Review of Dupont's new teflon lubricants

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AMC

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I thought I would share my experiences with dupont’s new line of Teflon lubricants. I started experimenting with them when I found most of their products being carried at lowes for what I consider a very good price. Sometime in 2012 Dupont updated and re-vamped the product line so this review will be for the newest versions of their products. I have tried all of the new products except the chain saver and lock lubricant. All the dupont products I tried were purchased at Lowe’s and cost $5.12 for 11oz of aerosol spray with a (rattle mixing ball and comfort tip, nice touch) or $3.97 for 4 oz of liquid in a plastic screw top dropper bottle. Keep in mind that every product they sell has a good amount of Teflon in it and Teflon has its own properties as well.

http://www2.dupont.com/Consumer_Lubricants/en_US/products/lubricate.html

Multi-use Lubricant- This is an excellent all-purpose lubricating fluid with good rust protection. It is a semi-dry fluid with a mixture of wet oil and dry lube qualities to it. If this stuff is applied heavily and allowed to collect, it stays oily and liquid with an opaque color. If it is applied lightly or spread out with a cloth, it dries to a clean, smooth film that is milky colored, feels very slick, doesn’t attract particulate, stays in place and lubricates well. It is thicker and richer than most other spray lubes and you can tell just by the smell and feel of this product that it contains less solvent than most other products like WD-40. The smell is less strong than most common sprays and almost seems to have a slight vanilla/banana oil odor added to it. It does have some solvent in it which means it does clean and penetrate metal some, but not as well as a products specifically designed for those purposes. As for rust protection, this stuff seems to be about on par with wd-40. In my experience and testing, wd-40 and the like do not protect as well as products specially designed to prevent rust or most modern gun or “sporting” oils like breakfree CLP, eezox or barricade. Overall, I really like this stuff and it will probably become my inexpensive “go to” general purpose lube for around the house. It will not take the place of corrosion x as my gun care fluid or PB blaster as my penetrating oil but I do like it enough for the basic lubrication type stuff. Bicycle chains, hinges, blah, blah, blah. 7 out of 10 stars.

Penetrant- This stuff is kind of an enigma to me. It is a wet liquid type oil with no drying or dry lube qualities. Strangely, for being a penetrant it is fairly thick and rich to the touch yet it runs and drips away from things quickly. The penetrating or “creeping” abilities of this on tight nuts and bolts seem to be just OK. It runs and drips fairly quickly when gravity can ‘pull” the oil one way or another yet it didn’t seem to help much on a few rusted bolts I had. I think PB Blaster and Kroil are much better choices for penetrating and breaking metal parts loose. The back of the can also states it has good rust prevention and Teflon in it. Why penetrating oil would need rust prevention or Teflon in it confuses me. In my usual corrosion testing protocol, a sheet metal plate treated with various oils and misted with sea water, this stuff did very well. It did slightly better than the multi-use lubricant from dupont but it didn’t do better than specific corrosion inhibitors or most of the modern gun oils I have on hand. The smell is faint and the color is a typical petroleum honey color. So what we have here is an oil that claims to be a penetrant but is too thick to be a good penetrant yet has pretty good corrosion preventing abilities and a Teflon additive??? As a general purpose lube or CLP type product for guns, it would be pretty good but the fact that it slowly runs and drips everywhere, even when applied very lightly, would make it a nuisance for most users. Perhaps this could be a decent “ultra-light” or “precision” oil for metal parts that need the thinnest coat of lubricating oil to stay happy??? I am really not sure what Dupont tried to accomplish with this “Teflon penetrant” when they designed it. 2 out of 10 stars.

Silicone Lubricant- I really like this stuff! It is thicker and richer than most competing silicone sprays and definitely contains less solvent than most other silicone spray lubes I have tried. The smell is faint and it has a translucent white color to it like most other dupont oils. It has a wide temperature range and prevents rust fairly well also. It is similar to the dupont multi-use lubricant in that if applied heavily, it stays liquid but if applied lightly or wiped in with a cloth, it dries to a thin, very slick film that stays in place. I like the fact that this has Teflon in it also. Teflon will lubricate and preserve pretty much anything that silicone can so I think it was smart that Dupont gave this stuff a good dose of Teflon also. This worked better than anything else I tried for some very tight plastic window frames that didn’t want to slide up and down. I think this will be my go to silicone lube and I will definitely buy more of this when I run out. 10 out of 10 stars.

