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VPI bearing oil/grease?

I know this has been discussed and forgive me but I'm a little confused. Most of my confusion is from talking with Mike at VPI. I called VPI years ago to ask what type of lubricant to use, the answer was white lithium grease. ( no mention of any of this in the owner's manual) After my bushings were replaced a few years later with bronze, I inquired as to what oil/grease was recommended. The answer was 40W oil. After reading other posts here, I've read that Mike has recommended Mobil synthetic, I don't ever recall them recommending VPI bearing grease to me or anyone. I'd like to get a definitive answer from VPI users here. Thanks.
slaw
slaw's avatar
slaw OP
5,785 posts
 
Frogman: No, not the Royal Purple. It seems a little higher viscosity and in applying it, feels more stable. I used it my first round for about 7 months, looked at it and could not notice any breakdown at all. In that time, there was no noticable increase/decrease in platter rotations after turning the motor off as I've experienced in every other lube I've tried. A slight sonic improvement over the white lithium I was using also. I use a ceramic ball bearing.
dopogue
1,767 posts
 
Re Slick 50, it took me forever to get the sludge that stuff left behind out of a TNT-2 bearing well.
frogman
4,637 posts
 
Slaw, thanks for the clarification. Earlier you said that you agreed that the sound was leaner with oil vs lithium grease. I also noticed less-stable pitch with the grease; the main reason that I stopped using the grease. You mention that the DuPont grease yields an improvement over the lithium grease. Is the improvement related to tonality (leaner/weightier) or to speed stability? Thanks.
slaw's avatar
slaw OP
5,785 posts
 
Frogman: I think speed stability has to be a consideration regarding any lube. Regarding leaner/weightier tonality, I'd say the DuPont goes towards weightier, but with a solidity that wasn't there before.

There are a host of other system variables that can make this issue a positive or negative. I'm currently testing preamp isolation and that is 'huge' with regards to the overall sonic picture. I'm glad this issue came up again, for it's easy to get "settled" on a system's sonics and then, change just one thing (like preamp isolation) and the whole systems' sonic picture can change rapidly.
slaw's avatar
slaw OP
5,785 posts
 
Dopogue: FWIW, I use lint free swabs on a stick along with 99.8% pure isopropyl alcohol. No problems at all.
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