will upset any torque settings. I still use it between the wheel and hub to prevent the wheel from corroding and seizing to the hub,
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That's what I've used, but the car, ( Renault Clio ), went into the main dealer a week ago for them to look at a sticking caliper, but after hearing a slight knocking noise, I've checked to find ALL the bolts loose. I didn't know if the copper grease could have caused any problem.( I've since checked disc,caliper and guide bolt torque settings and there is no problem there.)
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I've used copper grease for the last 30 years and never had a problem either with alloy or steel wheels, bolts or nuts. More likely the work experience lad forgot to torque the bolts.
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How loose? Loose enough to make the wheel loose, or just easy to undo?
They should be easy to undo, but would seem loose compared to them if no copperease was used and they were over-torqued.
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How loose ?
Loose enough to undo with my hand holding the socket ! Prior to me checking I could hear a knocking sound under acceleration and full lock. Also when the dealer changed the caliper thay didn't connect the sensor lead onto the brake fluid cap.
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I used copper grease on the wheel stud threads years ago. But not anymore, I would rather have a struggle to get them undone.
In the 80s i had a car that unscrewed its own sparkplug and `fired` it out of the head taking the last few threads with it.
It WAS tightened but I had overdone the copper grease. That focussed my mind on the wheelnuts and I stopped using it on the threads
Regards
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Your Renault main dealer doesn't sound very competent. I don't think that you can blame the loose wheel nuts on the copper grease, I have never had a problem whenever I have used it for that purpose. Besides if they had copper greased the studs/nuts and torqued them up to the correct figure, then theoretically they would have ended up tighter on than normal due to the less friction created by the greased studs.
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I've used it routinely for a long time. Not on every occasion, but every so often if I think the threads are getting a bit dry. Not loads, just a dab. I then put the nuts on with an air gun on number 1 setting (lowest) and, because I'm anal, torque them up with a torque wrench.
Even so, after a few months, particularly on the front wheels, presumably because of the greater heat generated, the bolts are damn stiff to come out and I've certainly never had one loosen off; so if they're loose, I would assume that the 'technicians' didn't tighten them properly. Symptom of rushing too much.
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Hi there, i have used it for years without any problems, Cheers, graham.
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In all of my years in the motor trade, I've never come across a seized wheel fastener. Plenty of damaged one's caused by incompetence though.
What is important is cleanliness of the mating surfaces, especially with spigot fitted wheels. And a bit of grease on the spigot eases the next removal.
No need for a fancy torque wrench either, if you know how much you weigh, and the torque required, just use a spanner / socket combination of the right length and stand on the end of it.
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In all of my years in the motor trade, I've never come across a seized wheel fastener. Plenty of damaged one's caused by incompetence though.
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Well, I am not in the trade and I have had wheel nut problems.
Murphy's law. I was on holiday and had a fairly new car from one of the big two.
Some scroat let two tyres down. I needed a 36" length of tube on the wheel nut wrench and then I had to jump on it to free the nuts. Not amused. Fortunately it happened where I was staying and not en route through the countryside.
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In all of my years in the motor trade, I've never come across a seized wheel fastener. Plenty of damaged one's caused by incompetence though.
I am not in the trade, but I have sheared off a Skoda wheel stud which had seized.
It was "rather tight" and needed a lot of grunt with a long lever to do it.
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Used copper grease for years with no problems. The key is just a hint or smear, just enough to stop that wheel nut 'cracking' sound when you undo them. In really about 3-4 matchhead stick sizes worth.
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Smear of copper grease on car, caravan and trailer wheel nuts/bolts and torque up to 65 foot pounds. Only ever lost one wheel but that wasn't loose wheel nuts.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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I use copper grease and nip them up to mild "eye bulging" tightness. No problem yet.
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I have twisted-up the wheel brace that came with my last two cars the first time I used them due to tight/siezed bolts.
When a breaker was then used, the whole car would pitch and the threads would shriek.
You should be able to undo the bolts with the little wheel brace that comes with the car even at the roadside on a winter's night.
That's why I use coppaslip and tighten them up with this tool.
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By 'seized' I mean a correctly tightened nut or stud that has been untouched for long enough to rust or 'join together' with it's mating part.
Greased threads will certainly make removal easier next time, (10 years ? ) but nothing can beat nice clean and dry mating surfaces and threads, and that's how they come from most manufacturers.
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A good point from Ashok. Always do the bolts up with the tool which you'll use to undo them again otherwise you could be stuck at the roadside. If a tyre fitter has been anywhere near the car I always loosen the nuts and re-tighten with the tool in the car.
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Good advice. Last tyres I had fitted were torqued up to over 145 lbs instead of the correct 80 lbs. You must check and redo yourself. A torque wrench is best though. At Kwik-fit I use to watch the chap, tell him the torque figure, and watch him do it.
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proper tyre bays use the coloured torque tool so overtightening is theoretically impossible.
some cars (specifically vauxhalls) seem to have the ability to tighten themselves even tighter on the driven wheels (poltergeisty like)?
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I find a lot of it is through ignorance, they think the bolts take the weight of the car, whereas really the spigot in the middle goes into the hole in the wheel and this is the load-bearing part. The bolts just need to hold the wheel onto the spigot and not loosen.
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