Wheel bearing grease

[NHRABill]

Well I don't know about -30 but on the other end of the spectrum I use what someone previously posted Standard pennzoil wheel bearing geese in my cars and trailers doing the standard packing of the bearings with the palm of my hand. I do this on my race car and on the trailer to bring it home never an issue I have friends big into off roading and they swear by it axles and bearing breaks are a way of life in 4x4 land. look elsewhere for a mod is my opinion reliability and safety should be the 1st considerations on such an important part.
If you don't agree then drive a trailer with a car on it and have a bearing go on a curvy mountain road. I change trailer bearings every 2 years regardless now(before I sold trailer). Bearing buddies are a nice add to a trailer also On a daily driver car I would stay stock, seen as the 1st set of bearings lasted over 100k miles you may need to change it 1 or 2 more times if you are lucky ...

[cfguy2000]

A quick search for "wheel bearing grease freeze" gave me a few websites.

Rolling bearings handbook and ... - Google Books

Page 86 tells me that General Purpose grease can handle temperatures down to -40 F. High temperature grease can handle down to 0 F.

SKF Evolution Online > Axlebox > Lubricants > Transportation & logistics > Railways > Lubrication of bearings at low temperatures

"Most bearings will start to rotate eventually, even at –25 °C, if the engine or actuator driving them is powerful enough. In the MTAB train, the bearings were originally filled with grease designated for operation over a medium temperature range (–20 °C to +100 °C). As the locomotive starts to pull the wagons, the wheels may rotate intermittently or with extremely high friction. Heat is generated in the bearings, and the grease becomes heated as well. Now the bearings will indeed rotate. This heating-up process takes 60 seconds or less, still enough time to cause severe and irreversible damage to the bearings."

This article is talking about Sweden where temperatures go much lower than anything we experience in most of the continental US. (C versus F) In Canada I can see it might create problems.

Would someone from the north please do a simple test for us? Go outside on a very cold day, and jack your car up and see if you can spin the wheel by hand. If you can, "grease freeze" is not a problem and is definitely not hurting your gas mileage.

[Execut1ve]

you'll have to wait until the next cold spell, it's *relatively* warm up here for OH in winter at 28*F

[Frank Lee]

How often do U.S. road vehicles experience bearing failure from lube failure from low temps? I rest my case.

[Execut1ve]

well it is now a moot point, new bearings went in today using o'reilly house brand grease

[AlVal]

getting tyres switched soon, will replace bearing grease with Fuchs Silkolene PRO RG2 Synthetic Racing Grease 500g and report back any result, although won't be possible to do a proper before / after if both changes done together