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I bought some red rubber grease a while back, can't remember why. But I discovered that if you mix it with mineral oil such as regular fork oil, it creates a gloopy thick runny gel, which is very much more slippery than the oil on its own. I got some new-to-me forks, Fox Float 32s, and had to give them a service straight away. They are the ones that require Fox Green, but since the damper is closed and the lower leg oil is lubrication only, I added some of the grease and they went together and all was good. I didn't really have a benchmark against which to compare though so I couldn't tell if my homebrew had any benefits.
I did a service again and this time I just used plain Fox Green, and I have to say they are noticeably less plush. So I can conclude that mixing red rubber grease with mineral oil adds a good bit of lubrication to standard fork oil, if you don't have an open bath damper. The grease is available on eBay cheaply.
I suppose this is what Fox Gold is all about, but that requires new seals and it's not cheap in itself, so I'll wait to upgrade to that. In the meantime though I think I will add the grease back in. You can also grease up the seals with the RRG and then the fork action will mix it together.
so your happy that the red rubber grease will degrade quickly?
waste of time at best imo
Degrade? No, it mixes with the oil and keeps its lubrication properties. You may think it's a waste of time but only one of us has tried it 🙂
red rubber is vegetable based (afaik) so it will degrade quicker than a lithium type grease.
Tbh if I had a grotty old fork I didn't care about I'd maybe try it, but not with anything of value. I have no idea how the chemical compositions of each Thing would modify those of the other Thing.
I'm not a scientist, and so 'seems ok' isn't really good enough for for me for the sake of saving a few quid on the important maintenance of what's often a relatively expensive component.
I applaud your willingness to try though.
for the sake of saving a few quid
I did it to improve performance not save money.
This could be massive.
Just pop off and test it for a couple of years on a range of forks (10 should do) that get ridden heavily, then report back with your findings.
Cheers!
You may think it’s a waste of time but only one of us has tried it 🙂
On STW knowledge that comes from experience is frowned upon.
Glad to see you trying new things, keep us up to date 🙂
Don't try this at home kids
No seriously this isn't to be recommended.
The grease will just form up like fatty deposits and mineral oil alone won't be enough to keep everything lubed adequately.
The grease may find its way into places it's not intended .
Just buy the correct oil that rs fox etc have spent plenty of time formulating .
It's not expensive.
Placebo effect
Just buy the correct oil that rs fox etc have spent plenty of time formulating .
You mean "have bought of the shelf and marked up horribly", right?
This is a good site for learning more about oil and grease https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2933082
Using grease to change the viscosity of oil is a bit of a kludge and I've done the same myself to thicken gear oil for an Alfine hub. As the posters on bitog say, fork oils will have various additives like anti-foam agents that your mix will lack. It would be with letting a bit of your mixture back to check that the thickener didn't settle out, and if agitated that it didn't foam to badly.
Fox gold for lubrication & Motul fctoryline of correct weight, are best tbh.
The grease will just form up like fatty deposits and mineral oil alone won’t be enough to keep everything lubed adequately.
It didn't. I had it in there for a year and it all came out fine and slippery.
See, the oil they recommend (green) is damper oil, which means it's formulated for its damping properties as well as lubrication. But the lower leg oil is lubrication only so it has different requirements. TBH I like the gearbox oil idea too.
I still have unadulterated Fox Green in the damper. I'm not an idiot.
Fox gold for lubrication
Hi Simon 🙂 Yes, I reckon Gold also but it needs new seals as well, I have the old ones.
New seals is betterer though;-)
Skf ones in a nice shade of green
Big-Bud
Member
Just buy the correct oil that rs fox etc have spent plenty of time formulating .
I don't think any of the lubrication products they sell are designed in house. For sure some are simply relabelled products from elsewhere- Torco and Silkolene. Nothing wrong with that o'course, no sense reinventing the wheel.
I used to do all my fork lowers with ford diesel engine oil, just because I had loads of it and it works fine.
I think red rubber grease is made from castor oil, which was used to lubricate engines in olden times. So for the true vintage all-natural effect, why not cut it with castor oil? Or you could try more modern oils such as rapeseed.
PS I am not being facetious, you will be mixing like with like so less chance of funny chemistry going on etc. and it will be even coolerer.