Grease on wheel bolts or not?

I would be more likely to use an anti-sieze type of grease on studs or bolts that are more prone to rust. I think that the conical mating surfaces of the nut / wheel provide the friction to keep the nuts tight, so lubricated threads helps to preserve the threads with repeated removal, installation and re-torque of the nuts.

I ran a service station for a short stint in Vermont and we always used Permatex anti-seize compound on the lug studs. Most of the time we would also find ourselves wire brushing the threads before removal of the nut and again before applying the anti-seize and reinstalling the lug nut. That was due to the use of salt on the roads of which the state of Vermont used a lot. But in Texas where I currently run a repair shop, we use nothing as it really isn't needed. The biggest problem we see is with tire installers over-tightening the lug nuts with their impact tools, thus stretching the studs and causing the thread galling as previously mentioned on another post. In conclusion; I would say that the use of anti-seize on lug bolts and studs really depends on the environment you are in. But we never experienced a stud failure on any we used grease on and always torqued them to spec.

As the owner of a brand new car in salty Vermont, here is my middle-road solution based on reading this, and many similar posts:

The 89 foot-pounds stipulated in my owners manual is very reasonably achievable with my hand-tools. As such, I will follow the clean-and-dry recommendation, when I switch over tires just before and after winter.

However, in the future when I find that it takes more than that to loosen the nuts (110 ft-lbs seems like a good-enough number) then I will accept that there is some seizing that needs to be dealt with, and I'll start applying anti-seize. The goal in this is to make sure that I can actually change a tire on a dark, cold, snowy night with no cell-service and the nearest house over a mile away.

Just a note: while lubricated threads will create more clamping force for a given torque wrench setting, non-lubricated threads will give a wildly inconsistant clamping.

The good news is that the acceptable torque range for a car's wheels is broad - allowing for road-side tire changes where the 'calibrated' lug wrench is all that is available. And by 'calibrated' I mean "make it good-n-tight".

I live in the Maine western mountains. Here there is also a lot of salt brine and sand used on the roads. Recently I was doing some work on the rear of my 2000 Jeep Cherokee. It had been less than a year since the rear wheels were removed. I was very surprised when after removing the lugs I could not remove the wheel. I tried hitting it with a rubber hammer. No luck. The only way I finally got it off was to heat it with a torch. I found it was rusted on. I am putting new brakes and drums on and will clean and prime all bear metal. When I reassemble I will put a coating of grease on all metal parts coming in contact with the wheel.

I ran a fleet of Leyland buses many years ago. Stud breakage was not uncommon on Leylands. Overtightening causes issues as the stud it taken closer to its tensile strength which makes it more prone to fatigue cracks. It can also make it impossible to change a wheel on the road with hand tools. Undertightening allows the rim to move putting bending stress on the stud putting it closer to fatigue likelihood. Our favourite was to clean the studs allowing them to be checked for cracks. However, they were also checked for physical condition as they had shoulders on them allowing the wheel to be kept away from the hot drum. Sometimes some were worn to different heights causing warping of the rim, again creating an increased tendency to fatigue cracks particularly in the rim. Sometimes we would replace all eight studs. We never changed a single stud, always a full set. We assembled with anti-seize after cleaning the studs of the gummy stuff that seems to accumulate. Although a torque wrench is preferred, it is not always practical. If you do them up with a one metre tube, then check with a torque wrench, you will get the 'feel' of how tight to do them manually with he one metre tube. It is then easy to 'manually' check them whilst out on the road. If the wheel brace kit is on the bus, I can go round and check them anytime. Thus the regularity of checking is as important as the 'accuracy' of checking. Don't forget that running with loose wheel nuts chews the studs out and creates bending forces that are prone to cause fatigue cracks or put the stud closer to an 'end of life 'fatigue crack'. Wheel studs do not last forever.

A lubricant should be applied to wheel bolts unless OEM service information states otherwise. Basically when torqueing a bolt the torque does not indicate clamping force. It indicates the resistance to overcome friction. And that friction will result in a torque reading at which the bolt will not have achieved the correct clamping force. By reducing the friction with a lubricant, a much greater chance of reaching the proper clamping force is possible. One problem described by a previous poster mentions tire installers using air wrenches can achieve incorrectly torque values when bolts are lubricated. That should be avoided by either having them hand torque the bolts, or by re-torqueing them after the service has been completed.

I’d be inclined to use a volatile lubricant, penetrating oil or WD40 perhaps. That would facilitate torquing the nuts but wouldn’t leave much/any residue that could cause bad things to happen in service.