At a recent autocross I was having a difficult time removing the lug nuts
from my 97GSX's stock wheels. I actually bent my 4-way trying to loosen the
lugs! A mechanic parked next to me asked if I had put antiseize on my lugs
and sure enough, I had put antiseize on the studs a couple months ago. He
said that it somehow can promote binding on wheel studs. We walked down to
another mechanics car and asked if he had a breaker bar to loosen my lugs.
Without prompting, he asked if I had used antiseize on my lug nuts. Both
mechanics claimed that they replace wheel studs periodically for just this
reason. I couldn't get a good technical explanation out of them regarding
how the antiseize caused the lugs to bind, but I can't argue with their
emperical data. The lug is not actually seizing in the classic sense, where
the two metals corrode or otherwise bond together. Rather, the antiseize
appears to ball up in the threads and mechanically bind the lug onto the
stud.
I cleaned off one of my lugs and the stud with 30W motor oil and it does not
bind anymore. Anyone care to comment on why antiseize can acutally cause a
lug to bind? I torque my lugs to 90ft-lbs. Should I use something besides
motor oil...maybe leave the studs dry?
Ian
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