wd40 or alternative?

Haurab

I discovered this product called `Breakaway' from florida based Cyclo. It's says that it is a lubricant, penetrant, rust remover and also rust inhibitor. And it works better than WD which left my door hinges creaking after a few days of application. I have tried breakaway and it is 3 months to date... no creaking. Also great in opening up seized bolts. It was cheaper by the can but I am getting more value compared to the WD. I think WD is a great marketing success. I saw one video on Youtube which actually shows a demo of Breakaway compared to the WD. Mind blowing.

DVardysShadow

muddyl wrote: »

Use it on cars for seized nuts and bolts.

Definitely not the best for this job. Although WD40 seems to have the mind share for seized nuts and bolts, I would go so far as to say it is the wrong stuff.

PlusGas is a penetrating oil which is far more effective

timbo58

WD is a WATER DISPERSANT hence the name.
Great stuff for waterlogged parts but not really an oil as such and useless for a lot of the jobs people tend to try it for.
Parraffin better at degreasing by far (or even petrol if you're stuck), 3 in one better for lubricating.
Plus gas best for seized bolts, and ACF50 best for keeping stuff corrosion free (but v.expensive!)

TamA

GT85
Car plan's "Get in there"

Both quite cheap and good.

Ebe_Scrooge

Hitch wrote: »

Have you considered buying a 5ltr bottle and hand sprayer?
Cost about the same as 4 aerosols, but 10x the amount or more.

This is good advice if you use a lot. I get through a lot of it - I'm a bit OCD about my garden tools, quite expensive spades, forks, petrol power tools, etc. Always clean them after use and spray with WD40 before putting away. Quicker than the "wipe with an oily rag" alternative ( though I'm sure that would be cheaper ! ), but a bit of care and attention pays off - most of my kit is over 20 years old and still works perfectly :-)

muddyl

Thanks everyone.
I'll have a look into the likes of plusgas, breakaway, 3 in 1 and the 5ltr wd.
Some good advice and ideas here. Thanks very much.

muddyl

I presume the liquid 5ltr ones would spray from a normal household sprayer (like the ones used for cleaning products or plant watering etc?). That looks like the best value for money I think.

ankspon

When i was working in Maintenance we had to stop using WD40 due to long term effects it had on metal

daggy

timbo58 wrote: »

WD is a WATER DISPERSANT hence the name.
Great stuff for waterlogged parts but not really an oil as such and useless for a lot of the jobs people tend to try it for.
Parraffin better at degreasing by far (or even petrol if you're stuck), 3 in one better for lubricating.
Plus gas best for seized bolts, and ACF50 best for keeping stuff corrosion free (but v.expensive!)

Water Displacement, actually.

happybiker

LOL. I'm not a fan of WD40, it's a jack of all trades and master of almost none. When it was first introduced in the UK, it was magical stuff but time, economics and the H&S ethos has changed all that. The chemical composition of the modern product is not the same as it originally was.
It makes a good water dispersant and cutting lubricant for cutting and drilling metal and a glue dissolver for removing sticky labels but that's about it. It's lubricant qualities are quite poor for many uses and it can damage some '0' rings and plastics used in car and plumbing components.

There has been some very good advice on here, especially about penetrating lubricants but if you want to keep a cheap general use chemical, just buy a gallon of paraffin. when used warm and mixed with a little olive oil, it makes an excellent easing oil. Diesel is very good as well but it doesn't have the degreasing qualities that paraffin has.