WD-40

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Jabba

If you have a Scottoiler the there's no need to clean the chain. Just turn the wick up for a few miles

Not necessarily so. I find even with a scotoiler in Winter the chain gets all manky and gritty. Every so often I pop both bikes up on the paddock stand and give the chain a good clean with parafin.

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

WD40 won't dissolve chain 'O' rings, the solvents aren't that strong and they won't be there long anyway as they are light and evaporate quickly.

WD40 is a lubricant and will lube your chain just fine. However, as it is such light lubricant, it will do the job for a very short time, so short a time as to make it an impractical choice at the very least.

Originally Posted by SV650Racer

If you spray WD40 on a rubber o-ring it will swell and deteriate after time. Not good to constant use on your chain.

Glad thats cleared that one up then. :P

Originally Posted by northwind

The main solvent in WD40 is extremely similiar to paraffin... The reason you hear this concern repeated is that the manufacturers refuse to state conclusively that it won't disolve the o-rings, I think. People seem to take that as "Can't be safe, or they'd say so".

Re the parafin, even Haynes says it doesnt do the chain much good if you leave it on. In fact it was Haynes I got the 10 mins from.

For those of us who arent mechanics and know better, what else are we supposed to think when even Haynes says parafin on chains is not good.

Originally Posted by chazzyb

Chain o-rings (along with most I guess) are made from nitrile rubber, which is resistant to degradation from oil, etc. Paraffin/kerosene shouldn't harm chain o-rings, as it's just another fraction of raw crude but from further up the column.

The WD-40 manufacturer won't tell you what's in it 'cos it's a secret.

I don't know if used nitrile gloves, but they are damaged by various solvents unless they are the more expensive and thicker kind. Also WD40 is alright if the rubber can breathe and release all the solvents, but since the o-rings are tucked in there I'm sure some of the solvents sit in there and make the rings swell and slowly rot.

I used to use wd40 for everything and I'd clean my radio-controlled truck with it. I thought it would work great to clean the tires and it was...until I stuck them in a bag overnight and since the solvent couldn't escape the tires swelled and were too big to mount on the rims. I'm sure the o-rings are made of something more resistant, but that is evidence enough for me no to lather my chain with it.

Suzuki reccomends using heavy weight motor oil so that's what I do. I'll spray a rag with wd40 and scrubbed the chain, but I won't spray it directly on the chain.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by lynw

For those of us who arent mechanics and know better, what else are we supposed to think when even Haynes says parafin on chains is not good.

Haynes doesn't say that though, it says don't leave it on. Paraffin flashes off fairly slowly when applied in liquid form, and you tend to put a lot of it on when you clean a chain with it. WD40 contains less of its paraffin-analogue, you tend to put less on, and it's air-delivered and so tends to flash off faster.

Personally, I don't know why anyone would use WD40 as a chain lube. It's quite expensive, it's not ideal, and it's too short lived. Even if it doesn't eat chains- and I doubt it does- it's still a rotten choice in almost every way. And for cleaning, it's expensive too. A 5 litre bottle of paraffin that'll last forever can be had from Homebase or B&Q for about £4. It's also good in heaters

It's also not a very good penetrating oil. If you absolutely, positively want to everything with one aerosol can then it's a good choice, but myself, I have a tin of plus gas, a bottle of isopropyl alcohol, a tin of contact cleaner, a tin of silicon electrical spray, a big bottle of paraffin, and a scottoiler, and those do every job that WD40 does better than it does. I do have a couple of tins of WD40 too though

Originally Posted by northwind

A 5 litre bottle of paraffin that'll last forever can be had from Homebase or B&Q for about £4. It's also good in heaters

And fire breathing!

Originally Posted by Law

And fire breathing!

Is that what you used???

Did it taste 'kin 'orrible?

Sorry for derail.

Carry on.

Originally Posted by tricky

Is GT-85 the pink foamy stuff ?

No, you're thinking of ACF-50. Why do all these chemicals a name consisting of letters, a hyphen and numbers? Very confusing.

Originally Posted by tricky

Is GT-85 the pink foamy stuff ?

acf is the pink foamy stuff, its better than WD40 for protection.

GT-85 is another variant of WD40 i believe, its just cheaper, and smells better, and does a better job in my opinion.

WD-40 is not a solvent, nor is it a lubricant

it's a Water Dispersal agent # 40

It's designed purpose is to keep water away from surfaces it is applied to

[Tigerrrr.......]

Not quite right, RandyO.

Taken from their website.....

It took them 40 attempts to get the water displacing formula worked out. But they must have been really good, because the original secret formula for WD-40—which stands for Water Displacement perfected on the 40th try—is still in use today.