Friday, May 31, 2024

Waterproof Grease

For years, I have preferred to use water resistant grease in places like bottom bracket bearings or wheel bearings. Bike components usually aren't well sealed against water intrusion, so marine bearing or automotive wheel bearing grease will do a better job protecting bearings from corrosion.

Below is an example of poorly sealed front hub bearings that were ridden in wet conditions. They were not lubricated with marine bearing grease:

Obviously these won't roll very well anymore, so new ball bearings were necessary. 

Additionally, I would avoid using white lithium grease. I've seen plenty of worn out bearing surfaces that were packed full of plain white lithium grease. It has no anti-wear or extreme pressure additives, so it's not suitable for bikes.

No comments:

Post a Comment