[chopper]

To all who ventured opinions on this subject, I would like to say I appreciate your inputs. The short version is that I called Enzo and ordered a set of stainless spinners Friday; he promised they'd be here by the middle of the week. I expect that to resolve the problem.

In my own defense, I did lubricate the threads and spinner-to-wheel surface with large amounts of anti-seize compound. I have always kept these things lubricated, and usually have them off and back on at least every three months or so, even though I don't get the chance to drive the car as much as I'd like. Each time I remounted the wheels, I used the same procedure. However, I note that each time it seemed to be a little more difficult to break them free, and it eventually culminated in the situation described in the beginning of the thread. I don't know why they attached so firmly on this particular occasion; I'm just glad I discovered it in my garage rather than 59 miles outside of Phoenix.

A couple of observations follow; again, I want to make it clear that I appreciate everyone's input on this. I talked with a couple of folks who are metallurgists by education and vocation, and the bottom line from those individuals was that aluminum on aluminum will eventually lead to galling and spot-welding of the two surfaces under tightening load. Both advised me that once the galling has started, it will gradually progress each time the spinner is tightened onto the wheel. One ventured the option of having the mating surfaces of the spinners and wheels resurfaced to remove the small pits resulting from (and causing) the galling; the other felt that was merely a short-term fix and recommended switching to another material.

My experience was the same as Bob in CT and SPF604 up until the past year or so. In fact, I have expressed my opinion on this subject in previous posts and have said (in agreement with you) that you don't have to beat the spinners on like a gorilla to get them to stay put. I normally would put the wheels on, tighten the spinner with a couple of taps with a dead-blow hammer to seat the wheel on the spindle, then lower the car to the ground and give each ear of the spinner a moderate whack with the hammer to tighten the spinner. I then safety wired one ear to the wheel. Using this procedure, I've never had any of the spinners loosen up, and they usually came off with a couple of good-sized whacks with the hammer. One previous experience about a year ago led me to order the tool from Enzo; without it, I'm sure the spinners would still be welded to the wheels. I did some rough calculations on the amount of torque applied to the spinner at the time it finally broke free. With the two ladies standing on the bar and me applying upward force on the other end with a floor jack, I figure the total torque on the spinner was in excess of 450 ft-lbs at the time it broke free. With all due respect, I'm pretty sure "a couple of taps with a lead hammer" would have been inadequate to loosen these things.

Other folks have posted stories of spinners coming loose at speed, resulting in loosing the attached wheel at some rather inappropriate times. I believe them; that's why these thing were banned on the racing circuits. Why they had spinners which wouldn't stay put and others have spinners that won't come off, I can't explain.

I think Rick Parker has a good idea with the SS washer; however, as Lowell pointed out, the tapered mating surface between the spinner and wheel makes that a bit difficult. What would be really nice would be for the wheel manufacturers to bond or press a stainless steel race into the wheel to take the load of the spinners. However, that still doesn't resolve the whole problem, since the aluminum spinner still threads onto a steel spindle. This sets up galvanic corrosion due to the dissimilar metals, and over time will still result in difficulty removing the spinners. I finally came to the conclusion that the only real solution was to go with stainless spinners, and that's what I've done.

Again, I thank everyone for their inputs. Perhaps this will serve as a lesson so that others will be able to avoid this problem. As my old CO used to say, you can be part of the solution or you can serve as a terrible example. Either way, we all contribute.