981S2013

deilenberger

Do other lugs in the front seem the same? And is this the first time you've pulled these lugs off? There shouldn't be any oil on the lug bolt. One problem with oil or grease it - these bolts can stretch if over-torqued, and oil/grease lessen the amount of torque needed to achieve the required clamping force. If it was me - and the first time I'd pulled these off - and they're all like that (both sides) - I'd use some brake cleaner to get the grease out of the holes in the hub, then put in brand new wheel bolts dry - no lubricant at all. Chances are the oiled lug bolts have been stretched due to torquing to spec when lubricated.

AJ88CAB

If there is no oil or grease on the hub of the wheel, nor any apparent source of drips or grease splatter from anywhere on the car (truck?), then this is probably a case of someone using grease as anti-seize. I might even be old dirty anti-seize, but old anti-seize usually doesn't look so "wet".

981S2013

Thanks all. I've already ordered new lugs, simply because the old ones are so rusted.... I had pulled two to check size.
Only pulled one from front and one from rear (tires are offset sizes).
The front has this oily substance, the rear did not. Makes me concerned that it is a leaky bearing...

Petza914

There are 2 different camps on lubricating wheel lug bolts or not. I'm of the camp that lubricates them and I use Marine grade anti-seize then torque to 100 ft. lbs. With the reduced friction from the lubricated threads, thus should put them right about the newer bolt spec of 118 ft. lbs. that Porsche has gone to (retroactively) for their water cooled cars. I use titanium lug bolts and nuts so don't worry about over stretching them, and World Motorsports recommends installing their Ti bolts with anti-seize.

Aside from that, what's on your threads doesn't look like anti-seize - it's too wet so you may be correct about a leaking bearing or someone just used a different lubricant. Maybe pull one from the other side and see if it matches.

ScootCherHienie

Can brake fluid get to the bottom of lug nuts? BTW, anti-seize on lug nuts is a good thing. I'd even put it around the angled base of the lug nuts so it won't stick and release on the wheel while being tightened. Makes for securely tight lugs without over torque-ing because of "sticktion" (stick shun, like friction) is a real thing with "dry" lugs.

981S2013

I just remembered that this car had its brake fluid replaced in the past few weeks. Don't know if the shop was messy or not, but the brakes were bled very recently.

I'll take the advice on the forum here; when I replace the lugs with the new black ones this weekend, I'll clean everything nicely with brake cleaner. Then after a few weeks, will pull some of the lugs back out and check for the substance. I won't use anti-seize at first, so I can be sure that the fluid (if any) isn't anti-seize. I'll report back what I find....

Petza914

Brake fluid should have a pretty distinct smell.

I've been told if you use anti-seize on the threads, specifically not to use it on the bolt collar or seat that mates with the wheel seat The stiction between the lug bolt collar and the bolt seat in the wheel, in addition to the threads being properly stretched from torque, is what keeps the lug bolt tight. Creating too little friction between the bolt collar and wheel seat is not a good thing.

The other advantage to anti-seize on the threads is that it prevents metallurgical reactions between dissimilar metals. Now metals like Titanium are very non-reactive, but for example, the aluminum lug nuts used on steel wheel studs on older Porsche cars can create a reaction between the two dissimilar metals. The anti-seize helps to isolate them and prevent or slow the reaction.

NelaK

I've never seen the point of anti-seize on lug nuts. Its not really recommended anywhere and it seems to needlessly complicate a simple thing.

As far as the corrosion between aluminum and steel - its the aluminum that gets corroded away in that reaction. Lug nuts are relatively cheap and easy to replace when/if they ever get too bad. I've seen aluminum lug nuts that are 30 years old and still perfectly fine so I guess you can go the extra mile and make sure they last even longer but will the rest of the car make it that long?

Petza914

Scroll down near the bottom of this page - there's one recommendation - motorsports.com/titanium-wheel-stud

Here's another thread that includes a page from the owners manual saying Optimoly paste should be used on the threads but not on the seat. - https://rennlist.com/forums/997-turbo-forum/778295-does-anyone-use-anti-seize-on-their-wheel-bolts.html

Here's another one with quotes from the Porsche service manuals and TSBs - https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-and-drivers-education-forum/308574-anti-seize-on-lug-nuts.html

You don't need to do it each time and do need to overdue it, but you should do it.

NelaK

I learned something new today!

slavie

Some kind of grease or oil. It is harmless for the most part. Multiple ways it could have gotten there - oiled on purpose, hub could have been greased when brake rotors were replaced (good idea to grease the mating surface in rust-prone regions, makes the next brake job million times easier) and some grease got into lug bolt holes but not all.

Cannot be the bearings - there really isn't enough grease in the bearing for it to leak out and soak the hub and lug bolts. Even if there was, by the time this much grease leaked out of the bearing you would have had a massive noise coming from the wheels.

I've oiled lugs in some of my cars and some others left as is. Never had a problem either way. As others mentioned, you can find endless discussions on the net where people are ready to slit throats to prove one way is more academically correct than the other. But, in the real world, oiling only helps fight corrosion while not hurting anything.

J'sWorld

Luv me some anti seize more than Betty White luvs her some Frank's Red Hot. I put that s**t on everything!

This is my favorite flavor https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr....asp?RecID=975

I also use it on my World Motorsports Ti lug bolts threads and between the bolt head and cone. Tq'd @ 110 ft/lbs, they don't come loose.

Brainz

Confession: I put antiseize on the face of my hubs/rotors/rims (obvs not the braking surfaces) to keep them from corroding together. Apparently "a little dab will do ya," and I must have used a bit more than a little dab. I was getting a weird clunk on acceleration from a stop, and some weird transient wheel imbalance at speed. It drove me nuts for couple weeks and I ordered new control arms, thinking I had a shot bushing.

Nope, just too much antiseize allowing the wheel to slip a smidge on the hub. I wiped the majority off and it's all good.

Petza914

All of those components should have hub-centric grooves and flanges to mate together properly. The lug bolts really only hold the wheel to the rotor hat and the rotor hat to the wheel hub, but they should all be put together hub-centrically to not allow that type of movement. The proper hub-centric dimension for all Porsche stuff is 71.6mm. The OD of the wheel hub should have that flange on it and the rotors should have that exact ID where they slip on, then the rotors should also have a flange or lip on them with this same OD, and the center bore of the wheel should also be exactly this dimension. If you're running spacers, they should only be the hub-centric variety, no matter how narrow, and yup, they should have this exact same dimensions for ID & OD. Adaptec Speedware offers this type of spacer in all their widths - many companies don't until you get to around 15mm and you shouldn't use those.

Also, when installing the wheel lugs you want to make sure you get all of them in finger tight so the bolt shoulder perfectly centers and mates to the corresponding seat in the wheel holes. Rotate the wheel a little back and forth as you're getting all 5 finger tight, then take the torque wrench in a alternating pattern and go about 30% to the final number on all 5, then about 60% on all 5, then do the final tightening to the 118 ft.lbs setting (if installing them dry) or to 110 if using anti-seize on the threads.

None of these components should just easily slip together - they should need to be almost perfectly square when installing them and should take just a little oomph to mate properly.