2020 test2 productsShop Chemicals & Lubricants

Which Lubricating Grease Brand Wins?

We compared 2 lubricating grease options head to head. MAG 1 Lithium Grease came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.

The verdict
Winner

MAG 1 Lithium Grease

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Runner-up

Conoco (vintage 1940s grease)

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The measured results

Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.

ProductTackiness/adhesion (disc pull test)Film strength / wear (lubricity tester)Corrosion resistance (24hr oxidizer test)Cold temperature torque testWater spray-off testWater immersion / rotation washoutHeat tolerance (dropping point slide test)
1MAG 1 Lithium Grease46 lb of force to separate discsbearing showed noticeable wear damage, but far less than the vintage grease's bearing (described as the most damage seen on this test, referring to the Conoco sample)described as doing very good preventing oxidation, called the best of the three (control bolt, Conoco bolt, MAG 1 bolt)24.36 lb of force to rotate the frozen bearingstarted at 214.22 g, ended at 212.26 g, loss of 1.96 g; crater approximately 67mm long by 41mm widesome grease washaway after submerged rotation, but retained noticeably more than the vintage greaseheld up under direct burner heat until roughly 400F before starting to liquefy and slide; packaging claims a dropping point over 500F
2Conoco Pressure Lubricant Medium (vintage, circa 1940s)55.42 lb of force to separate discs, the win in this testthe most bearing wear damage the narrator says he has seen on this test; described as not offering good wear protectionquite a bit of oxidation after 24 hours, especially around the base of the bolt; better than the ungreased control bolt but worse than the MAG 1 boltjust over 25 lb of force to rotate the frozen bearing, nearly beating MAG 1's 24.36 lb but did notstarted at 213.95 g, ended at 211.42 g, loss of 2.53 g; crater approximately 75mm long by 53mm wide, described as hugewashed away noticeably more than MAG 1 after submerged rotationfirst to liquefy and go up in smoke, at approximately 200F; no dropping point information was printed on the original packaging

How it was tested

  • tackiness/adhesive strength: two metal discs pulled apart, force to separate measured
  • film strength / wear protection: lubricity tester, bearing wear scar compared visually
  • corrosion resistance: aggressive oxidizer applied to wheel stud bolts (bare control, Conoco, MAG 1), checked after 24 hours
  • cold temperature torque resistance: bearings packed and frozen at -20F for 24 hours, force to rotate measured
  • water spray-off resistance: weight loss and crater size measured after water jet spray on a test plate
  • water immersion / bearing rotation washout: bearings submerged and rotated, visually inspected for grease loss
  • heat tolerance / dropping point: grease heated on a metal slide until it liquefies and smokes
  • compatibility when the two greases are mixed together

but it's mag 1 for the win

From the test video verdict.
Data notes and caveats

No chapters in metadata. Several non-brand phrases were garbled by auto-captions and resolved by context rather than taken at face value: 'kana coat' and 'eggwin' during the 30-second corrosion check almost certainly refer to the Conoco and MAG 1 greased bolts respectively (both were reported as fine at that point, no numeric distinction given, so not attributed to a specific brand's results); 'an advantage grease' in the cold-temp test is the vintage Conoco grease (confirmed by the just-over-25-lb figure matching the surrounding narrative); 'the fifties Greece' in the water spray-off test is also the vintage Conoco grease (confirmed because its stated starting weight of 213.95g exactly matches the weight given one sentence earlier for 'vendors Conoco,' itself a mangle of 'vintage Conoco'); the closing line 'Myra grease is definitely a whole lot better' likely means 'modern grease is definitely a whole lot better' (there is no third brand called Myra in this two-product test) but was not used as the verdictQuote given the ambiguity, in favor of a clean unambiguous quote from the cold-temp test. The compatibility test (mixing the two greases) found no separation issue and is not a competitive result. Only two products in this video, both purchased by the narrator, no prices mentioned for either.

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