Spring's here and I wanted to overhaul my dirty, scuzzy front wheel hub (not touching the rear, don't have the tools)

So I took apart the hub, took out the bearings, and used an Engine Degreaser/Cleaner to clean the parts, like the rim, bearings, cups, etc.

I sprayed it down, let it sit like it said, and then rinsed it all with the garden hose. The grease and dirt all came off.

Now I'm wondering, before I pack new grease in and start riding, would there be any sort of film or stuff left behind that may have adhered to the metal and ruin my new grease?

It doesn't feel, look or smell like there's anything there.

If anybody has done this before with success or failure or if anybody has any knowings or ideas on the subject that'd be great.

Also, does anybody know of any good places online for a Canadian to order bike parts/tools?

Look at the container. If it leaves anything behind, it'll usually say so. If it doesn't feel like it, there probably isn't anything. If you're really worried, grease it, wipe as much grease as possible off with a rag, and grease it again. Odds of enough anything to matter being left behind after that are virtually zilch.

As long as the metal is dry and doesn't have a wet or greasy feel, you can rest easy that there is no residue to worry about.

One other place to check is inside the hollow tube in the center of the hub that the axle passes through. Be sure there is no water or dirt left there. Pass a small piece of rag through it with a dowel or screwdriver blade if it needs to be cleaned out.

It didn't say anything on the can about residue.

It says to rinse thoroughly with a strong stream of water, I only used the garden hose.

I should've included that it contains petroleum distillates, d-limonene, and carbon dioxide. Those are the only ingredients that it says on the label, just in the first-aid section.

Another question here: What should I have used (or maybe use now) for the application? I'm sure there are lots of bike shop products, but are there any other products such as a hardware store, automotive, or cleaning product that have been tried and true?

There would definitely be no water left, I have had the parts drying near a radiator for a few days now

The petroleum distillates are similar to kerosene or mineral spirits. d-Limonene is a citrus cleaner and degreaser. Carbon dioxide is the propellant that squirts them out of the aerosol can. You are in good shape.

I'm going to go ahead and do it.

I'll post results if things go awry

Thanks Rider

I use Gunk engine cleaner for the chain after I soak it for a while in mineral spirits. I suspect there is some film left. I don't think the film will interfere with grease or any other lube. You could rinse the parts with alcohol. Brake cleaner will work too, but I'd do it outside because of the fumes.

After the water rinse, I use a heat gun to dry the chain quickly to prevent rust.

Al

Formerly engine cleaners were heavily loaded with Caustic Soda (lye) which woiuld be very distructive to any aluminum parts. Modern Al block and head engines have probably required these cleaners be reformulated so they aren't as caustic.

Nevertheless, why do you guys need such heavy duty cleaners for bike parts? Mineral spirits, Simple Green or one of the Citrus based cleaners (d-limonine in another formula) are plenty adequate.

Indeed, and I'll add another thing: engine cleaner, like brake or carb cleaners, contains toluene, and quite often benzene and other aromatic solvents. They are amongst the strongest solvents you can find, but they also happen to be highly cancerigen. They should be avoided unless there's no other choice to get the job done.

As for cleaning with white spirit, I wouldn't do it because it's known to dissolve certain plastics, and also because it's runny enough that I'd worry about dripping some into a bearing. I think citrus-based cleaners, or those "bio engine cleaners", as well as soapy water are the way to go to make a bike shine safely.

r!!Remove all plastic and rubber dust caps, seals, etc. do not let it touch the paint either. I used some walmart brand supertech carb cleaner a while back because i didn't have anything else. it turned the hard hub plastic into spongy rubber and the seals fell apart when I touched them. Seriously, go out and get some Simple Green. I use it 10:1 when I overhaul bearings.

Carb cleaner is forumlated to remove varnish that is formed by gas and heat. It is nasty stuff.

I agree with Simple Green or Citrus. They are pleanty strong enough without damaging bike parts. But, don't let them stay on AL parts. They must be rinsed off.

Mineral spirits doesn't clean the internals of my chain with either White lightning (ATB) or Teflon-Plus (road bike) lubes. Letting it soak in Gunk (after an hour soak and a flush with mineral spirits) gets a lot more dirt out.

Simple green is simply a joke. It doesn't work for the tough stuff. I don't even use it around the house. I tried it then threw it away. Castrol Super-Clean works far better than about anything else for a general cleaner.

