3alarmer 

...luckily, I don't need to have a flat tire for my wife to call me an idiot.

mixteup

I usually grease or anti-sieze fasteners, unless there's a locking compound on them.
I've done enough vintage auto restoration and boat repair, that corrosion protection and future disassembly are foremost in my mind, so I usually lube.
But that's just me.

u235

You really can't think that through to the logical conclusion yourself?
Make the procedure easy, define it as fail safe as possible, simple, repeatable for anyone anywhere with consistency, even grandma on the side of the highway at night with no grease or a torque wrench can swap in a spare with a reasonable safety margin. Why throw in the complexity of having the right lube on hand and know the right amount to use at any given time. They could but why complicate it?
On those lug nuts...It is a similar contact point, carbon steel stud and carbon steel lug nut (regardless of the outer coating sleeve that may be on the lug nut itself). Big enough hardware with a margin that it can be over torqued and abused and still work. An occasional lug nut getting stuck on is not safety risk or a liability, just a PITA. Replacing a damaged stud or lug nut is relatively simple and routine. There is also a suggestion to recheck the torque 50-100 miles later. If lug nuts and studs were stainless, they would gall and "freeze" together all of the time and require some type of preferably graphite lube to reduce that chance, if studs and lug nuts were disimilar materials there would be galvanic corrosion and lug nuts would be getting stuck all the time. These situations are not the case (for those reasons) so all above simplicity keep it simple applies.

What is your point anyway? If you don't want to use grease or use anti-sieze on something you don't have to. Who cares what joe_random on the internet said. Use your own experience and opinion or consult your instructions of the part you have a question about.

I personally do not normally use anti-seize on car wheel studs but I do put a little on the wheel where it contacts the rotor. I've had many wheels stuck to the rotor where even a BFH was challenged. I've dealt with stuck lug nuts but none that anti-seize would have made a significant difference. Just fouled or damaged threads from being stretched too many times and too much from over torque.

kcblair

Ditto here, too KB

unterhausen

As others have said, bike manufacturers are usually clear on their expectation of using grease on threads. For fasteners, the important spec is usually clamping force, and if you don't grease the clamping force is reduced for a given torque. But given the low quality of most bicycle fasteners, greasing just seems prudent.

most anti-seize is a metal bearing grease. Of course, you may have found something that doesn't meet that description. I was recently looking at anti-seize application notes and I was not particularly enlightened about what I should use. For example, the stuff that works on aluminum isn't that great with stainless and vice versa. My conclusion was that my 40 year practice of greasing fasteners was possibly superior.

I have never greased lugnuts. Generally I have found that jumping on the lug wrench will loosen most lugnuts. The only time I broke a stud removing a lug nut, it was with arm power alone. Lugnuts are under cyclic load and manufacturers are probably more worried about retention than clamping force. At least that's what I worry about.

TimothyH

Having broken wheel studs due to corroded lug nuts I have to agree.

Very few applications call for no grease. These are corner cases which most mechanics are not likely to see.

By the way, my daughter will graduate GT this year. Her research was quantum materials. She was accepted into the UC Berkely graduate school for physics. We are pretty proud of her.


-Tim-

SHBR

Grease prevents corrosion and rust, both are undesirable if you wish to remove fasteners at a later date.

Bike Gremlin

Not sure I understand. Bearing grese is not the same as anti-seize. And anti-seize should not be used for bearings. If I understood correctly.

If the "connection" is facing extreme pressures and temperatures, that is something to consider. Depending on the materials in contact, recommendations differ.
For bicycles, any (good quality) anti-seize will do - loads and temps are relatively low there.

Like I said - I've never had one come loose using anti-seize. Though I've never greased them. Prefer being able to loosen them without having to jump. Especially after the winter.
Angled lugnut interface (at 45 degrees) is what takes care of self-loosening problem.

DaveSSS 

So why do all auto owners manuals specifically tell you NOT to grease lug nuts or axle studs? Never greased any in my life and never had a problem removing a lug nut over the last 50 years.

yannisg

I torque bolts according to spec. For instance BB, cassette, seat clamp bolts, stem bolts and brake and derailleur clamp bolts.
I use anti-seize on BB threads, and pedal threads.
I use thread lock on RD pulleys bolts, bottle cage bolts and cleat bolts.

trailangel

For riders in wetter climates...... you all might grease threads......hard riders in NE or my good friends in PNW or SE .... you might be on the grease.
Riders in SW or like me... in So California.....might not need it. I use blue threadlocker.

AnkleWork

I just wonder what the vast professional and academic literature says about this.

trailangel

Academic Literature is being re-written right here everyday.
Pros will soon follow...........

Sy Reene

I guess I challenge the assertion that "all" manufacturers provide wet vs dry guidance for their torque ratings.. Maybe Campy and Shimano do? OTOH, run o'the mill seatpost clamp makers, seatpost rail clamps, stem bolts -- I think more often than not it's pretty hard to find this info -- can't recall ever seeing this anyway in the 'manual' that ships with any of these types of components.

Sy Reene

Whose spec? In order:
1. The saddle maker's or the seatpost maker?
2. The stem maker's or the handlebar's maker
3. The derailleur maker's or the the frame maker's?
And, do you find wet (greased) vs dry guidance for all of this?

AnkleWork

Careful reading; you might hurt yourself.

djb

I personally use the candlestick maker recommendations, so I rub a dub dub just a wee smidge of antiseize, and everything is as right as rain.

greatscott

Lugnuts are subject to becoming loose as the wheel rolls for miles and miles and miles; lugnuts are treated so as not to rust, which doesn't always work. If you lube a lug nut you can only lube the threaded area and make sure you don't get any lube on the mating surfaces of nut and the lughole, if that happens you won't be able to torque the nuts down correctly and the nuts could loosen up over many miles. Due to the difficulty of trying to ensure that no lube gets on the two surfaces it's just better not lube them at all. Just do as your manufacture recommends, they don't want to be sued so they know what's best to do.

02Giant 

Racing Dan

I cant answer you specific question, but I do know a bike assembled dry, will eventually seize up, giving you a lot grief trying to take it apart. On a car you can use a impact wrench but I wouldn't advice that on a bike. Especially not on expensive race bikes.

greatscott

Why don't you just come out and say what your problem is with my statement instead of saying nothing of intelligence to add to what I've said, I don't mind being corrected if the correction is needed, what I do mind is some smug emoji without any thought going on! It's kind of like being the boss of a company and you have an employee that's always complaining about how things are ran but has no suggestions on how to improve it! Get the idea man? So step up and make an intelligent comment about what I said is not good thing to do and quit hiding behind an emoji that has no resemblance to intelligence.

78rr

In areas with high humidity, I think grease should be used. .

TimothyH

Next time you guys buy tires, ask the guys on the shop floor whether lugs/studs corrode and what happens when they do.


-Tim-

djb

on a couple of my old cars in the past, when I would go to take off my winters to put on my summers, the rims would be a real pain to get off, used to have to borrow a sledgehammer to whack em to get them off after the bolts were removed. Started putting anti seize on the contact point of rim to hub , plus a bit on the threads, and took care of that issue.

I do however check my bolt tightnesses after a week or two, and sometmes they need a teeny tiny turn more, I use a long X bolt thingee to get good leverage.

so thats my experience car wise.

02Giant 

Intelligent comment, let's see. One might want be sure, before making assumptions, that a reply posted in a thread is specifically about them. My "smug emoji" was in regards to anecdotes from both sides of the discussion, and was posted, before I read all of the comments made in this thread. My "smug emoji just happened to follow your post. I have no problem quoting any specific comment, including yours, if I was singling you out. Get the idea man?