midrange

I understand the importance of torqueing your wheel studs to correct specs. however many do not.

Yesterday we have 4 new tires put on and of course the garage rammed the studs on with their impact gun. This is fine usually with nuts, even though they should be torqued correctly as well. But for studs, those can seize on easily.

I suggest to save a lot of headaches and swearing down the road to take 20 mins of your time to remove each stud one at a time, apply anti-seize to it and put back with 80 ft/lbs of torque.

Even though our wheels were just put back on yesterday, we still had a hard time getting them off, and in 2 of the cases, had to get a bar for extra leverage to crack the bolt. That was fine as we were not stranded in the middle of no where with a flat, but could you imagine trying to get those studs off with no tools except the tiny bar Audi gives you to remove the wheel????

Trust me, take 20 mins and do it, and it will save you a load of BS!

mikeh

Great advise and something I check regularly. I understand that the studs could loosen over time and the correct torque should be checked periodically. Checking with the Audi mechanic and the Bentley manual I believe the setting is 89 ft pounds.

PhinX404

thanks for the great info!

Corrado_Guy

I think you can argue lubing the bolts in either direction. It clearly states that the bolts & threads should be cleaned and torqued without lube in the manual. I have worked for a number of shops and all used anti-seize on the wheel bolts and never had a problem. I use anti-seize as well and have never had a bolt come out to date but I think the important point is to use a torque wrench a torque the bolts to the proper spec.

vgorous

iTrader: (1)

i believe mikeh is right. I know my b5, from haynes manual, it says over 80ft/lbs torque (my torque wrench is only up to that). So i crank it up to 80ft/lbs then do half a turn.

Everytime i put the bolts back in. i spray the thread with anti-seize.

midrange

Grease is a term i use.. To be propper, I suggest Permatex Copper Anti-Seize Lubricant. I find it to be the best.

My Audi owners manual specified to torque to 80 ft/lbs. I recommend you do what is comfortable to your standards.

trucker9

the use of antiseize would only vary the actual torque being applied to the bolt to a couple ft lb at most and for the real world putting between 78 to 82 ftlb of torque isnt going to have your wheels flying off and being Canadian ensures we do it twice a year!! am I correct

midrange

This post makes me Smile!

jfo

Anti seize is usually not recommended for torqued fasteners but as noted by Trucker, probably won't matter much on wheel suds/nuts. I also learned the hard way to back off and re-torque wheel nuts if a shop has touched them. I was stuck on the road and simply could not remove the nuts...it took a breaker bar and short pipe to loosen them, provided by a passing truck. Some of the kids in these shops have no idea. They will drive the nut full blast with an air tool and then check the torque for say 85lb. Of course the nut may well be at 100lb already!
Nothing like fighting wheel nuts on a cold dark winter night with the dinky wheel wrench!

Stella10

Here's a variation on the theme posted earlier in the Wheels section:

"Second one is an observation regarding torquing of lug nuts. In my case the 5th
lug nut on each wheel, the one with the anti-theft design, had not been torqued correctly. It was way too tight, which says to me that it was put on after the others with an impact gun, not a torque wrench. On a nice flat driveway it doesn't really matter. The garage is full of things to use as lug nut wrench extenders. Not so at the side of some hwy, close to the ditch, -20 weather.

Check your torque"