I’ve been playing with a 10 ball gold bearing from magic yoyo. Do I have to buy lube or should i play it dry. I saw a post that said to play it dry. Should i lube or no lube?
You don’t have to unless you want to make it a little quieter and smoother feeling. It’s not going to hurt it, if that’s your concern.
Ok. I also heard that the gold plating is lube? Is that true or not.
No gold plating is not lube and often isn’t desirable for bearings because it can wear off and causes the bearing to need to to be cleaned more frequently.
As far as to lube or not, this is kind of of a contentious issue in the community lol. I recommend trying both and deciding what you like better. Both options are very valid and have pros and cons to be weighed.
Gold plating is NOT lube.
I prefer to run my bearings dry. They lock up any time I use lube
Ok thanks. I was going to buy lube but I will NEVER buy lube after what you said.
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It also depends on the climate/environment you live in and whatnot. I live in a high humidity, high cat hair environment and the lube just seems to gather dirt quicker than a dry bearing. To be fair, even my dry bearings all lock up eventually. I recommend just getting some acetone and a little glass jar so you can clean them when they get responsive.
Run them clean and dry imo.
Some people like a quiet bearing though. If you do end up using lube, use the tiniest little pin poke drop and spin the bearing to distribute lube evenly.
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I’m in usa and it’s winter here. But if I want to clean my bearing, i dont use acetone. i use this method called the paper cleaning method and I dont know if it’s better or not
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Thin lube can prevent the bearings from corroding, and sometimes it will help to work out grit. Compressed air (or a mineral spirits bath followed by compressed air if you want to be really thorough) can be used to return the bearing to something more “dry.”
Thick lube (brain lube, etc) is used to maintain responsiveness in small-bearing yoyos. (Usually not narrow-bearing yoyos, but don’t be afraid to experiment. A full-sized C-bearing yoyo can be a pretty fun responsive with thick lube.)
I use a 2oz. bottle of Al Cass Fast Valve Slide and Key Oil as thin lube and a 4oz. bottle of 100% Silicone Treadmill Belt lubricant as thick lube, and those are practically lifetime supplies of each.
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OK. So i just need some yoyo lube and compressed air?
If the bearing is giving you trouble, yeah. Otherwise I’d leave it alone. (And, of course, always make sure you’re in a ventilated room and taking appropriate precautions, especially if you’re messing with flammable liquids like acetone. I don’t mess with acetone at all for yoyo maintenance since I don’t want to melt my plastics.)
ok thanks!
No problem!
I just read your review of the V8. Since you might be swapping back and forth between a full C and a half-spec (narrow) C (I’m pretty sure the V8 uses that instead of an A for responsive play), I’d just leave the bearings alone, especially since they’re new. They’ll get smoother and quieter as you break them in.
Thick lube might be useful for maintaining the UFOyo, but I’d stay far away from acetone. It breaks down plastic and will destroy your Freehand Pro and UFOyo.
Acetone will absolutely eat any and all plastic.
I’m saying to clean the bearing ONLY (in a jar, away from the yoyo), ONLY if it becomes responsive and you want it unresponsive. And make sure you dry it with a paper towel first and then spin it until it is completely dry, either with canned air (much faster) or with your finger works too (takes a bit longer, but it works just fine) before returning it to the yoyo or yes, you risk damaging the bearing seat.
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Paper cleaning method is great! I use that one too but I find the acetone gets the little bits of grime that the paper just can’t seem to get sometimes
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Much good advice here. Bottom line is that it will always come down to personal preference. So try both and see what you like. Some considerations: a dry bearing will spin faster and longer than a lubed bearing. It will also make more noise and wear out faster. A dry bearing will generally be affected more by debris than lubed bearing. A lubed bearing will feel much smoother than a dry one. Lube is often useful to increase responsiveness when playing a responsive yo-yo. There may be more but that’s all that comes to me right now. 
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What do you mean lock up? Stop spinning?
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Basically, yes.
Or stop spinning as freely as I want it to.
Become responsive.
Same, same.