Mobile1 Synthetic Grease

[Century7667]

As promised, I am giving my review of Mobil1 Grease. I've been using it for nearly 20 years, so I'd like to share how it has done for me over the years.

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I've used it almost exclusively to chassis lubrication over the past two decades. I discovered it afer we bought our first new car (1996 Buick Century). My father had begun using Mobil1 oil, and I felt inclined to do likewise in our brand new Buick. It was a lot of money for us then (still is). I saw the Mobil1 Synthetic Grease, and decided to start using it. Mainly for my grease gun for pumping up my out tierods and lower ball joints. When I got the S10, then I had lots to grease up since it was a totally conventional setup (upper/lower balljoints, inner/outer tierods, idler link, etc.).

One of the first things I noticed about the grease is that it is hot pink in color. Pretty cool looking, but it tends so separate, so the grease gun will leak this pink oil.

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It can get on your clothes when you are crawling around. It doesn't come out very easily.

But, despite that I have to say it has been fantastic as a chassis lubricant. My S10 has 162k on it with all original front end components, and I replaced one of the lower ball joints on the Century at 145k. I have a friend who bought his S10 a or so after I bought mine, and he's already purchased ball joints at 100k.

I can't say that I've had anything better to lube my front ends than Mobil1.

The last time I repacked my wheel bearings in my S10, I decided to give Mobil1 a try. The packaging says it's for wheel bearings, so I decided to give it a go.

Let's say that experienment didn't work so well:

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The grease seemed to have cooked in the bearings, and the bearing were galled. I discovered this after experiencing some alignment issues. The guy at NTB said, sounds like front wheel bearings. He was right.

In past I had used Exxon Ronex MP with great sucess, but it's not readily available. So, saw David Allen using the Lucas procuct in another thread, so I decided to give that a try on reassembly:

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I've repacked wheel bearings many times, but just to be double sure on this, I purchased the Lisle Handy Packer Bearing Packer (34550), and I have to say it was great!

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When I packed the bearings with this thing, I knew it was done well. You pack the base with grease, assemble, and press! The base is rechargeable via zirc fitting. Just pump it back up with a grease gun.

It pays to read the labels closely. The Mobil1 is only good for 350 degrees or so, but the Lucas is good for 560! I would imagine my grease got cooked pretty good with the disc brakes.

BOTTOM LINE: I would reccomend Mobil1 Synthetic Grease for chassis lubrication, but not for hi-temp wheel bearing use.

[turbokinetic]

Cool writeup!

I haven't used Mobil 1 grease, but I have used Ronex and Lucas Green.

Lucas Green got my attention because it is manufacturer approved for "permanently lubricated" assemblies. This would include sealed ball bearings, front-wheel-drive wheel bearings, electric motor / alternator bearings and the like.

I'm not a lubrication engineer, so I don't know all the specific details but..... There are different lubrication additives used for sliding friction, rolling friction, and hydrodynamic bearings (journal bearings like crankshaft rod and mains). Some of these additives are not compatible with certain materials and applications. When you purchase an industrial type grease, the data sheet typically explains exactly what type of mechanisms it is best suited for.

Timken bearing damage assessment document, includes grease compatibility info:
http://www.timken.com/EN-US/products/maintdiag/Documents/5892-Timken-Bearing-Damage-Analysis-with-Lubrication-Reference-Guide.pdf

Grease data sheets:

Lucas Green:
http://lucasoil.com/images/documents/TDS_XtraHDGrease.pdf

Mobil 1:
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lubes/PDS/GLXXENGRSMOMobil_1_Synthetic_Grease.aspx

Ronex MP:
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lubes/PDS/GLXXENGRSMORonex_MP.aspx

If you compare these greases, the Mobil 1 and Ronex MP are similar. The Lucas Green is significantly higher in most of the test areas.

If you look at the Timken lubricant compatibility chart, you also see that there are some interesting compatibility concerns.

Lucas Green is a shear-stable polyuria based material. It is not "INCOMPATIBLE" with any other type of grease.
The Mobil 1 and Ronex are lithium complex based, and are "INCOMPATIBLE" with three other grease types. Some of these compatibility concerns will cause the grease to break down if there are even small traces of incompatible grease trapped in the housing. You never know what's been used in the past and it's hard to remove all traces.

One of the most telling / real-world tests is the "Timken OK Load" test, which is listed on the grease datasheets. This is a test of how much force it takes to break through the extreme pressure lubrication properties of the grease, and produce a score mark. The Mobil greases both had a score of 45, while Lucas has a score of 60.

Several years back (15+) Shell Oil sold a grease called "Slick 50 One Grease" which was a light blue/green color. It was touted as being especially good and it was more costly than the regular greases. I used it to pack the wheel bearings on my 72 Chevy Nova. It failed in a similar manner to your S10 wheel bearings. It turned black as ink, and the bearings were spalled and rough. The grease was degraded wherever it was in contact with the bearings, but in the void spaces of the hub, it still looked like new. They have taken that grease off the market now, probably because it was no good. I can't find any datasheet on it. I didn't know about datasheets back then, and I fell for the marketing hype. Now I know better.

Sincerely,
David

[Century7667]

If you look at the Timken lubricant compatibility chart, you also see that there are some interesting compatibility concerns.

Lucas Green is a shear-stable polyuria based material. It is not "INCOMPATIBLE" with any other type of grease.
The Mobil 1 and Ronex are lithium complex based, and are "INCOMPATIBLE" with three other grease types. Some of these compatibility concerns will cause the grease to break down if there are even small traces of incompatible grease trapped in the housing. You never know what's been used in the past and it's hard to remove all traces.



Fascinating! Well, in this case the Mobil1 followed up the Ronex MP, so I'm guessing we're were good there even if I left some of the Ronex in the bearing.

I ended up replacing the bearings and races (and one rotor - it was Chinese and I didn't like the casting), so Lucas is going in clean.

I had real good luck with Ronex all through the 80's and 90's, and I'll still maintain that the Mobil1 Synthetic Grease has had excellent service in my front-end chassis applications. Pretty cool that you can give it's joint a 2 or 3 shots of grease with each oil change, and 15 years (and 162,000 miles) later still have all original components.

Thanks for the story about Slick 50 One Grease. I was wondering the other way what happened to Slick 50.

Ken T.