I am going to change out my winter wheels with my summers this weekend. Late, I know. Ordinarily I just take them off mount the summers with a torque wrench and off I go. Should I be doing anything more. Indie and dealers talk about how I should have it "professionally" done with cleansers and lubricants. Sounds like a facial or something. Seems pretty straight forward to me, but that may be my ignorance. Let me know.
If your summer wheels are alloys (including factory alloys) you could put a SMALL amount of copper anti-sieze on the rotor flange where the wheel mounts. This is just to make it easy to get the wheel off. May not be a problem if it's only installed for 7-8 months. A mechanic I knew always cleaned this area with a sanding disc on a mini angle grinder. Couldn't hurt. I just wire-brush if there is any scale/rust. There are many conflicting ideas about thread lubricant. I don't use it, but I make sure the threads are clean. If there's any metal in the threads, I replace the bolts. I also check the torque after the first hard drive or the first week. Sometimes it changes (from the heat, I think). -- Aubrey Granner '93 325i
While you have your wheels of, clean them and wax them! Makes for easier cleaning throughout the year!!!
I've been doing mine since it was new (2000); late fall, late spring (I'm in Minnesota). My routine now is; a few days before changing wheels, squirt WD 40 or similar on the threads of each bolt a couple days later remove the wheel, clean the centering hole (whatitzname), use the anti-seize on the flange, mount the wheel, no lubricant on the bolts, torque, torque again in a couple days. Early on I had some very reluctant wheels and some impossible bolts. The anti-seize helps but is not foolproof. A last resort trick is; slightly loosen the bolts on the reluctant wheel, get the car rolling slowly -- less than 5 mph - then brake suddenly. It will break the rust in the mounting hole and it's not harsh enough to do any damage to the wheel or hub.
