Oil or grease for bearings?

[Chozwoz]

I have always oiled my bearings for rc cars. Any bearing, any area: light machine oil. I have since read many times 1/8 off road people remove the grease seals and grease the bearings like automotive wheel bearings. Is this really the way to go? IMHO it would make maintenance on them a longer process because you have to get all that old grease out, dry them, pack them full of new grease and replace the seals. Whereas with oil a good soak in mineral spirits, dry them out with compressed air, then a good application of Liberty oil or any other quality light machine oil and you are off to the races. I do use a good sticky light grease in the front and rear diffs on the r and p's but oil everywhere else. Is greasing the bearings better than oiling them? Please let me know! Thanks!

 

[Billl DeLong]

There's another forum I no longer participate with and one of the reasons is this seemingly controversial topic.

In short, there's no right/wrong product, just use what works for you and your preferred maintenance/performance target.

For 1/10 stock racing, there are high speed bearing oils which offer the least amount of friction at the expense of needing fresh oil every single race day to be effective.

For Mod racing, grease is preferred, and the controversial part is which grease is best?

I have learned to prefer White Lithium Grease (WLG) as the best balance between price/performance/longevity with more info here:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4308293-Maintenance-Tips

Apparently my recommendation to use WLG seems to ruffle feathers on the other forum and the admins were just plain ignorant to the results I provided in the years of testing I have done so I've stopped participating there, shrug.

 

[Chozwoz]

So, in short, just do what's best for me...ok! Thanks!

 

[nub]

Yep, personal preference. For me bearings are disposable. I don't run in the wet so they last plenty long. I buy a pack of 10 for $12. High dollar bearings aren't going to make me faster.

 

[RustyUs]

Long story short... extreme dusty conditions on backyard track has me clean and relube my bearings with grease.

 

[WoodiE]

I feel about the same as @nub. RC ball bearings are super cheap and I tend to just replace rather than trying to maintain.

For the easy to access ones, I "might" clean them once or twice, but more times than not I just replace.

No matter if they are just cleaned bearings or brand new bearings, I use Liberty Ball Bearing oil. I've been very happy with Liberty!