[Scot_W]

NY requires two wheels off now, (one wheel previous to 2020) even have cameras to make sure its done according to my garages. I like the steel wheels, a good wire brushing on the rims cleans them up nice, then I paint on a heavy coat of black rustoleum (better if the can is old and it has started to stiffen up), let it flow out nice and even. I do that every 4-5 years, no issues. We have lots of gravel roads and the paved ones have 5-6" deep potholes in them pretty much all year, it really beats up the alloy rims, and they have to be bent back every year, some are unusable after. Steel seems to hold up better and is cheaper to replace anyway. I run Cooper Mud/Snows with an aggressive tread all year on all four. A little noisy in 90 degree summers but perfect all the rest of the year. Oh, and I always use neverseev on my lug studs, never had any issues and never had a stuck lug nut. Been doing that for 40 years on many cars. In architectural building with steel, we use lubricated nuts and bolts, there are two torque requirements depending on whether the bolt is oiled or not, many are required to be. Its hard to stretch a stud by hand (the guns may do it tho), unless you have an old school mopar with left hand threads, I did do it a few times then.

 

[Scot_W]

Do you mask off the tire, valve stem, stud hole contact areas and mating surface? use a brush?

40 years is a good test of time? Must be doing something right.

Yes, Yes I did, especially around the valve stem. Yes it takes a bit of time, but you only do it every 4-5 years, not a big deal.