Our old mk1 Octy (2003 1.9tdi) now with our daughter has just had a problem where the garage couldn't remove one of the front wheels as it was seized to the hub - result, remove and replace hub and wheel 😞

 

Would a smear of something like Copperslip or perhaps graphite grease between the mating face of hub+wheel help mitigate the problem?

 

Is there a better way?

 

I use copperslip with good results, just use it sparingly.

Steel wheels. Never had a problem. 

Yeah copper grease is your friend. I’m sure they could of got it off somehow.

 

top trick slacken wheel bolts and drive slowly and sharply brake and that should release the wheel from the hub. Where there is a will there is a way

Edited 26 August, 20205 yr by BigJase88

I have been meaning to ask this question when Coppaslip gets mentioned.

 

I have been using it for years and whilst nothing I have used it on has subsequently rusted solid and has always come apart none of the assemblies felt like they had any lubrication or anti-sieze when taken apart a year or so later, do you actually find that the stuff works as in does what it says on the tin or is it just good marketting?

 

An obvious example would be my wheel bolts, they were very corroded when I got the car, I cleaned all the oxidisation off & copperslipped the threads, next time I removed the wheels it did not feel nor look like there was any lubrication, protection or anti-seize, they weren't corroded again but felt like they had been assembled dry.

 

Now I use a product called Dyna-seize (run out of coppaslip & it was kicking around) which is a food grade high temp anti seize grease and on subsequent disassembly things are free running & lubricated.

 

Its almost like Coppaslip evaporates & washes away and the copper colour is just some dye and there is probably a teaspoon of copper particles thrown into every ton of product when being mixed.

Generally a sledge from the back onto the tyre gets the wheel to come off. I always use an anti seize on the hubs and wheel nuts and have never had an issue with any of my own vehicles. You can use red rubber grease or pure silicon grease or copper slip, whatever your preference really. As long as you have something on it. The wheels should be off every year or every other year at least to check and clean/adjust brakes anyway. 
I lube the Hub face when fitting discs, and then the face of the disc itself where it mates with the wheel. 

Edited 27 August, 20205 yr by UndertheRadar
Extra info

There has been a lot of chatter concerning using Copper grease in some situations, I bought Copaslip Furnace Bolt Anti-Seize grease about 40 years ago and always used it on wheels and contact points on brake callipers, but with the increasing bad tales about Copper grease, I've finally bought the Aluminium equivalent grease for the hubs on my cars which both have alloy wheels, and bought Ceramic brake grease for callipers. If nothing  else my tin of Copaslip will last a few years more!

 

I've even hear plant maintenance people saying bad things about Copper greases, I suppose it depends on how long you leave it undisturbed, I used it mixed up with WD40 for jig fixing bolts that tended to be temperature cycled thro up to -65C > +115C but they got removed every 12 months for maintenance purposes and always were easily removable and not corroded.

 

I'd never ever apply anything like greases to the threads of car wheel bolts, I just have a die - and if necessary a tap to clean them up once a year at service time.