PB Blaster Silicon Spray causes squeaks!

My daughter bought a used car a few months ago. The doors squeaked when she opened them so she grabbed my spray bottle of WD-40 and sprayed the bar that prevents the doors from opening too far. (WD-40 is not a lubricant. There, I said it, OK?) The squeaks went away immediately. The bars are metal, covered in plastic.

Today she told me that one door was beginning to squeak again, just a little, so I took a look in my shop to see what kind of lubricants I had lying around. I found a can of PB Blaster Silicone Spray:

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The can says "This non-staining lubricant eliminates squeaking and binding and extends the life of: - Metal - Plastic - Wood - Rubber - Vinyl - Leather"

I tried the door she said was squeaking and it did indeed squeak, just a little, as it approached fully open. I sprayed the bar with the silicone spray and tried the door again. The racket was almost deafening. It was same squeak often heard from car doors, but it was the loudest squeak I had ever heard and it now squeaked the entire length of the bar, on open and on close. I sprayed the bar again and it was just as bad.

I grabbed my spray bottle of WD-40, sprayed the bar again, and the noise went away instantly. I didn't even clean off the silicon. The door is now silent.

Why would the silicon lubricant cause such a racket? Not only didn't it eliminate the minor squeak, it caused the bar to squeak along its entire length.

Reply to
DerbyDad03
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Thanks, but I'm not looking for alternatives. I'm looking for a reason why a silicon lubricant would cause more squeaking after the application of the product than before.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Hmm, I'd use Liquid wrench which contains Teflon. Or Lubriplate grease.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

It's not suppose to, but someone told me it did, at least at one time. The thin coating of silicone spray might act weird on some items. Oil is not good for plastic. Try crc 2-26 plastic safe. I often use combination of oil and white grease spray on metal parts.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

Hi, WD-40 has Si but I don't think enough to act like lubricant. It is basically solvent with water repelling ability. Once it dries up rust comes back, squeaks come back. My own opinion.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Besides that, the solvent will dissolve the lube deeper in a hinge. I use motor oil for any metal hinges and slide bars, applied with a dimple or pump oil can, work the mechanism until the squeak is gone, then wipe off the excess. Always works, and lasts for years. In fact, in my experience it works better than white lithium grease because it penetrates better. I had one car with door locks that would stiffen up. Lock graphite or white lithium, or silicone would work for about a year at most. Dipping the key in motor oil a few times and working the lock would last 2-3 years. I used WD-40 on bathroom door hinges years ago, before I knew better. Stopped squeaking for about a week. Haven't had any WD-40 in my house or garage since. Don't know about plastic hinge parts. Never lubed any that I can recall. The only plastic hinges I've heard squeaking weren't worth keeping anyway. If I had some I wanted to keep, I'd try silicone grease. I've used silicone grease sticks to good effect on plastic and wood slides. Before silicone came around it was wax or soap for that.

You'll get all kinds of argument about what lube to use for something. Experience is the best argument, but it's going to differ. I've found motor oil is best for just about everything that doesn't call for packed or injected grease, but keep it away from rubber and plastic as a general rule, because I'm never sure of their chemistry. There are plenty of plastics that suffer no ill effects from petroleum oil. The jugs it comes in is one example. But I don't take chances when silicone and teflon oils are readily available. WD-40 is petro oil and solvents. Rubber/plastic is more likely to suffer adverse affects from solvents than petro oil. And there are much better cleaning solvents than WD-40.

Put me in the "Thinks WD-40 is junk column."

Reply to
Vic Smith

Can't tell you why. But I went thru the same thing with ALL the rubber bushings on my Explorer. I had a cleaned everything with some Gunk Degreaser. Afterwards nothing squeaked. Thought it would be a good idea to protect all the rubber after the cleaning so I sprayed some name brand silicone lube on all the rubber bushings. Took it for a drive and it had so many squeaks it sounded like a flock of birds attacking a pig farm. So I bought another can of Gunk Degreaser and sprayed all the rubber parts again (and hosed it off). All the squeaks went away. Generally speaking, I have found Silicone spray to be almost worthless. Even on the stuff I've used it on where it 'worked' it lost it's effectiveness fairly rapidly.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

When I need to lubricate a lock that takes a key, and can't find my graphite, which is most of the time in the last 30 years, I use WD-40 and I'm good for another 20 years.

