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

[Goldenstate]

I recently did some research on wheel bearing grease. Seems the Chinese Bullet Train was experiencing some bearing issues due to the high speeds of operation. They did a test of 30 top of the line bearing greases from around the world and found the Royal Purple High performance synthetic grease to be better than anything else. They lubed up their test train with the Royal Purple grease that had just topped out in their evaluations. The test train was then pushed to set a new speed record with no bearing problems.

I cleaned and repacked my front wheel bearings with the Royal Purple high performance wheel bearing grease and checked temperatures with an infrared thermometer for about a month. I found braking caused some major differences in wheel bearing temperatures. Around town, I always had high temperatures around town compared to my road trips. One road trip with almost no braking for 50 miles had the most even temperature from side to side. The variance in temperature was only 3 degrees that trip.

Even with the best grease, the standard bearings of today are just enough to get by. Do some research on ceramic bearings which are just beginning to make inroads into the automotive world. They are found in racing bicycles and motorcycles with great results. Ceramic bearings are part of our future and will save energy!

[Goldenstate]

Years ago I used to work on logging trucks on weekends that were abused all week long on dirt roads. One thing I remember is that even then, the wheel bearings on the trailer axles were being lubricated in an oil bath. We used a heavy oil of around 90 wt. to fill the housing. There was a clear heavy plastic window on the end of the axles to keep track of the oil level. The seals back then were the weak point and would need replacement, but the bearings seemed to last forever with the heavy oil for lubrication. I can see why heavy oil in wheel bearings can work well instead of thicker grease.

[cowmeat]

Somebody on here had a Festiva with oil bath hubs, but I apparently I don't have enough Google skills to find where he got them. I really wanted a set for the Black Widow, but gave up the search

If anybody knows how to get hold of them, I'd love seeing a link here!

[Frank Lee]

Really? I never heard of anyone doing that on their car except me.