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Old 03-02-2016, 05:57 AM   #1
steved0x
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: FL
Posts: 4,143
Grease on axle nut - where did it come from



This is a picture after I wiped away the grease but you can still see some. Before I wiped it away the center cavity was filled and the surface around the center cavity was covered with a thin film of the grease. This is my driver side rear hub. I noticed it when I took my wheels off to clean and there is some grease on the inside of the wheel where the center cap goes.

Odd/interesting factors:

The wheel that had grease was mounted on the passenger side of the car, where that area above the axle nut was bone dry. That wheel got moved there in October/November last year after I flipped my Hankook R-S3 tires on the rim and moved them to the other side. So if the grease was ejected from the axle nut, it appeared to have happened before October?

But I feel like I would have noticed the grease since I have had my wheels off 3 or 4 times since then for brake bleeds and checks? Although maybe not, it was a very thin coating and looked "normalish"?

I have 2 other sets of wheels that I have been running (street and r-comp) - I haven't checked them to see if they have any grease behind the wheel cap but will do so at lunch today and update this thread. Update: I checked and none of my other back wheels has that grease. So it seems like it may have been a one time event that grease came from the end of the axle?

These extra things may provide more info, or may not....

So does anyone know when or why grease would come out of the center of the axle nut (axle? the nut is actually threaded down and not on the very end where the grease was)? Is it a sign of doom?

Thanks,

Steve

Edit: I have not crawled under there to see if there is any grease coming out of the back side? CV Boot issue? If it was leaking behind the wheel would it come through the end of the axle and out that little hole?

Last edited by steved0x; 03-02-2016 at 09:05 AM.
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