Commuting - Possible to extend Bottom Bracket life with some grease?

I ride in wet weather/snow quite a bit, and my BB tends to go quite often. I usually have my LBS replace it every spring and fall in each bike. So as I am getting ready for another winter (I know it's only August 1!) I was wondering if possibly smothering the area around the bb on each end with grease or some sort of water sealant would prevent water from penetrating at least as much as it does under normal conditions (i.e. if I don't do anything). I always fan my bikes in the garage after every wet ride, and it does help to prevent the grinding noise in bb from appearing as soon as it could otherwise, but I was thinking maybe there are better ways short of installing really expensive very high-end brackets. Any advice for this relative mechanical newbie?

what kind of bike
what BB are you using?

do you have the tools?

plumber's teflon tape on the BB threads may help.

I'd also like to know -- what BB's are you running, in what kind of bike? I've had 3 in my do-it-all MTB, and the 2nd is now in my nephew's bike, still going strong; it's an ISIS, and I wanted to get my X-type back on the bike.......

Fenders and mudflap.

The new external BB have poor seals for the most part... not like the square-taper shimano un series!

Fenders and mudflap.

The new external BB have poor seals for the most part... not like the square-taper shimano un series!

seriously UN26
$10 from Jenson USA

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/BB407A02-Shimano+Un-26+Bottom+Bracket.aspx?sc=FRGL

seriously UN26
$10 from Jenson USA

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/BB407A02-Shimano+Un-26+Bottom+Bracket.aspx?sc=FRGL

Spend a little more and get a UN54

You can repack some of the X-type BB bearings by popping out the plastic dust cap, flushing out the old grease/gunk, packing in a high-quality grease and then re-assembling. Iv'e done it several times with my shimano BB bearings on my mountain bikes. Winter mountain biking here in the Seattle area tends to wash out the grease and replace it with mud :) After a good cleaning and repack, they are good to go! You have to be very careful prying the plastic dust cap off. I think that someone made a video or webpage of how to do it that I saw once, but once you get the hang of it, it's not hard to do and is way better than buying new bearings every six months.

Edit: Found the link to the instructions I saw that inspired me to service mine. He does his on the bike but I find it easier to remove them before servicing. Good luck!.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=497220

Spend a little more and get a UN54

my point was $10
after 2 years I changed the entire drivetrain on the Big Dummy
$10 BB? pretty awesome value