Is it OK to put some grease on the inside of the wheel rims, where they come in contact with the axles? I had to beat off all 4 rims last Saturday so I could check the brakes. I sprayed Seafoam penetrating oil on them beforehand but had to literally beat them off, took about an hour to get them loose. So can I brush all the rust off and put grease on them to try to prevent this next time? I don't wanna have a flat and not be able to get them off.

Thanks

 

Yes it is totally OK to use some light grease to keep them from seizing to the hubs! I use white lithium in a can and have since I had my GF's turbo beetle fall off the jack while beating the rear wheel off! Lucky for me it fell flat down and the wheel didn’t pop off the hub or I would have had a broken hand, I know always use a jack stand. But they don’t come with one for highway flats! Anyway....

 

I have used greasw before, but antisieze works better. If you know there is a problem, try loosening all the lugs 1 turn each (don't remove them!!) and roll foreward and hit brakes HARD. This will usually knock them free.

 

I've had to beat off...uh, not like that....my wheels before on other cars. Just becareful and use jack stands!

 

I rotate every oil change plus I have aluminum wheels, so no. But I would say use anti-seize too.

 

youre more likely to have a problem with the alloy wheels than the steel because they are dissimmilar metals. the chrome wheels i had on my 86 came off without a hitch but the alloys on the 89 & 93 had to be 'persuaded', if you catch my drift! i used anti sieze on the studs, hub/drum face and the back of the wheels where they contact the hub/drum and the alloys come off easily now.

lee

 

if you remove the wheels more often this wont happen usually. most of the time its when wheels have been untouched for a long time. a BFH to the inside of the tire works well, carefull not to hit them wheels.

 

I swap my wheels in spring and fall, between OEM alloys in summer and OEM steels in winter. Because the alloys are 'hub' centric they will fit tighter to the hubs, and hense tend to stick. I use anti-seize on the hub, lugs studs, and center hub of wheel and usually don't have any problem removing wheels. If I do have a problem wheel, I use a big rubber head mallet directly on the tire (not the rim), and turn the wheel so I hit in a different spot each time. It will usually come off in under a minute.

 

be careful with antiseize on the studs..... they can fake a torque setting and may be grossly undertorqued becasue of that... do some research on it, im too lazy to do it now, but it is a very controversial subjet in the mehanics world

i have had to literally pound of a few sets of wheels this week at work.... penetrating fluid helps..... we just wipe them down though afterwards.... use a big block of wood to strike the wheel being hit with a hammer, it losses some impact force, but wont damage the wheel like a hammer hit would