Overheard a customer say 'grease is grease' at the shop last Thursday

I was rebuilding a hub for a guy on Thursday and this other customer comes in, drops off his bike, and tells my coworker that grease is grease and he doesn't need fancy stuff. My coworker just nodded and let him leave. After he was gone, I told the guy I was helping that I used to think the same thing until I blew out a cheap hub after 3 months using regular bearing grease from the auto parts store. It got all watery and washed out in the rain. Now I only use marine grade grease like Phil Wood or Park on hubs and headsets cause it actually stays put. My coworker later said that customer will be back in 6 months complaining about crunchy bearings. Has anyone else had customers refuse to believe grease makes a difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

rileygarcia5d agoMost Upvoted

Ever tried running car grease in a fishing reel? Same disaster.

troy_price5d ago

I get where you're coming from, but I actually had a different experience with my old Abu Garcia 6500. I used cheap lithium grease on it back in 2018 and it was a nightmare - gummed up the bearings in like two trips. But then I tried a tiny bit of marine grade wheel bearing grease on the main gear only, and it actually held up okay for a season. Not saying you're wrong, just that it depends a lot on the reel and where you put it.