I have a 2017 VW Jetta VW. I live in Vermont. How can I keep my alloy wheels from gluing themselves to my rotors? As it is I have to chisel them off at the beginning of Winter when I want to put my snows on.
I agree with the anti-seize compound. That did the trick every year on my wife’s old car that needed winter tires.
If the wheels are stuck, some people say that you can leave the lug nuts somewhat loose, drive back and forth in your driveway, and slam the brakes on each time. I don’t know if that’s actually a good idea or not, but I figured I’d mention it.
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Even with anti sieze, you may still have issues. Wire brush the rust off the pilot and inside the wheels center hole before anti sieze but assume you will have to kick them off every time they need to come off.
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Thanks, All!! And Merry Christmas, if that’s what you do. Happy Chanukah, if that is your time. Or, just Happy and Safe Holidays.
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Definitely something to keep in mind, though. Thanks!!
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Sounds like that might be the reality of it, though. Thanks!!
After 6 month, wheels are seized? Hmm, rotate them at 3 months?
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CastorEL_173002:
I’ve had good luck with lion9car’s suggestion above.
For the wheel of interest, just loosen each lugnut about 1 turn MAX.
Most of the time, simply driving back-n-forth in the driveways and slamming on the brakes breaks it loose. A few times I had to take the car for a ride around the block where I would alternate hard braking and swerving the vehicle left-n-right.
Since you have alloy wheels, you want to use the same anti-seize that you would use for spark plugs. There are different anti-seize compounds for different metals. Do not use the copper anti-seize.
Edit: You can use a wire brush on the hub to remove rust, but do NOT use a wire brush on the alloy wheels. A wire brush will embed microscopic particles of steel in the alloy and worsen the corrosion. This is called dissimilar metal corrosion. Go to a parts store and get a sheet of the RED nylon abrasive pad. Use this on the alloy wheel. You can also use the red pad on the hub if you want. Then apply the gray anti-seize to the hub ring and alloy wheel.
Although you should not use anti-seize on the lug stud threads, it would be a good idea to clean the base of the studs and apply a little anti-seize at the base, but not on the threads where the lug nut goes. Do not apply the anti-seize to the lug holes in the wheel as it will get on the threads of the lug stud when you put the wheel on.
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One turn Max! Thanks!!
That’s the only part I’m going to have to be real careful about. The lug nuts aren’t nuts - they’re the bolts. The rotors have the threaded holes to take them. So I have make sure not to put enough on that it presses out all the way to the holes.
Red Nylon Abrasive Pads. Got it.
Thanks, Keith!
Galvanic corrosion was a thing I just explained in my book that I have almost ready to go live on Amazon.
Do you have 2 sets of wheels? Or mount/dismount the tires on 1 set of wheels?
If you have lug bolts, you do not need to put any anti-seize on any part of them or the bolt holes. That issue is resolved when you remove the bolts. Just need to take care of the hub ring area.
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Two sets. My Summers are on the Alloy set.
I see. Steels come off ok in spring. Thx.
I used to use anti-seize andn still kick the wheels off every 5000 when I rotated them.
Bought a set of Goodyear tires at Dunn Tire a few years ago and they came with free rotations for life so I now sit and drink coffee while they do it. I checked the air pressure and torque after they are done and it has always been right, unlike both Toyota dealers I have used.
When I complained to my Toyota dealer about the lugs being overtightened to where I was having to use a 4’ pipe over a breaker bar to get them off, the dealer said, that can’t be, we buy then a torque stick to use. I said, he must be using it as a paperweight for the work order. I got home from that visit and you guessed it , overtightened again. That was the last time I let them work on my car
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Torque sticks are more accurate than a torque wrench.
Tester
But only if they are used! The spec for the lug nuts on my car are 85 ft lb. I would estimate the lug nuts on my car at around 300 ft lb. after the dealer rotated the tires. This come from 17 years of driving tractor trailer for a company where we carried a spare, jacks and tools in the tractor and changed our own alongside the roar. The torque spec for those trucks was 300 ft lb.
The standard tube type tire on tractor trailers in the 60s and 70s was 10 x2, because we overloaded so much we used 11x22. We did not take the tire off the rims, our spare was mounted on steel rims, try getting that back up on the tire rack on the back of the tractor by yourself.
Hi Tester:
I’m curious how you arrived at this conclusion.
The way I see it, torque sticks can be “good enough” if the air supply pressure is constant, and if the impact gun torque rating is valid.
Can you point us at any studies that show torque sticks are more accurate than torque wrenches?
Thanks.