stuck lug nuts

While removing the winter tires/wheels on my FiST , I found the fronts very difficult to remove and needed heat on most

Odd thing, the rears came off easily.

I used the same wheels and lug nuts on the '13 SE with no problem.  The alloy wheels are off a '97 Contour.

So what caused the fronts to freeze up and not the rear.   Could the torque vectoring have some thing to do with it ?

Winter driving.        No ice racing.

The front get a lot more heat from braking.  Maybe that accelerated the rusting.  Just theorizing here.  In other news, there's a Great Thread on here regarding anti-seize compounds.  Just sayin'.

Yes, anti-seize will be in the mix.

Odd thing is, I have never had this happen before.   Rust does not seem to be the cause.  

It sort of was like when the pair shops use their air impacts.

The most stuck lug nuts I have ever had were on the Elise (RIP).  They used a special key, kind of like a torx, but not.  Actually the same as some Subaru's use.  I twisted it, like a candy cane.  I think what happened was that the powder coating on the wheel bonded to the lug nuts.

My Solstice has been blessed with D- quality OEM studs, which are so poorly turned that they shed metal shavings. Sometimes the nuts get shavings in the grooves and bind to the studs...no choice but to replace the studs! Lovely.

Aborted Suzuki Forenza I had last year for a minute had lug nuts that were totally stuck.  Hit them all with my air impact (rated for 550 ft lbs but I don't believe it) to no effect.  Got out the breaker bar and cheater pipe, that was enough to break 11 of 12 loose with #12 snapping off the stud rather than come loose.  It appeared the wheels hadn't been removed since it left the factory 10 years earlier.

*Side note to this, when I went back to the shop which had done an inspection on said vehicle to point out their failure to remove the wheels for their brake inspection the owner claimed his impact guns were "professional" and generated more torque than a lowly civilian such as myself could possibly overcome.  We had words.  Unpleasant words.

thanks for all the replys.

None come up as to why this happened on the front and not the rear.

The wheels were installed by me and tightened with a torque wrench.

Another odd thing,  the wheels had been use on my '13 SE for a few seasons, never a problem.

Wondered if the FiST might have something to do with it.

I don’t know why it happens but it seemed to always just be the fronts.  After breaking 10 of 10 front studs on my Malibu one spring I became a fan of Anti Seize and never had a problem again.

pretty sure the answer is not "shotgun"

I'm a huge fan of closed end lug nuts now after snapping way too many studs when removing my winter wheels and tires from our old odyssey. 

I think it is best to match the lug nut style to the factory lug nut (and of course the wheel). for whatever reason, the open-ended nuts that came from tire rack to match the steel wheels rusted to the honda studs like crazy. I've now converted to closed end lug nuts that have the same taper as the wheels, and they are much easier to remove in spring. 

The problem seemed to be between the nut and the wheel.   As soon as I could turn the nut, with lots of leverage, about a quarter turn, the nut came off easily.    No rust was involved.

The Contour wheels have little hub caps that cover the lugs, so some protection there.

 why only the fronts and just on the ST.  No problem on the SE.

Why only the fronts is a question I cannot answer. I had the same issue back on my Neons. 

At the time I was still working at Chrysler and could just walk over to the suite with the brake guys. They explained some science about the heat load actually increasing the release torque required on conical lug nuts. It is as with many friction topics a lot of hypothesis of why but a good understanding of the results and how to replicate. Think tires. No one can fully predict the stick slip dynamic rolling sliding friction going on but we can do x and reliably get y. 

The solution was to tighten the fronts to the min spec of the service manual. 

KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:

 

 

*Side note to this, when I went back to the shop which had done an inspection on said vehicle to point out their failure to remove the wheels for their brake inspection the owner claimed his impact guns were "professional" and generated more torque than a lowly civilian such as myself could possibly  overcome.  We had words.  Unpleasant words.

So he is a liar, or he torqued them so tight when he put them back on you want the fire wrench to get them off, either way it is a cranial anal situation

Well, now that I am aware of this, I will take precautions next winter.

In reply to Toebra :

Oh, he was just lying.  The wheels were rusted to the hubs so securely I had to use a 10 lb sledgehammer to free them.

Such a quality shop.