best grease for wheel bearings

oldwelshman

Hi all.
Can some one reccomend the best grease for wheel bearings?
I had some finish line teflon based "white" grease and used it on my hack bike, but after about 1000 miles it dissapeared !!! It is absolute crap even though on label it says it should be ok.
When I worked in hospitals and did maintenance on x-ray machines and scanners and tables, we used to be issued with several types of grease and had a table to indicate which lubricant to use on specific type of bearings and surfaces.
We always only used teflon grease for sliding surfaces never load bearing bearings, for that we had several types of "darker" grease . I wish I kept a load when I left !!
Toady on the last 10 miles of a ride I had awful noise from rear of bike and ended up taking off chain and de greasing it, cleaning sprokets and jockey wheels, only to find that when I rotated the wheel with chain removed it made terrible noise.
I stripped it down and there was no grease at all left in the bearings.

So what should I use?

geoff_ss

I used to use Campagnolo grease (bought from Mercian, I suppose) but the stuff I have currently is the same stuff you're complaining about (Finish Line Teflon fortified Bicycle grease - it says on the tube) Never had a problem with it as far as I can remember. The tube is probably several years old - the label says it cost £5 for the 100 gm tube.

Geoff

pete.whelan

never had a problem with the Finish Line Teflon grease. Use it regularly for all bearing surfaces and screw threads.

redvee

Got a tube of Weldtite 'red grease that is due to be replaced after many years service. Thick and waterproof like Bullshot grease of amny years ago.

fossyant

I'm using the Finish Line Waterproof Teflon enhanced grease (with grease gun) and it's fine.

How well sealed are the bearings on the hack ?

JWSurrey

Halfrauds - Castrol LM grease - in a tub that looks about 500ml in size - huge.
Designed for car gearboxes/axles etc.
Currently keeping my MTB headset in shape.

Just bought some Castrol Lithium grease in a similar sized tub - also a dark grease - supposed to be more water repellant, although also slightly less viscous.

Hugh A

My favourite is Motorex Bike Grease 2000 which comes in a handy tube with pointy nozzle - it's green and seems to stay put pretty well. I got it at Webters in Leicester.

Tom Butcher

Ah - not sure if I'm glad I read this - I just bought some grease yesterday to service my hubs - Finish Line teflon. It does say on the tube that it is meant for headsets, hubs etc so I may risk it.

LIthium grease - personally I wouldn't use this stuff - in my experience it dries out - in fact the guy in the shop (Samways) agreed that of the two options they sold he'd take the finish line teflon over the lithium grease any day.

markos1963

I have always used something my toolmaker father recommended, I think its called molyslip and the tub he gave me 20 years ago is still going strong. Once I have cleaned out all the hub and washed the bearing surfaces with parafin I then apply the molyslip. So far once done I have never had any bearing failures or much wear. Good stuff

oldwelshman

Tom Butcher wrote:

Ah - not sure if I'm glad I read this - I just bought some grease yesterday to service my hubs - Finish Line teflon. It does say on the tube that it is meant for headsets, hubs etc so I may risk it.

LIthium grease - personally I wouldn't use this stuff - in my experience it dries out - in fact the guy in the shop (Samways) agreed that of the two options they sold he'd take the finish line teflon over the lithium grease any day.

This is the stuff I used, its crap
I havent been out in rain though I have been through the usual surface water on roads.
The hub is relatively well seald.
It looks as if the grease just dissapeared after about 1200 miles.
I will try some of the halfrauds dark grease next time, I am not convinced with this teflon stuff at all for bearings.

Tom Butcher

I found a little tub of DuraAce grease - it's very thick - could try that, or else I've got a big tub of Castrol grease that my brother used to use on motorcycles.

geoff_ss

JWSurrey wrote:

Halfrauds - Castrol LM grease - in a tub that looks about 500ml in size - huge.
Designed for car gearboxes/axles etc.
Currently keeping my MTB headset in shape.

Just bought some Castrol Lithium grease in a similar sized tub - also a dark grease - supposed to be more water repellant, although also slightly less viscous.

I've got a tub of Castrol LM somewhere. I used to use it in my high pressure grease gun when you had to grease cars every verse end and on all my motor cycles for just about everything. Not tried it on my push bikes though.

Geoff

JWSurrey

markos1963 wrote:

I have always used something my toolmaker father recommended, I think its called molyslip ....

Ah, I should probably point out at this stage, that LM is short for - "Liquid Molybdenum".
For the terminally bored:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molybdenum

Apparently, Lithium is one of the few elements on earth that was an original "big bang" element - whatever that means - or in my case, originating from Friday's pub conversation!