Why did the wheels on my ford escape become stuck to the hub?

I have a 2015 ford escape with 18" aluminum wheels. I just swapped to my winter tires and when I removed the OEM wheels, they were stuck to the hub. All 4 of them. I had to use penetrating oil and a sledge hammer to get them off. How and why did this happen? I have been swapping summer/winter wheels for the past 13 years on multiple different vehicles and this is the first time this has happened.

Corrosion - it doesn't take much to produce a death grip. A thin smear of anti-seize will stop that. Hub centric wheels, like Hondas', are the worst. Looking at OEM rims for the Escape on ebay, they appear to be hub centric (not tapered lug nut seats) so coat the edge of the hub as well.

Differential meta corrosion. The next time this happens…
Loosen the lug nuts, finger tighten, them back them off a half turn. Drive down the street a few hundred feet (wow, that rhymes), while zigzagging like race cars heating their tires up. Go back home and the wheel should be loose. I've done this many times. Instead of hitting the wheels with a small sledge, you are using the entire weight of the vehicle to pop them loose.

Rust, probably.

Was it unusually hot where you live, this past summer?

Umm,… Nature. Aluminum wheels + steel hubs (dissimilar metals) + water.

Did you not take science in high school?

BTW - all you need is a decent mallet and a good tap on the tire (not the wheel) from behind. I work in a shop. We deal with this sort of thing dozens of times every day.

Lmao

No

Probably

Lol