abdo

When rotating the tires on my '86 Coupe, I had difficulty removing a couple of the lug nuts on one wheel. When I finally got them off, I noticed that both the studs and nuts had excessive thread damage. They were not cross threaded. I replaced both the studs and lug nuts but I am curious as what caused this. The tech manual says to torgue them at 100 ft/lbs. Could corrosion have caused this?
I have never had this happen on my two C1s or my regular drivers in all the years I have been driving. Is GM selling a cheaper grade product?
Have any of you had this problem?

P.S I have stock aluminum wheels

jaa1992

You don't take the wheels off often enough
Its just corrosion, a little water works its way in there and bang messed up threads.

Since you should be flushing your brake fluid every 2 years and the wheels have to come off for that it should cut down on the issues.

abdo

You are probably correct about corrosion being the culprit. However, I flush my brake system every two years (removing the wheels) and have rotated the tires every 8K miles. My guess is that the design of the wheels allows water to get trapped there. I had the same thing happen to one of the rear wheel studs a few years ago.

Klondike

I always put just a tiny film of grease on my studs and run the nuts on & off a few times with a small drill while the wheel is off just to work it into the threads. I've never had any corrosion problems or jammed lugnuts since I started doing that. Easy to torque on, and they come off without a fight. I think it keeps moisture from traveling up the threads.

JrRifleCoach

Bone dry wheel studs are not your friends....

mako41

Brush on some silver antiseize on every wheel lug. Cover them with a light film.... works better and stays longer than an oil or grease film and you will never have corrosion problems.

Chuck Tribolet

On wheel studs, I use disk brake grease for its high temperature properties.

The silver antiseize is good stuff, but I want to make sure that the grease
stays put and doesn't end up all over.


Chuck

92ragtop

That's what it's meant for. I dab on a bit every year.

slickfx3

anti seize the whole car as far as I am concerned

mtwoolford

p,s, love your avatar; is that the c1 in question ?

abdo

Referring to my '61? Never had any stud problems with it. Thanks for the compliment.
From all the replies I've gotten, I guess I will be putting something on the threads of the '86 wheel studs. The shop manuals say never do that, of course.

jaa1992

Well mine come off and on a couple times a month. In over two years I haven't needed new studs. I am on my second set of lug nuts though.
I always put mine on with fingers and start 2 - 3 turns before using the wrench to tighten. Now the car does sit in a dry garage and only sees rain when its on the trailer or sitting in the paddock at a racing event.

Got no clue why yours messed up. I do the same thing as you on my wifes 2004. All 4 wheels are off only every couple years for the brake flush. On 3 corners she has all original hubs and wheel studs. I just replaced one of the rear hubs last weekend so the studs there are new now. For a 7 year old 120K car the studs and nuts look great.

JrRifleCoach

I noticed that the lug nuts on my 86 Turbines would trap water under the covers.

Started using grease then switched to anti-seize as the grease would melt off after three or four R&R's. The anti-seize has lasted longest and tends to stick better.

newbecorvetteguy

Me too, but as a footnote, torque specs are generally intended for dry threads. If there's a range in the spec, I'd use the low end if using any kind of lube to prevent over tightening. If not, I'd go 5-10lbs lighter than the spec. jmo