Wash my door shuts every 3 months and hit all the hinges and mechnisims with Bilt Hamber Ferrosol afterwards.
Do you grease your car hinges?
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JHZR2
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Real hinges, like on MB cars, do have fittings.
Domestic vehicles with a hinge pin just need a drop of oil in the bronze bushing.
Disagree for this application, unless talking about a dune buggy or other vehicle kicking up a lot of sand. Even then, if it's a beach and kicking up saltwater too, you're probably still better off with caked on sand, than increased saltwater exposure too.
Grease protects better against wear, more so than a thin oil or dry lube, far more than the attracted dirt causes wear. This is because it is a slow moving, intermittent mechanism, which is further benefited by the thick grease film to reduce corrosion.
Anything susceptible to wear issues from ambient grime in "expected" operating conditions, should have a sealed bearing or boot.
The primary reason that manufacturer put minimal grease or oil on these mechanisms from the factory is that it looks cleaner, and only has to outlast the warranty. Many mechanical failures could have been delayed with more, and more timely application of grease, especially the door hinges and latch springs.
What bronze bushing? It's typically steel on steel or a plastic bushing, and a loose enough fit that oil is not a sufficient film thickness. I mean oil will work, but not as well and will need applied multiple times as often.
That would be true in a ideal clean environment. Unless the area is always kept washed, I never seen clean hinges or door jams before. A spray lubricant is better for this application.
Ball joints, tie rods, etc. were greased for decades on front end suspension systems. Even U-Joints on drive shafts. There is no dirtier, dustier environment. Far worse than any door hinge. Grease works fine.
Same with heavy equipment. Payloaders, bulldozers, road graders, earth movers, cranes, etc. They must have 100 or more Zirk fittings each. Same deal. Grease works fine. Dirt, dust, and all.
My only gripe with grease, is it's too thick to "work it's way" into where it's needed. Spraying it on doesn't do crap. It needs to be applied under pressure via. grease gun, into a Zirk type fitting. Or else it's not going to get where it's needed.
Same with heavy equipment. Payloaders, bulldozers, road graders, earth movers, cranes, etc. They must have 100 or more Zirk fittings each. Same deal. Grease works fine. Dirt, dust, and all.
My only gripe with grease, is it's too thick to "work it's way" into where it's needed. Spraying it on doesn't do crap. It needs to be applied under pressure via. grease gun, into a Zirk type fitting. Or else it's not going to get where it's needed.
The hinges on old VW's have a plastic cap on them and you put oil in that and put the cap back on. Also the door latch mechanisms have a plastic plug in the door end that you remove and oil the latch and put the plug back in. Good engineering.
Owen Lucas
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Yep, didn't lubricate the hood latch on the Scion for 15 years and in the last 2 when it started to get a little stiff I sprayed it with lithium. Now its completely black with dirt and feels stiff again. I think I'll power wash it thoroughly and try dry lube....which kind do you recommend?
JHZR2
Staff member
Both my Ram trucks have a bronze bushing that goes in the hole, then the pin is held in with a Jesus clip. My S-10 Ive never changed but looks very similar.
So what you're really saying is you should have greased it properly all along but waited until it had excessive wear, then it was too late, or just needs cleaned and greased again.
Then again it might be cable drag rather than the latch or a combination of both. What it is not is "dirt", if there is sufficient lube, dirt will not bind something like that, if it's just a surface coat rather than some mudder truck with literally, mud jamming up the whole mechanism, not merely what stuck in some grease.
It's true in all but very few of the most extreme environments.
The area does not need to be kept washed at all. If by spray lubricant you mean a spray grease, sure that will work, the propellant keeps the grease thin enough to flow where needed.
It is not true at all that a minor amount of grime sticking to the grease makes much difference in these applications, nowhere near as much as the superior lubrication properties and sealing off moisture and oxygen. These parts simply aren't used that much s), we're talking maybe a few hundred times for a hood latch, maybe a few thousand for doors, not tens of thousands of constant wear movements.
Never had a single hood latch or door hinge that wore out if greased as needed, and I tend to keep vehicles till their grave so have lot's of experience with aging/effects. If you prefer to have them wear excessively but look prettier, hey it's your vehicle and your call on that, but nothing is going to keep wear reduced as much as timely greasing, however you prefer to apply it.
This does not mean grease it once for the life of the vehicle, only that when regreased as needed, the mechanisms will last longer, under normal use in all but the most severe conditions, and even in most of the most severe conditions, except aggressive driving on sand, volcanic rock, gravel quarry, etc. where it's probably going to destroy the rest of the vehicle before the hinges and hood latch anyway.
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Owen Lucas
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IIRC there was a decent amount of yellowish grease from the factory and now that I think about it, the latch might have been sprayed once or twice when it went in the shop for tune ups but that was years ago. I actually think spraying with lithium before made it worse because it attracted contaminants which bound it up even more. I'll check the cable though, good point.
I like the dry spray lube that has teflon in it. Need to apply it several times though, letting the carrier flash off between sprays.
There is also the liquid in small bottles marketed for bicycles.
I also find that silicone lubricant, while wet, attracts far less dirt than traditional lubes. Most of it tends to leave the area but a thin film remains.
I apply fluid film to the hinges every fall as part of my annual rustproofing.
I will use a bit of Krown spray on the hinges. Let sit for a bit then wipe off excess.
Owen Lucas
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Your door check might be the issue, possibly worn out? Grease won’t slow a hinge down.
Replace the door checkers.
White lithium grease here. I consider it a maintenance item, I clean them and grease them as needed. I don't allow them to get dirty enough to damage the mechanism.