Grease betwen wheel and rotor?

[sunfire]

This has bugged me for a long time. The first time I took my front tires off my 05 Corolla I noticed a thin white colored paste of some sort between the where the wheel touches the rotor.

Have any Toyota owners noticed this? Is this just regular automotive grease to prevent the wheel from seizing to the rotor? Looks like the factory applied grease to the contact points of the wheel before they went on the car.

I washed it off when I rotated my tires a few years back. The front tires are always seized to the rotor, even the first time I tried to take them off.

Does anyone put anything on the wheel to prevent it from seizing to the rotor?

 

[SLCraig]

I always put a thin coat of anti-seize both under the rotor to the hub, and wheel to rotor surfaces. Never a problem getting apart down the road.

 

[sunfire]

Whats a good anti-seize lubricant?

 

[EricF]

Permatex

 

[KrisZ]

I use a very thin application of Fluid Film or other rust oil product in a can, works like a charm and is very easy to clean, the nice thing about it is that you don`t have to cover all contact points, just spray a little between studs and oil will creep to all other contact points.

 

[sunfire]

Any problems with using a lithium complex grease like Mobil 1 Synthetic grease?

 

[mechtech2]

I use grease. A light coat. On the rotor seating areas, the hub, and on the wheel. CLEAN THE SUBSTRATE FIRST!
Anti seize is better than nothing, but it is not so hot for exposed parts. It seems to dry and flake off readily.

 

[JHZR2]

My Saab had this from the factory, noted a bit of green grease on the hole on my wheel center.

I use high-temp copper antisieze from lubro moly. Likely any would do. Go light!

 

[jsharp]

Toyota seems to love making their wheels and hubs a tight slip fit. My old '80 Corolla and my '00 4Runner both have needed antizeize or it's almost impossible to get the wheels off after an Illinois winter.

 

[andyd]

Mechtech X2 any old grease will work . I use whatever is on hand, usually chassis lube.

 

[The Critic]

A lot of the premium aftermarket rotors will have painted rotor hats, which I believe serves the same purpose as anti-seize.

Some of the newer Nissans also have painted rotor hats from the factory.

 

[KrisZ]

I'm not sure what effect paint has on siezing, but my Mazda has the rotors with some sort of anti-corrosion coating and it doesn't do squat about wheels freezing to the hub, but at least there is no rust.

 

[Kestas]

Our company manufactures OEM automotive hubs for the new car market. Some hubs leave the plant with greased rotor mount surfaces. And I have been involved in discussions with coating these surfaces to prevent corrosion.

Our company can do anything that is technologically possible. It's all up to the automakers on whether they want to pay for these anti-corrosion features on their vehicles.

One push presently going on with improving hub design is to maintain less than 20-micron runout on the rotor mount surface to reduce shimmy during braking. Some coating designs make this worse.

 

[willix]

A bit on the hub pilot definitely helps with outboard/rotor/drum removal. Too much though may squeeze out & contaminate the drum/shoe/pad.

 

[doitmyself]

In our recent discussion about anti-seize on lugnuts, I posted the following link where it was suggested NOT to use anything between the wheel and rotor:

http://www.engineersedge.com/wwwboard/posts/13070.html

"At the http://www.boltscience.com website, they say that it is actually transverse joint movement that causes loosening of threaded fasteners. In the case of a wheel, friction between the wheel and the hub prevent traverse movement. The friction is generated by the axial force generated by the torqued lug nuts.

Because of traverse movement causing joint loosening, it's probably best to not use anti seize or any lube on the back side of the rim where it contacts the rotors, hub, or brake drums. "

Personally, I use a VERY thin layer of brake lube to reduce the crud and corrosion between wheel and rotor that occurs in our salt laden winters. I always clean everything when mounting wheels, but Kestas' 20 micron run out comment is scary. Maybe this (using lube) is wrong?

I wonder if 100 ft. lb. would squeeze the lube out at the actual contact points?

 

[Kestas]

Though it's true that transverse movement may cause loosening of the wheel bolts, I don't think that's a problem with automotive wheels. They mount on a pilot hole, and the wheel studs mount in a coned hole. Both of these features should preclude any transverse movement of the bolted assembly. Antiseize (or any lubricant) should be safe to use on the hab and rotor mount surfaces.

Don't let the 20-micron comment scare you. This is a push for manufacturers to make the cars have a good feel for when they are new (no brake pulsation). Good luck maintaining that tolerance!! Once corrosion sets in, this 20-micron bogey is lost. Besides, antisieze shouldn't be a problem. The excess thickness should get squeezed out.

 

[SLJ2137694]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Though it's true that transverse movement may cause loosening of the wheel bolts, I don't think that's a problem with automotive wheels. They mount on a pilot hole, and the wheel studs mount in a coned hole. Both of these features should preclude any transverse movement of the bolted assembly. Antiseize (or any lubricant) should be safe to use on the hab and rotor mount surfaces.

Don't let the 20-micron comment scare you. This is a push for manufacturers to make the cars have a good feel for when they are new (no brake pulsation). Good luck maintaining that tolerance!! Once corrosion sets in, this 20-micron bogey is lost. Besides, antisieze shouldn't be a problem. The excess thickness should get squeezed out.

An anti-corrosion coating of some kind on the rotor to hub interface would help alot. If rust builds up then you get run-out in the rotor with the resultant thickness variation in the rotor which will give you brake pulsation.

 

[mechtech2]

Problems occur 100 ,000 times more from having no protective grease, than running things dry.
A lot less corrosion and thing come apart better.

 

[1993_VG30E_GXE]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Problems occur 100 ,000 times more from having no protective grease, than running things dry.
A lot less corrosion and thing come apart better.


I agree. I've gone a step further and coated everything under the car with grease, anything with exposed metal. Corrosion seemed to slow down to a halt. In fact, even the road salt seems to kind of stick to the grease, but not attack the metal.

A tip on the inside of the wheel or the rotors, if I see a buildup of any crud, I hit it with the wire wheel on the die grinder (Cup Brush), and seems to work nice to clean both sides rotor and wheel inside.

 

[XCELERATIONRULES]

I take my wheels off every six months to change over from winter to summer tires and still use a very small amount of lithium grease on the hub.
I don't want any grease anywhere near my brake rotors though.