Al

Too many of the replies here are misinformation.
Kerosene, mineral spirits, or any solvent that says it contains petroleum distillates WILL leave a residue. To get rid of it you have to burn it off, or clean it with alcohol.
Denatured alcohol or acetone leaves no residue.

You won't see people doing a final cleaning of electrical conductors with petroleum distillates. It leaves a flamable residue. A spark could set it off. Alcohol is used to clean surgical equipment because it leaves no residue.

Ideally, you use petroleum distillates as the initial cleaner to dissolve the oil/grease. It mixes and thins out the oil/grease. The heavy stuff sluffs off, becoming watery and easy to clean up instead of just getting smeared around. You then use the alcohol to remove the petroleum distillates' residue.

Engine cleaners and car waxes have petroleum distillates in them. They leave behind a "protective film/coating/residue preventing water from adhering. This is the beading action. But you don't want grease to just slide off of your bearrings and races. You want the grease to stick to them. Alcohol leaves metal very dry, welcoming a coating of grease to stick, almost absorb into the surface and stay there.
The problem with alcohol cleaners is that any metal that isn't coated with grease afterwards is very suseptable to rust. With no residue on the metal, water can hang around on the surface and corrode it.

That's "carcinogenic".

Bob

Grease is also a "petroleum distillate" and is fully compatible with any minor residue that kerosene or mineral spirits leave behind. There is no need or value to scrubbing the bearings with alcohol, acetone or anything else. The only residue you must avoid is water.

Electrical contacts have much different cleaning requirments than bicycle bearings so the comparison isn't valid.

I don't believe so. There are always warnings about mixing bearing greases for motor vehicles and trailers because though they are petroleum based, many are incompatible. As far as residues, I suspect even the non-petroleum greases/lubes would not be adversely affected because the quantity is so small. The synthetic greases are probably compatible with everything.

I think that another reason that electrical contacts require a very inert grease like silicon based is that the current causes the petroleum grease to oxidize more.

I believe MEK leaves the least residue of any cleaner. I know it's the best for preparing boat hulls for painting. Dangerous stuff to breath or get on your skin.

Al

The soaponification agents in various types of grease (Na, Ca, Li, etc) and the various fillers may be incompatible with each other but the oil bases are completely compatible with any other petroleum distillate like kerosene, etc.

The issue here is will the cleaning solvent's slight residue have a deleterious effect on the grease and the answer remains no.

If you use alcohol after mineral spirits you can skip the water and the heatgun alltogether. Simply dip a cotton swab in denatured alcohol and run it around the race once, or just dip the chain in a the alcohol and let it hang dry. Sounds easier to me than intentionally introducing water into areas and then having to take an additional step of having to heat the surfaces to the point of evaporating the water. Plus, you don't have to worry about a heat gun damaging non-metallic parts like seals.

Not that I've done it, but this friend of mine, ahem, he uses a small blast of WD-40 on bearings as they sit on a towel. Wait 5 seconds, roll them around, and they're clean.

Is that bad?

No.

I don't agree that Simple Green is a joke, but I've reached the point where I only use it on chains that I maintain. I buy used bikes as a hobby. When I get a really ugly, dirty chain, I use Kerosene or another petroleum based cleaner. As AL says, Simple Green just doesn't cut the bad stuff. However, once I've cleaned the chain, I have no problem maintaining it using Simple Green. It's a lot easier to dispose of Simple Green (on my lawn) than Kerosene (its best if I don't say how I dispose of it).

Hmm, alot of info to consider here.

I would not trust any leftover residue to be "okay" to leave, as the cleaner contained d-limonene, and would not want to risk that being left behind. And I would also prefer to not have any petroleum distillates leftover either, whether they'd be okay or not, I'd rather have a more "pure" grease in there.
Besides, I'm using a synthetic grease "Tri-flow with Teflon."

I still haven't done anything more with it yet. When I have time in the next few days, I'm going to spray it down with brake cleaner, as it is made to remove grease and oil from metal, and leaves no residue.

Thanks to everyone for their input

I'm too anal-retentive about these things. It probably causes me more work and mental anguish than necessary. But I just can't seem to enjoy cycling unless I satiate the illness. Fortunately, I've got little life outside of my own little world of bikes, so I have the time spend spinning my wheels on the minutia.