Liabilities of Lug Lube; My Very Own .02

[Ron Horowitz <RonHorowitz@domain.elided>]

As if anybody ever asked me for my stupid opinion, here's another hat in
the ring.

Bah and humbug.

I've used anti-seize on the lug nuts / lug bolts on every car or truck I've
ever owned. Numerous Fiats, Alfas, Lancias, Fords. and even a Chevy S-10
pickup (the wheels were the only parts that never fell of that P.O.S., but
that's another story!) Probably a half-million miles or so over twenty
years (gosh, am I really getting that old?) What's more, I rarely use a
torque wrench (the lube would change the torque requirements anyway) and
I've never had the slightest trouble with lugs coming loose, warped rotors,
or anything of the kind.

One of the things I _may_ be doing differently, though, is that usually
after I've torqued everything down, I'll drive around a little and
re-torque things just in case things have seated in or moved around or
whatever. Don't know if that's really what's making the difference, though.

I did a track tech once where a guy showed up with a bunch of loose lugs. I
torqued down the first wheel to what I thought felt "right" and the guy
sees what I'm doing and says "Don't do that! I torqued those down with a
torque wrench before I drove up here! You'll warp my rotors!" He whips out
his shiny new torque wrench to check my work, and low and behold, I'm
within a pound or two of spec, and he's off by ten or twenty. All I can say
is that he either screwed up on sixteen seperate occaisions, or something
moved. Anyway, good thing it was caught, or "The Dry Lug Torque Wrench
Method" would have contributed to someone having a bad day at the track.

Coincidentally, I stopped by a local tire store this AM to get some tires
mounted. On of the poor saps in the "never use anti-sieze on lug nuts" camp
was just being informed that the lug nuts on his car were frozen solid, and
the shop couldn't get two of the wheels off his car without shearing off
the studs. Nice.

Anyway, having been informed that the wheels are going to fall off every
car I've ever owned, I guess all I can say is "It's been nice knowing you."

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