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Hot take: I think greasing every bolt is a bad habit (and here's why after 8 years)
Everyone in my shop swears by greasing every single bolt before installing it, but I've gone the opposite way since a nasty incident in 2019. I had a crank bolt back out on a customer's bike after a 50-mile ride because the grease let me over-torque it past the proper 35 Nm spec. I stopped greasing bolts that call for dry installation, like stem face plates and disc caliper mounts, and I haven't had a single failure since. The manuals are really specific about it for a reason - torque values are designed for dry threads most of the time. Has anyone else had a bolt slip because they greased something that shouldn't have been greased?
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ross.lily10d ago
Does this same logic apply to other stuff too? I've noticed people overcomplicate simple things all the time, like adding extra steps that actually make stuff less reliable. Keeping it simple and following the basics usually works way better than slapping lube on everything and hoping for the best.
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murray.cora10d ago
And that crank bolt thing is EXACTLY why I stopped greasing certain threads too. People think more lube always equals better, but it just masks the real torque reading and lets things fly off. I had a buddy snap a caliper bolt clean off last year because he greased it and then torqued to the dry spec, way overshot it, and the bolt gave out on a hard brake. The manuals aren't just suggestions, theyre the result of actual engineers testing this stuff. Dry threads give you that consistent friction the torque wrench is calibrated for, plain and simple.
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