Non Stick Teflon dry film- This is good stuff for what it is also. The smell is very faint and the color is mostly clear yet becomes opaque when shaken well. It goes on as a thin liquid and then dries leaving behind a heavy coat of Teflon lubrication that is clear and doesn’t attract junk. Parts that have been treated with this feel very slippery and look like they have been waxed with a quality carnauba. Water beads off metal parts treated with this, just like carnauba wax which gives it decent rust protection. This would be a very good lubricant for parts that need to stay clean yet lightly lubricated. I tried this stuff on a few locks and it worked great. Overall, this non stick Teflon dry film lube is interesting stuff that fills a unique niche. 8 out of 10 stars.

In conclusion, I really like these new dupont lubricants. Dupont has a reputation for making quality stuff and they seem to deliver on that reputation here. They all seem to contain less solvent than most other cheap spray lubes on the shelf and they all smell better because of it. They all contain Teflon and do seem to make things very slippery. With the exception of the Penetrant, all the products do what they say they do, very well. The fact that these are available anywhere a lowes is found and they are relatively in expensive makes them a great choice. If anyone here has tried these and has any feedback or questions, post up.
 
Thanks! Which would be the best for garage door chain? I am thinking dry film. The PB GDO yellow can that I have been using has not really quietened down our garage doors. Since out bedroom is over the garage, it is annoying and I have been on the quest for a decade to find the right lubricant [for the garage door opener; take your mind off the gutter!]

In terms of the price, do you think it is a better deal to buy the dropper bottle? I am suspecting aerosol cans have lot of propellant which takes majority of the 11 oz can's weight. I was in Lowes, and was very tempted to pick up the dropper bottles. I already have their multi use blue can and I liked it but I thought I am running out of it lot faster than the size of the can would indicate.

I have couple of Kroil cans, so I will skip the penetrating oil but would end up picking the other three items that you like. Thanks for your extensive review.
 
Vikas, No problem! I would say use either the multi-use lubricant or get some of their chain saver which is specifically for chains. According to Dupont's website, Wal-mart now carries the chain saver lube. The teflon dry lube might be a little too "dry" for a garage door chain.
The aerosol cans from Dupont are great, they spray upside down, have a wide comfort tip, contain a mixing ball and produce a nice clean spray pattern that is easy to put the lube where you need it. To me, that alone makes it worth purchasing the aerosol version as well as the dropper bottles. For your application, aerosol is probably a much easier delivery system than going around and carefully dropping oil from a squeeze bottle onto the entire length of chain.
I would say spray down the chain and tracks with the multi-use lubricant and let us know how it works out for you!
 
Thanks for the information, especially about the silicone lube. I've looked at it a few times but never walked out the door with it. I'll have to get a bottle now.
 
thanks for your help! next time I find them in Walmart, I am going to go crazy and pick up few cans and droppers.
 
Originally Posted By: Tempest
Thanks for the information, especially about the silicone lube. I've looked at it a few times but never walked out the door with it. I'll have to get a bottle now.


+1
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Interesting that Dupont has said over and over that Teflon does NOT belong in engine oil.
Or frypan!
 
Keep this stuff away from your engines and cookware!

Just a quick update, I am still using all the Dupont lubricants listed above and I have gone through 1 aerosol can of the Multi-use spray already. I am happy to report I stick by everything I said above and all the lubes are still working great! I have tried the dupont multi-use on hinges, bike chains, guns, an old ratchet, a bottle jack and a bunch of other things and I am happy with it's performance. The thing I really like about the multi-use lube is the fact that it dries to a slick film and stays in place. It does not creep or drip away from the parts you need lubed.

I have been using the dupont penetrant on a bunch of rusty pad locks at work it seems to free them right up and leaves them feeling very slick afterwards. I still don't think this is the fastest or most efficient penetrant around but it does OK and seems to lubricate longer than most of the typical penetrating oils.

Strangely, Lowes does not carry the Dupont Penetrant anymore, not sure why.

Everything else is about the same, no real updates. I still recommend the Dupont lubes!
 
AMC, have you used any of the lubes on car hinges? Lubed the doors of our '98 Century this afternoon and used white lithium grease. It's a bit messy even with controlled application with an aerosol can. Wondering if one of the DuPont products might work well on auto hinges.
 
I treated all the hinges on a few of the patrol vehicles (08 GMC Yukons) at my work. Before spraying them, the hinges were tight and squeeking while being closed. After spraying the hinges and roller slides, I worked the doors a few times and the improvement was huge! Totally quiet, smooth and easier to operate. One of the driver side doors that was really bad, was squeeking and popping before it was treated. That particular door took 2 treatments of DuPont multi-use to quiet down but it has been great ever since. After treating the hinges, I wiped up the excess with paper towels and there was no evidence that doors were sprayed with something when I was done.

In short, Yes Dupont Multi-use areosol version will work great for any type of door hinge, including automotive hinges.
 
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