Check your alloy wheels

[RichardHelen262]

Whilst on a recent tour of France I got an awful squealing from the rear brakes, this is from a motorhome that was supposed to have been fully serviced when we bought it 9 months ago,and only 13,000 miles and 4 years old,
Anyway I put up with the squealing until we got home.
Yesterday I decided to strip the brakes down, but the alloys were well and truly stuck on to the hubs, which took me over an hour on each wheel with a lump hammer and block of wood to remove each wheel,
Although I have a spare it wouldn’t have been much use to me as I would never have removed the wheels at the side of the road with the few basic tools I carry in the motorhome.
Once I got the wheels off and got stuck into the brakes the fix was easy as the pads had rusted into the sliders and were stuck.
So whilst the wheels were off I decided to give them a good clean and polish,
First I started with a wheel cleaner and small brush, then g3 scratch remover, then polished with autoglym super resin, then sealed with autoglym extra gloss protection and finally a bit of meguiars tire gel.

Then brushed copperslip onto the hub before replacing the wheels.

 

[Wooie1958]

I remove, clean, de-stone and swap round the wheels regular.

 

[RichardHelen262]

I remove, clean, de-stone and swap round the wheels regular.

I will be doing the same at least twice a year from now on.

 

[The laird]

Copper grease the alloy to hub imho ?

 

[bilbo]

Hate to say it, but copper slip and aluminium wheels are not a good mix. The copper and aluminium can start up a galvanic action, especially with any salty water around. Probably a smear of ordinary grease is a better bet.

 

[RichardHelen262]

Hate to say it, but copper slip and aluminium wheels are not a good mix. The copper and aluminium can start up a galvanic action, especially with any salty water around. Probably a smear of ordinary grease is a better bet.

I am not saying you are wrong but I have used copper slip for the last 40 years without any problems.

 

[bobj808]

We use 'ordinary' grease on the rear wheel webs (alloy) on our motocross bikes before bolting the sprockets to them. Never stick. Same method as mounting an alloy wheel to a steel hub I suppose. Bob

 

[colinm]

I use Duralac on the mating surfaces.

 

[Nigel L]

I usually take my wheels off twice a year, and apply a very thin cover of copper grease on the face of the hub and back of the wheel, to help stop any corrosion setting in.
What amazes me, is that after my recent big service, which was just shy of £500 (Fiat main dealer) the wheels hadn’t even been taken off. Instead they send you a short video taken from underneath the vehicle whilst on the ramp, which shows that there ‘is plenty of life left in the pads’.
Now, when i take my TVR in for a service, the brakes are taken apart, cleaned and reassembled, even though it only covers a couple of thousand miles a year. The Campervan had covered 15,000 miles since the last service.
Now that the warranty will be up on the Campervan shortly, i think that i will be finding a good independent for future servicing work.

 

[SimonM]

It’s not only alloys, my steel wheels needed a good thump to get them to release the last time we checked the pads. It was bad enough to require a quick sand blast and a grease up to keep them free.

 

[oppy]

I sit here smugly appreciating the neanderthal who hand created with extremely primitive tools a wonderful set of steel wheels for our ancient carriage

 

[Canalsman]

Any service worth calling such should always include removal of the wheels.

It is the only way to examine thoroughly the state of wheels, tyres, brakes and suspension.

 

[Tezza33]

I use Sikaflex instead of copaslip on my alloy wheels, nobody is stealing my wheels

 

[Deneb]

I use aluminium anti-seize between alloy wheels and hubs rather than copaslip.

 

[trevskoda]

Whilst on a recent tour of France I got an awful squealing from the rear brakes, this is from a motorhome that was supposed to have been fully serviced when we bought it 9 months ago,and only 13,000 miles and 4 years old,
Anyway I put up with the squealing until we got home.
Yesterday I decided to strip the brakes down, but the alloys were well and truly stuck on to the hubs, which took me over an hour on each wheel with a lump hammer and block of wood to remove each wheel,
Although I have a spare it wouldn’t have been much use to me as I would never have removed the wheels at the side of the road with the few basic tools I carry in the motorhome.
Once I got the wheels off and got stuck into the brakes the fix was easy as the pads had rusted into the sliders and were stuck.
So whilst the wheels were off I decided to give them a good clean and polish,
First I started with a wheel cleaner and small brush, then g3 scratch remover, then polished with auto glam super resin, then sealed with autoglym extra gloss protection and finally a bit of meguiars tire gel.View attachment 73751View attachment 73751View attachment 73752View attachment 73753View attachment 73754View attachment 73755
Then brushed copperslip onto the hub before replacing the wheels.

Get them of fast and remove the copperslip,disimilers metals,the alloy will disolve,use anti fling chain or marine prop grease which is water prof.

 

[phillybarbour]

I remove my wheels twice every year to stop this problem, once in the summer for service and once after our winter ski trip re all the salt.

 

[Nigel L]

Taking things a step further, what about the wheel but threads.
I normally smear a very small amount around the threads to stop any seizing, is this a No No?

 

[Deleted member 27096]

Putting grease on the threads is a no no as you wont get the correct torque setting on the wheel nuts or bolts. This can result in them either becoming loose or over tightening a d damaging both wheels and nuts/bolts

 

[saxonborg]

Completely agree with Blackwatch no grease on studs or bolts otherwise you risk overtorqueing them.

 

[trevskoda]

Taking things a step further, what about the wheel but threads.
I normally smear a very small amount around the threads to stop any seizing, is this a No No?

Fine with normal grease,never copper close to alloy or zinc,magnesium.
Others say no but in all my life i have never lost a wheel,and may i say i dont hold back the horses when driving,some use a compound called thread guard.