One reason I like it.

Reply to
micky

Is this the same stuff just recommended in the "tip of the day?" (-:

My best guess is that there's some interaction going on between the WD and the PB propellant/carriers. Does it increase squeaking on a section (if there is any) of the door that hadn't been previously treated with WD? Does the treated area feel slippery or gooey and tacky?

Reply to
Robert Green

Got me puzzled. Might be the can was a defect, and contained the solvent but not the silicone?

I found a bicycle on the curb, years ago. Cleaned it up and used Walmart's house brand of silicone lube on the chain. Came in a black spray can, as I remember. Gave it to a boy who was from out of town. They took the bike home, and a week or two later I heard that the chain had locked up, and the bike was no longer useful. The kid was disappointed, and I was also not happy about the matter. I wonder if the crap brand of spray rinsed out all the chain oil, and then the chain rusted from lack of "real" oil? I'd have been better off not to do anything to the chain. Or, I should have used WD.

. Christ> My daughter bought a used car a few months ago. The doors squeaked when she

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

This is on topic for another moment. The metal framed windows at my church are slowly starting to get difficult to open. I'd considered spray them with silicone spray. After this conversation, I may try that dry teflon aerosol instead.

. Christ>>

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I really have no idea but I'll make a guess...

Silicone lube slicks stuff up pretty well. Maybe it slicked it up so much that it opened a bit further than normal, it was less worn there resulting in the squeek?

Reply to
dadiOH

For my car door keyhole locks, I use 10w30 motor oil. About half CC Applied with a veterinary syringe, into the keyhole. I'm in NY state, the highway dept uses a lot of salt on the roads. The oil is needed, so that the cylinders don't turn into a lump of white corroded metal. Yes, that does happen to people here.

Graphite is excellent for locks that stay dry, such as on buildings and office complexes.

As to the latch mechanism inside car doors, the Remington Wonder Lube with teflon worked well for me, also dry teflon spray worked. WD did not work well, and did not last very long. Couple days.

To the OP, did you write or call the PB Blaster company and call? I doubt that you would get a very satisfying answer, if you did.

. Christ>

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I used to repair office machines at a oil companies laboratory.

There were detailed signs about which lubricants were compatible.

I got interested in this subject after relubing something with lubriplate w hite grease that must of had some brown grease remaining. it was in a hard to service clutch, the combo of lubricants turned to rock:( lacking a assem bly to replace the clutch i worked for hours on it.... later i had to repla ce it anyway...

300 bucks i had to pay........

do not mix lubricants

WD40 is not OIL.....

use oil on door hinges...

Reply to
bob haller

My '50 Olds came with rubber lock slot covers, although I was afraid to use them because the car was 17 years old and I figured the rubber covers were wearing out. But even in Chicago, I never had any trouble anyhow.

I've never had trouble with door locks afaicr, and now that I use a fob more than a key, that's even more likely to be true.

Only my home's door lock and maybe a padlock has given me trouble, and like I say, WD-40 seems to last about 20 years.

Reply to
micky

This bar is a tensioner/positioner in addition to an opening width stop. Some lubricants make the tensioner squeal. I usually wipe the bar down to remove dirt/debris and apply a small amount of white lube or old style wax-based distributor cam lube. No problems so far.

Reply to
Mr.E

That may not be true. Locks need to be worked with a key from time to time to keep the mechanism freed up. I try to use my key on the door lock as often as I can to keep it from locking up from crud incursion even though the fob would do it.

Reply to
Robert Green

Last few cars I've owned I never used the key. Rarely lock the doors, but when I do, it is the fob.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

In many parts of the world (like western NYS) where we have road salt, unused car door key holes turn into a lump of grey and salt.

Rx, 1/2 cc 10w30, IM, twice a year, or PRN.

. Christ>

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

For the most part I agree about not mixing lubricants. However, it this case, the WD-40 worked for a while, adding the silicon caused a major issue but reapplying the WD-40 - without cleaning off the silicon - resulted in silence.

It would be weird to think that putting silicon on top of WD-40 would cause a problem but putting WD-40 on top of silicon wouldn't. In other words, I don't think that it's a mixture of the 2 products that caused the issue in this case.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

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