I don't use antiseize on lug nut and studs. It isn't necessary. Just a light coat of grease or oil will kee rust away. I use anti-seize on exhaust system threaded fasteners, which will burn away ordinary oil or even high temperature grease.

What keeps the nuts in place is friction between the mating surface of the nut, and the place on the wheel that this surface makes contact with. The only purpose of the threads is to provide an inclined plane that enables you to push the 2 aforementioned surfaces together with more force than you could muster by simply pushing them directly against each other.. The amount of friction between the 2 mating surfaces is a product of the force pushing them together, and the "coefficient of friction" which is due to the nature of the 2 surfaces. The greater the coefficient of friction, the more friction. The more force, the more friction. Working friction is a product of these 2 things. I could be wrong but what I think happens is if you lube the mating surfaces you will have a lower coefficient of friction between the surfaces. However at the same time if you provide the specified amount of torque, you will have more force. because the reduced coefficient of friction will allow that to happen. So in the end the amount of friction comes out about the same.. There is more force, but the coefficient of friction between the 2surfaces is less. So the product of the 2 is about the same. I don't think that lubricant on threads any significant affect any of the forces. What makes the nut hard to tighten, and hard to break free, is the amount of force pushing the 2 surfaces. together.

 

Please do not put anything on wheel lug nuts, studs, bolts, or anything. I don't know any manufacturer that recommends this.
Not oil, not anti seize, not grease, nothing at all. That is how it is supposed to be done.

If you add anything, then you will never torque the lug nuts properly. Either over torqued, or under, both of them are bad.

The most I can say to use on them is brake clean, or any type of de-greaser to get everything clean, and wait until everything is dry before assembly.

I don't know what these people are complaining about rust for, I haven't seen a rusted lug stud or nut except for the open lug nuts. It still doesn't matter, how long do you keep your tires on there? And yes I live in the rust belt.

 

Lube or grease does not do any harm, but saves from corrosion and/or seizing problems. Alternatively you can use copper or aluminum paste or pine tar. Amount of sny of these is of course very small.

 

Do I need lube on my bolts or studs?

EDIT: To be on the safe side, I would say that this info is meant for ARP bolts and studs. For everything else, your guess is as good as mine.

 

Manufacturer of my ancient bendy beam torque wrench included a flyer containing tables showing how to adjust the torque differently for different diameters of fasteners, different thread pitch, and different hardness, as well as how much to change how much torque you use, if the thread is lubricated or not. Seems to me that lube on the threads does not change the torque. as the treads are basically an inclined plane that you use to help you create pressure, force, between the nut and the wheel. The latter is what holds the nut to the wheel; the threads have nothing to do with anything once you have finished screwing down the nut. It is all about the force with which the nut is pressed up against the wheel. That's what changes when you tighten the nut. The surface are on the nut, and the place where it contacts the wheel, is a fixed surface area. The only thing tightening the nut does is change how hard the nut is pressed against the wheel, and the coefficient of friction between these 2 surfaces. So there is where lubrication is relevant as it changes the coefficient of friction there. If I recall correctly, if you lube these 2 surfaces, you need to increase the torque slightly. Maybe 10 to 20%? At that amount of increase, there is no need to worry about damaging the threads or stretching the stud's length, or thinning its diameter. So if the spec is for 80 pound-feet, and you are using lube, maybe you should torque to 90. However id the spec were 90, and you torqued an un-lubed nut to only 80, I am pretty sure that would be adequate. The nut won't loosen. Personally I lightly lube my threads with ordinary motor oil, just put one drop on the threads, and I lube the nut and wheel with the thinnest amount of grease I can manage. I put a tiny dab of grease on a finger tip and rub my finger tip along the nut's contact surface, and the contact surface of the wheel, at the same time feeling for and wiping off any tiny bits of sand or soil that might have landed on either surface. I tighten my 80 pound-feet nuts to 80 pound feet and I have never had a nut loosen. Never.

 

By the way Honda used to recommended coating lead battery terminals with ordinary multipurpose grease, again, just a light film and I've been doing that since 1969. After I tighten the terminal clamps onto the terminals, I put a slightly thicker coat of grease all over the terminal clamps. I push extra grease onto the threads of the little screw that is used to tighten the clamps. This does an excellent job of preventing corrosion. It creates no significant electrical resistance. The connections remain corrosion-free for years except for a tiny bit of corrosion here and there on a spot where I probably missed getting grease there. I do the same thing with alkaline batteries that I put in portable devices. Or I may use just light oil, like 3-in1 oil, sewing machine oil. I don't pack grease on top of those. There I use just a very thin film of grease or oil on each terminal of the battery, and on each place where they make contact. Just as good a way to ensure electrical flow as using gold-plated contacts.

 

Unless you want to*

 

You mean well, but respectfully, I must say your experience with fastener corrosion and seizing is not the norm for the rust belt. I do not agree with your advice. I have never seen an issue caused by using anti-sieze on wheel studs, ever. 30 years and 1000's of cars, including 11 years of this practice on my Fit is my guide. As far as somehow under tightening a fastener with anti-sieze on it? That does not seem plausible.

 

Yes. Real world results.