Grease compatibility

I am currently changing my summer wheels for winter ones. This is my first time at this. I found that the shop where I have my car serviced has greased all the bolts; sometimes that has been done heavily. On one wheel, grease seems to have migrated to the centre of the wheel hub.

I suspect that was done to facilitate & quicken the process of wheel changes. I, too, would want to be able to replace wheels easily should a situation occurs where I have to do so, or if I decide to continue with the twice-a-year swaping of wheels. Hence, I would like to put some grease between the rim and the wheel hub when I put on the winter wheels.

Based on the articles that I have read recently on greases, I am rather partial to using an aluminum complex grease but something cropped up today regarding the need to ensure compatibility of the greases used.
http://www.nskamericas.com/cps/rde/xbcr/mx_es/03_TechTalk_Incompatibility_of_greases.pdf

Consequently, I would like to know what grease VW recommends for use in the brake system of its cars, and the GTI specifically. Secondly, if there is such a thing, I would need to know whether that is what the service department where I take my car to be serviced has used on the wheels of my car.

In the meantime, if anybody has a thought about this issue, I would very much like to hear it. Thx!

Uhhh...you shouldn't be putting grease on the lug bolts. Leave them dry and torque them down to spec. Shouldn't have any issues...especially if you're changing/rotating the wheels a lot

You may put some "anti-seize" on the hub/hat of the rotor if you wish though...but again, not really necessary especially if you're changing/rotating the wheels a lot (with summer/winter tire setups)

And it doesn't speed anything up at all either, btw

snobrdrdan said:

Uhhh...you shouldn't be putting grease on the lug bolts. Leave them dry and torque them down to spec.

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I know! I was quite surprised to see that the shop had greased ALL the bolts. One of them was 'bathing' in grease. Also I think they used copper anti-seize that somebody on a forum I visited said VW does not recommend (don't know if that's is correct, though). Anyway, I ended up cleaning all the grease on the rotor and replacing it with just a film of nickel-based anti-seize, just coz I am running on alloys. I also used some degreaser fluid to clean all the bolts. I could not remove all grease from the bolt holes (correct name?); next time I'll be more thorough.

I'm rather happy with the result. This morning, the ride was smoother.

Thanks for the tips!

I don't want to be that guy that tells you that it is all in your head...
Unless your bolts weren't torqued proprely... to the point that your wheel/tire combo was actually moving on the hub.

Applying any amount of grease to the bolts will change the torque and friction of said bolt creating a risk of overtorqueing... and snapping a bolt, or creating uneven holding of the wheel...

You now have grease on the hub threads as well... which regrease the bolt every time...

bolts get rusted in time, i clean them with steel brush and wd40 cleaner. it doesnt sound good using grease for bolts.

golfgti_TR said:

bolts get rusted in time, i clean them with steel brush and wd40 cleaner. it doesnt sound good using grease for bolts.

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Indeed! Most comments that I've read on that issue say the same thing. On the other hand, I've read comments from drivers who having to choose between a seized wheel and greased lug bolts have picked the latter. To each his own, I say.

Personally, I did not grease the bolts on my winter wheels. Instead, I cleaned all the grease that was put on them AND on the hub by the person(s) who worked on those wheels previously. I did so, like I wrote above, with some degreaser. Like you, I used a small metal brush & also an old toothbrush. The lug bolts were then washed under running water & thoroughly dried before installation. The only grease that remained on those wheels was in the bolt holes. I tried to remove as much as I could but did not have the right tool to do a thorough job. So, no grease on my lug bolts.

carsfeverguy said:

I don't want to be that guy that tells you that it is all in your head ...

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What was all in my head? Not quite sure what you mean.

Fabien said:

I'm rather happy with the result. This morning, the ride was smoother.

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this is what I refered to. No biggie.

carsfeverguy said:

this is what I refered to.

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Hmm ... could be but I don't think so. All wheel lug bolts were torqued to specification. You know, before I worked on those wheels, there were no consistency whatsoever in the way the parts were put together. Some bolts were tighter than others - on the same wheel & among the wheels altogether! Some bolts had more grease than others. One of the four wheels had the hub covered with quite a lot of brownish grease. In fact, two of the four rotors showed sign of uneven wear. I am no mechanic but I wonder whether those inconsistencies have an impact on the quality of the ride.