How water resistant is normal wheel bearing (lithium complex) grease? Kind of a simple question I guess.
Lithium grease water resistance?
- Thread starter buck91
- Start date
Not very. Take a glob of regular lithium complex wheel bearing grease in the palm of your hand under running sink water. Stir it and the grease will turn cloudy with moisture absorption very quickly. Silicone grease will repel water much better. I have some synthetic brake paste that repels water near 100% - water does not mix with it at all.
There must be some additives for lithium complex that can make them more water resistant. I have some special pump grease that is lithium complex and it is used for liquid pumping. Go figure.
Hopefully someone will present some number data that reflects grease water resistance. I.E. compare the data of lithium complex to aluminum complex marine grease.
There must be some additives for lithium complex that can make them more water resistant. I have some special pump grease that is lithium complex and it is used for liquid pumping. Go figure.
Hopefully someone will present some number data that reflects grease water resistance. I.E. compare the data of lithium complex to aluminum complex marine grease.
how resistant compared to what?
Generally speaking lithium complex greases are considered "good"
while aluminum and calcium(both types) are considered excellent.
but how that relates to running some under water on your hand who knows
IMO: You would be better off mentioning the application and asking for grease recommendations - if applicable.
Just looking for a wide spread, cost effective grease for my bike bearings. Ideally I'd like a calcium sulfonate NLGI #1.... but those tend to be eithter disproportionately pricey or only in bulk. calcium #2's are easy though.
Calcium based grease will be fine in bike bearings.
Not sure what's out there in NLGI#1, but you could look for a 'low temperature' or 'arctic grease'. Sometimes in extremely cold climates an NLGI 1 will be substituted for an NLGI 2. I think there are specialty 'NLGI 1.5' greases for bike bearings.
Don't go down the rabbit hole of Aluminum complex greases if you can avoid it. While these are typically more water resistant than Calcium or Lithium based grease, Aluminum complex grease is getting very difficult to find. Likely because it's very expensive to manufacture compared to Lithium or Calcium based grease. When I researched this issue a couple years ago, I was only able to find a few Aluminum complex greases readily available: Bel-Ray (found at a motorcycle dealership), Royal Purple (found at a Napa), and a couple of Schaeffer's variants (Amazon).
There are more specialty manufacturers out there, but typically only available in case quantities vs. the single tube I needed. It's still popular in construction, mining, and manufacturing as far as I know.
Expect to pay about 3x-4x as much for Aluminum complex grease vs Lithium or Calcium.
I still have half a tube of Moly/Graphite fortified Aluminum complex high temperature grease from back in the day when I worked for a specialty grease manufacturer, it's probably over 20 years old now. Not sure if they still make it, if they do it's probably $200 a case these days.
Not sure what's out there in NLGI#1, but you could look for a 'low temperature' or 'arctic grease'. Sometimes in extremely cold climates an NLGI 1 will be substituted for an NLGI 2. I think there are specialty 'NLGI 1.5' greases for bike bearings.
Don't go down the rabbit hole of Aluminum complex greases if you can avoid it. While these are typically more water resistant than Calcium or Lithium based grease, Aluminum complex grease is getting very difficult to find. Likely because it's very expensive to manufacture compared to Lithium or Calcium based grease. When I researched this issue a couple years ago, I was only able to find a few Aluminum complex greases readily available: Bel-Ray (found at a motorcycle dealership), Royal Purple (found at a Napa), and a couple of Schaeffer's variants (Amazon).
There are more specialty manufacturers out there, but typically only available in case quantities vs. the single tube I needed. It's still popular in construction, mining, and manufacturing as far as I know.
Expect to pay about 3x-4x as much for Aluminum complex grease vs Lithium or Calcium.
I still have half a tube of Moly/Graphite fortified Aluminum complex high temperature grease from back in the day when I worked for a specialty grease manufacturer, it's probably over 20 years old now. Not sure if they still make it, if they do it's probably $200 a case these days.
