If you’re the type to put additional grease in new bearings, do you remove the original grease first or just top up?

I only ask because I’ve usually only topped up before with “normal” grease but now I’ve got some XHP222 I thought I’d clean out some wheel bearings before fitting them.

They’re Enduro bearings for a hub. They appear to have been well packed with a blue grease that seems suspiciously like XHP222 already so in future I’ll probably either just top op or fit as-is.

EDIT – from the Enduro bearings website “ABEC 5 bearings are now using the recently improved formula of Mobil XHP 222 grease”. But mine were ABEC 3. So maybe I just wasted my time, maybe not

i only ever do this for BB bearings…
i give them a good clean out..
WD40, then aerosol IPA/clutch cleaner… then more wd40.. get back to bear metal (as the grease is usually filthy) then repack.

DrP

I don’t do this as I can’t be bothered and all my bearings last long enough for it not to be a problem. However, if I were doing it I’d definitely rinse and de-grease. You’re replacing ‘old’ grease because it’s dirty, presumably – the dirt is likely fine mineral particles which will be abrasive and by simply adding more you’re just swirling the dirt about. It needs to be removed.

I’m talking about new bearings by the way, with clean, fresh factory grease.

Used bearings then definitely to get the old dirty grease and crud out (such as on a press fit bottom bracket bearing, clean and replace the grease to prolong life without actually removing the bearing from the frame).

https://www.endurobearings.com/technology/grease/

Mobil XHP 222

For our ABEC 5 angular contact, ABEC 5 radial bearings ABEC 3 bearings we use an extra high pressure grease, Mobil XHP 222, which is an excellent and clean rolling grease and which also features great water displacement characteristics. Well suited to any and all bikes and riding conditions.

https://www.endurobearings.com/technology/grease/

Mobil XHP 222

For our ABEC 5 angular contact, ABEC 5 radial bearings ABEC 3 bearings we use an extra high pressure grease, Mobil XHP 222, which is an excellent and clean rolling grease and which also features great water displacement characteristics. Well suited to any and all bikes and riding conditions.

Yes, very encouraging. Only ABEC5. However… the ABEC 3’s I just installed have blue grease that looked very similar – not quite as stinky though so maybe or maybe not.
That’s a good endorsement of the XHP as being a suitable choice of grease which is nice .

New bearings I just top up, older ones that get opened up for a check get flushed out and repacked.

I always remove the old/original grease and repack with fresh on every mtb bearing. Frame bearings seem to last 2 years this way (2-3 rides a week all year round) and even cr4ppy RaceFace BB bearings lasted almost a year.

Took a lot of discipline to do this when buying a new bike and wanting to ride it straight away.

I’ve always used Silkolene RG2 but that’s because I bought a huge pot 6 years ago and have loads left!

Yes, very encouraging. Only ABEC5. However… the ABEC 3’s I just installed have blue grease that looked very similar – not quite as stinky though so maybe or maybe not.

I think the word “and” is missing from the sentence before ABEC 3, there is no comma.

For our ABEC 5 angular contact, ABEC 5 radial bearings ABEC 3 bearings we use an extra high pressure grease, Mobil XHP 222

Extra are the UK distributor and spec 222 grease on Abec 3

https://www.extrauk.co.uk/product/detail/Enduro_Bearings/ABEC_3/3227/

I add 222 to new Enduro ABEC 3 bearings as needed.

Excellent, thanks. I didn’t look on the “technology–>greases” page – looked on the “products–>bearings–>ABEC3” page where they don’t mention grease at all (but do on the ABEC5 page – I guess some marketing differentiation there).

So I just cleaned out some clean XHP in order to refill it with XHP. They were quite well greased too. Oh well – so no need for messing with Enduro bearings from now on – more reason to buy Enduro rather than other brands!

WD 40 is a solvent and not a lubricant. Best to clean the old grease off the bearings and put in new grease so no worries about separation and ungreased bearings. Surprised frankly that sealed bearings are not more widely used considering that I had ones for the bottom bracket and wheel hubs in the 1970’s.

I just squidge more in, maybe cleaning the other grease out first is better but I doubt it’s really a noticable difference, and there’s not likely to be a compatibility issue (I’m sure you can find different chemistry greases that don’t mix well, but probably not in a specific role like this)

calson
Free Member

WD 40 is a solvent and not a lubricant

Yup, and DrP was talking about using it as a solvent.

Blueseal bearings from Trail Vision on ebay pack fully and, I think, use new seals. Seals are very easy to damage apparently.
“ Full fill of Mobil XHP 222
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=301260858556 ”
I’ve had very good results.

New bearings – just top up. Old bearings, well there are 2 types.
Type 1, regrease at a timely point with the bearings in good condition – flush out with gt85/solvent and repack.
Type 2, woah the bearings are fubared but i need to ride now and new bearings won’t come until monday – just top up and it’ll do for the weekend.

Never bothered doing anything like this, they last long enough for what they are.

Either some people have crazy amounts of spare time, or no one is really actually riding their bikes.

Ain’t no one got no time for that shit.

Either some people have crazy amounts of spare time, or no one is really actually riding their bikes.

Ain’t no one got no time for that shit.

Quite the opposite.

It takes a 2-3 minutes to add extra decent grease to a bearing before fitting it. It take an hour or so to swap the bearings in a rear hub.

If the properly greased bearings last 2 years instead of 1 then that’s overall an hours less time spent on maintenance.

But – yeah, guilty as charged to not riding enough!

peter1979
Free Member

Ain’t no one got no time for that shit.

Swapping bearings takes way longer than greasing them and having them last longer.