[Music] WD40 has become the go-to for any squeak and it's a household name but chances are you're using it wrong and most people use WD40 incorrectly and a lot of the times are causing more harm than good so in this video we're not only going to clear up how WD40 works and how it's supposed to be used but we'll also go over all of the other common lubricant options and at the end a not so common option that will save you money time time and [Music] effort we have to start by talking about the most
popular option out there WD40 and there's a lot of individuals campaigning against WD40 stating actually it's not a lubricant well WD40 does in fact lubricate however there's much more to be said about it which is where it's not a lubricant comes from and to an extent it's correct WD 40 should not be used as a lubricant alternative now I wish there was more to say about the core ingredients but WD40 is a secret formula and to this day WD40 Corporation maintains it that way the only bit of information we do get out of them is
and I quote WD40 multi-use product is a unique Special Blend of lubricants they also go on to say that their product also contains anti-corrosion agents and ingredients for penetration water displacement and soil removal which can be an issue the WD and WD40 stands for water displacement which means it removes moisture from surfaces but that's not all it removes it also dissolves rust and grime and negatively it will dissolve and wash out any existing lubricant replacing it with whatever short-lived lubricants WD40 contains so let's say you have this Factory part which has begun to squeak WD40
will help with that washing out any GR or rust that may cause that squeak but in the process you're also removing any Factory lubricants that it may have and this is why in many cases WD40 can cause more harm than good the new lubrication of the WD40 won't last and it could lead to more wear on the part while not necessarily developing that squeak or noises that will hint to an issue so ultimately it's true while WD40 does lubricate it's not intended and should not be used as a lubricant instead it should be used as
a penetrant in order to clean and loosen up components and preparation for proper lubricant moving on to our other options your standard PB Blaster is pretty much a WD40 alternative it's a penetrant that attacks rusts prevents corrosion and breaks Parts free so you can pretty much use these interchangeably next we have a 3 in one and here we do have a lubricant and the first thing on the bottle lubricate not only that but in large letter it says longlasting which is the key and its main difference to WD40 unfortunately we're not sure of the exact
ingredients all we get is that it's a general purpose lubricating oil which is fine and all but it doesn't give us much information to go deeper on its ideal applications or drawbacks we do know however that it's an oil which will leave a sticky residue something that is detrimental to intricate small parts like locks which can experience issues if dirt or Grime get into it but other than that generally 3in1 oil is considered a suitable application for most lubricating applications our next option does tell us what it is silicone in this case we have 3
in1 silicone but PB Blaster WD40 and many Brands make a silicone lubricant in this case we have a liquid silicone bottle this is actually a dry lubricant which can be used on pretty much any surface including metal rubber Plastics and even wood it's also water resistant and it's long lasting it also leaves little to no residue which prevents dust and grime sticking to it silicone also typically excels in high temperature applications and it won't thin out generally speaking silicone can be used in pretty much all applications but there are some small special applications where you
might want to reconsider using silicone poly Tetra Flora ethylene also known as PTFE is a film lubric luant similar to silicone it's not a grease and not an oil it's a dry lubricant that also tends to not attract dirt even more so than a silicone lubricant PTF will generally leave a thinner but harder coat of Film Lubricant versus silicone which tends to leave a thicker and not so hard coat PTFE poly Tetra Flora ethylene has excellent chemical resistance against most acids alcohols detergents and solvents however PTFE overheating has some serious issues it's mildly toxic if
it's overheating Studies have shown that over long periods of exposure it could lead to some serious health issues so ultimately while PTFE is better at staying in its place over other lubricants it's not a suitable options for high temperatures our next category of lubricants is grease which in many cases is just an oil that's been thickened with some sort of additive greases are in a category of their own as their properties are so different from oil and other Lo lubricants the main difference between oil and grease comes when idling when a machine or part is
shut down oil will tend to fall and migrate to the lowest point while grease on the other hand being so thick and tacky stays in its place this reduces the risk of dry starting any component and it's particularly helpful in start and stop situations equipment like power tools and Home Appliances also take advantage of Grease allowing for chambers that hold grease while not having to be completely watertight as the thick grease is unlikely to fall through the joints or seep through for obvious reasons and there are a lot of different greases including hundreds of proprietary
Blends for automotive Home Tool and other Industries some examples of popular greases are sodium Grease polyura Grease bentone Grease barium grease aluminum grease lithium grease and calcium grease now there's a lot more greases but the last two are the most common for household applications and the ones you're going to find at your local hardware store which is lithium grease and calcium sulfate grease lithium and calcium sulfate greases are somewhat comparable what changes their applications is the additives that these greases have which adapts it to increase their temperature resistance impact resistance viscosity and suitable applications as
be it for food safety or not typically calcium sulfate is good for Marine Industrial automotive and agricultural while lithium grease is typically used in automotive industrial and household moving on from greases we have one more lubricant that I've saved for the very end and it's one of my favorite for many reasons it's a pencil now one of the best lubricants is graphite which is what a pencil is made out of although a pencil also contains Clay and other additives so I'm not actually suggesting you use a pencil though in a pinch it's not a bad
option if you draw a thick line on a piece of paper with your pencil you'll actually notice that it's really slick graphite is a dry lube that's very cheap and you can buy a large bucket of graphite for $10 $20 and it being pure graphite lasts a long time unlike something like the dry Lubes of silicone which come diluted graphite is not sticky and it won't attract dirt or Grime which is a big plus it leaves no residue and it's water resistant long- lasting and resistant to heat particularly good for porous materials is it fills
in the space and creates a smooth surface a perfect surface provides very little friction and graphite Works in that way filling all of the space creating a flat surface between two surfaces now graphite is great for locks hinges wood and many other application and it's damn cheap but you won't find graphite powder at your local hardware store and this is because it's not economically viable for companies to sell graphite they rather sell products that will only last a couple of weeks or months tops like the diluted silicone that we have on the other hand you
can buy this big bottle of graphite that will last for years now nothing in this video is sponsored but if you're looking buy some graphite or any other lubricant check out the links in the description below they support the channel at no extra cost to you and it helps us continue to make this content
