Mobile 1 or Phil Wood?

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I have a tub of M1 nlgi2 grease as well as a tube of Phil wood waterproof grease
Which would you use for repacking wheel hubs? At this time I use the m1 for lower end applications and the Phil for higher end hubs but would there really be any difference in performance, longevity or service interval?
 
I've always been curious if Phil Wood is just repackaged marine wheel bearing grease. It sure looks and smells the same.
 
Originally Posted By: cchase
I've always been curious if Phil Wood is just repackaged marine wheel bearing grease. It sure looks and smells the same.


lol.gif
I never thought about that before, but now that you've mentioned it, YES, that seems entirely possible.

I don't know if they are still in business, or if it is even available, but the ace mechanic/owner at my ex-local bike shop always used the Bullshot grease for bottom brackets, headsets, and wheel bearings.
 
I have heard on a few occasions that phil wood is indeed rebranded marine grease, although it feels "lighter" than any NLGI 2 LB/CG type grease I've used.
 
I've had good luck with Phil Wood but I'd be open to a syn water resistant grease for less$.

Only concern with M1 would be washout.
 
I'm using Delvac Xtreme in my OEM hubs. And despite the hubs being shot due to bad adjustment, it held up to Portland rain.
 
I've been using the M1 grease from the auto parts store on my "Race Face" bottom brackets. I'm not sure it makes them last any longer. I get a few thousand miles from Chinese replacement bearings and M1 grease. After that, the bearings are toast.

Certainly I could purchase some higher quality bearings. But, I have better luck simply putting new "cheapies" in every few thousand miles. Sand, water, rust and other things conspire to ruin any bearing.... And, since I ride in all weather conditions...

My Mavic wheels have very high quality bearings and M1 lasts forever in these. I wear out the rims and spokes before bearing failure on my wheels.
 
Are you repacking sealed cartidges with M1? I tried it in a 6000 alternator bearing and it worked. No better no worse than the stuff that was in there (still squealed).
 
Originally Posted By: buck91
Are you repacking sealed cartidges with M1? I tried it in a 6000 alternator bearing and it worked. No better no worse than the stuff that was in there (still squealed).


In my case, yes. My equipment is the type that uses sealed bearings. Not the classic style "loose" ball bearings.
 
Originally Posted By: buck91
I have a tub of M1 nlgi2 grease as well as a tube of Phil wood waterproof grease
Which would you use for repacking wheel hubs? At this time I use the m1 for lower end applications and the Phil for higher end hubs but would there really be any difference in performance, longevity or service interval?

Unfortunately I cannot give you the clear answer.
Before that I have few questions.
What is most important or you.
1. Longevity - long service time.
2. water resistant. Do you ride frequently in wet condition. How do yo store your bike - outside,shelter or inside.
3. Do you ride bike in winter by salty condition? - then the corrosion inhibitors becomes more important
4. Road conditions - asphalt, sand or mixed.
5.type of ride
- commute - mileage, every day ,all weather or from time to time
- MTB - frequency and mileage per year. E.g. Sunday morning rider or pro.
- road -----
-trekking.
6.performance - what is more important for you -low friction, low wear or low water washout and extended service intervals.

Unfortunately the perfect grease doesn't exist.
There is no such grease with low friction,low wear high water and sand protection.


Personal I use on my road bike
- Mobilth SHC 460 - for bottom brackets
- SHC 220 for my oldie SHimano Dura Ace hubs.
PS Mobil is not very popular in Europe. I had difficulty to find mobilth SHC PM 220 or Calcium sulphonate Mobil Centaur 221

For city and commute bikes – 6 bikes – Yes Iḿ living in buyikle country and our family have 6 bikes.

Mobilth SHC 100 /220 for Shimano internal gear hubs.
Some MOS grease for coaster brakes hubs.
For the rest I use Mobilith XHP 222
 
Originally Posted By: miro

Personal I use on my road bike
- Mobilth SHC 460 - for bottom brackets
- SHC 220 for my oldie SHimano Dura Ace hubs.
PS Mobil is not very popular in Europe. I had difficulty to find mobilth SHC PM 220 or Calcium sulphonate Mobil Centaur 221

For city and commute bikes – 6 bikes – Yes Iḿ living in buyikle country and our family have 6 bikes.

Mobilth SHC 100 /220 for Shimano internal gear hubs.
Some MOS grease for coaster brakes hubs.
For the rest I use Mobilith XHP 222


Seeing how XOM having a somewhat significant presence in Europe as Esso, I find this kind of hard to believe.

I'm suggesting to a friend with a Shimano IGH to use an automotive ATF(I have plenty of MaxLife and Toyota ATF-WS at home) and EP grease in his hub. My bikes use heavy-duty
"truck" greases - I have Valvoline Cerulean and Mobil Delvac greases at home - Chevron Delo is supposedly the creme de la creme of non-synthetic lithium EP grease but also hard to find.
 
Well Mobil oil is easy to find in Europe while greases not. You can find Mobil greases only by huge Mobil dealers - max 2..3 dealers per country. I found my Mobilth SHC from one middle size dealer who was kind to give me few cartridges. While Shell Castrol and KLueber have great network to sell greases
Valvoline Cerulean and Mobil Delvac are fantastic greases for any bicycle application except IGH. The tackiness and water washout resistance make it my choice against any bicycle repacked greases – including phill whoods and Finish line/Teflon or ceramics/.
Some people are confused with tackiness of those greases. They think that tackiness introduces extra friction losses. The experts sais that industrial/truck or marine tacky grease introduces only small initial drag. The friction in real life is dependant on base oil and EP package used.
I don’t have experience with Chevron Delo.
Many people use ATF dope for shimano IGH. The OEM Shimano Nexus grease seem to use such base oil. For grease I would stick to OEM Shimano Nexus grease. A good source for IGH info is
http://hubstripping.wordpress.com/alfine-shimano/
Follow the remarks from Aaron Goss. Hi is professional bike mechanic.
Another professional source is the US based.
http://www.rideyourbike.com/internalgears.shtml

For my shimano IGH I use Mobilith SHC greases, but I have completely disabled and cleaned the hub. This process is
1. Difficult - however shimano offers fantastic PDF manuals. Youtube offers nice films too.
2. Disassembly process of shimano 7 and 8 speed hubs requires special tools and they are expensive. 3 and discounted 4 speed hub can be disassembled without special tools. 11 speed hub is oil lubricated.
I like shimano IGH because they are affordable. I know that they are not perfect and typical japan – they always try to copy the western hubs, improve something and sell at affordable price.
SImano 3,4,7,8 sped hubs have common with English Sturmey-arche and German Sachs – including their design flaws like suboptimal lubrication not sealed. Remember all of them are not MTB approved.
Alfiny 11 just copy the successive idea for oil lubrication from German Ruhlhof.
I wonder when shimano will copy the German Pinion. Maybe some copyright issue stops them for few years.
 
Forget to mention something about IGH
1. I don’t know the thickener type of shimano nexus grease. That is why I never mix it with Lithium grease.
2. Aaron bikes uses AL complex marine grease for their professional upgrade. Sta lube st 3120. They say that initial drag caused by this grease is paid back by better friction and water/salt protection.
 
The shop in Seattle uses marine grease which is usually Al-thickened. My idea with a friend's hub is to use ATF and lithium grease. I also know there are NLGI 00/0 hub lubricants for trucks.
 
i used mobil 1 synthetic red grease in my bike a few years back, found it did not perform well against water intrusion in shimano dura ace components before sealed cartridges
 
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