So my factory 914 repair manual says to lube the ball surfaces of wheel bolts with MoS2 grease. Thats the surface that bears on the wheel bolt cups. MoS2 is molybdenum disulfide I am told (I never took chemistry).

Does anyone do this?

What does the lube do?

What is the advantage of it?

What happens if its not done?

What is MoS2 typcially known as...wheel bearing grease or...and is it available at my FLAPS?

The ball cups on my cookie cutters are pretty galled up. I'm guessing some grease would prevent that.

Anyone know how to smooth out the ball cups in alloy wheels? (I was thinking I might try an old lug nut attached to a drill, and some valve grinding compound..)

Yes I lube the lug nuts. Both thread and ball seat.
But I am changing wheels minimum 4 times a month. sometimes more. I have studs and 928 alloy nuts for street and steel nuts for 4 lug Fuchs and race rubber. The diamond wheels tighten up OK with the Steel nuts but cut up the ball seat. Really need acorn nuts.

for an accurate amount of torque. The torque comes from the threads/bolt stretch not surface friction.

QUOTE (bowlsby @ Aug 3 2005, 02:16 PM)

What is MoS2 typcially known as...wheel bearing grease or...and is it available at my FLAPS?

Molybdenum disulfide is a high-pressure lubricant. One brand name I know of is MolySlip.

Lube is good.
Steel grinding against steel is bad.

P

QUOTE (bowlsby @ Aug 3 2005, 03:16 PM)

Does anyone do this? What does the lube do? What is the advantage of it? What happens if its not done?

yes.
prevents galling and sticking. it is an essential ritual if you ever use Porsche aluminum lug nuts; when one of those decides to stick to a wheel stud due to corrosion and eletrolytic migration it is not a pretty sight.
provides consistent torque, allows you to subsequently remove the bolts/nuts without damage.
picture having to pull a front hub and removing a lug bolt by using a drill and EZ-Out from the backside...

moly disulphide is frequently used in anti-sieze compound and assembly lubes, available at the FLAPS. actually, any anti-sieze is better than nothing, but by specifying a MoS2 compound they eliminate a lot of the junk and discourage you from just using plain grease. i like LubroMoly LM-39, but you'll be fine with almost any assembly lube.

use latex gloves and have paper towels or shop rags handy; the good stuff will stain.

Sammy gave an excellent write-up about bolt lubrication in this thread just a few weeks ago. I think the pearl of wisdom to take away from it is that torque specs imply that the threads are lubricated.

Now I know what I'm doing tonight! Thanks!

QUOTE (bondo @ Aug 3 2005, 11:19 AM)

Anyone know how to smooth out the ball cups in alloy wheels? (I was thinking I might try an old lug nut attached to a drill, and some valve grinding compound..)

I butterfly the sockets on my wheels.....carefully. Takes maybe a minute a hole.

QUOTE (J P Stein @ Aug 3 2005, 03:45 PM)

QUOTE (bondo @ Aug 3 2005, 11:19 AM) Anyone know how to smooth out the ball cups in alloy wheels? (I was thinking I might try an old lug nut attached to a drill, and some valve grinding compound..) I butterfly the sockets on my wheels.....carefully. Takes maybe a minute a hole.

I seriously have no idea what that means.

ot here
Midtowner... would you have some additional pics of that 73 in your avator..
i wanted to see the painted sails...
thanx

and i lube my nuts too.

QUOTE (LongARM @ Aug 3 2005, 04:16 PM)

and i lube my nuts too.

My girlfriend takes care of that for me

Get an air powered die grinder. (my 2nd favorite tool )
A 1/4 inch rod...bout 4 -6 inches long.
Take a hack saw & cut a longitudinal slot in the rod (on center)
about 3/4 inch long....then grind smooth taper on the slotted end.

Tear off a piece of emery cloth about 2 X 1 inches....fold it in half lengthwise & stick the center of it into the slot(your butterfly)
Put that sucker into the die grinder, pull the trigger & shove it into a hole (or ball cup/hole). One can also use a chunk of scotch bright.

Any hole you wanna clean up/de-burr. Sheet metal, steel, aluminum & up to about 4 inches in dia.

If you really press, I'll take a pic.

I don't see a smilie for "press" so how about

Warning:
Fuzzy pics coming.

Here's the tool....and the only gud pic.

Another one I kinda forgot about for the ball socket....it's a scotchbright disc...1" dia IIRC and the pics go to hell.

Worser pic. untouched hole.

Reworked

I deburr all my wheels....but have Andy take my pics

QUOTE (J P Stein @ Aug 4 2005, 07:25 PM)

Warning: Fuzzy pics coming. Here's the tool....and the only gud pic.

Cool, makes sense! Thanks!

Sorry, OT. LongARM wanted to see my sails. Thanks.