I’ve tried cleaning my bearing so many times and it doesn’t change anything. Even when i try breaking it in and using less lube it still stay the same responsiveness. And the bearing is fine. It is literally brand new. When i initially throw it and slightly tug to whip it responds and rams into my knuckles. Only able to do whips after 15 seconds of it spinning… this is really ruining the yo-yoing experience for me. I swear I’ve tried everything… 
Have you tried not using any lube at all? Even the smallest drop of lube is going to make the yoyo more responsive initially. If it’s ruining your experience that much, then clean the bearing and leave it dry. It’ll be loud, but at least it’ll be unresponsive. 
Just out of wondering, what yoyo are you using?
doing dry runs hurts the bearing tremendously in the long run I’ve heard. its not that i dont try breaking it in I’ve been using the same yoyo for a whole day after cleaning it.
Puffin 2 yoyo is what i am using.
ive also been using 70% alcohol to clean it. ppl said it works exactly like lighter fluid.
I’ve seen kids buy and use yoyos dry for ages until the bearing makes loud crunchy noises.
Then, I clean the bearing for them and it is the smoothest most long spinning bearing imaginable.
I’ve learned that a good dry thrashing early on in the life of a bearing can do it a world of good follows by a timely clean and lube.
Try and find a yyf new formula centertrac. Those seem to be made to the same standards as the type i converted 80% of my yoyos to.
This might be the problem.
I thought I read somewhere that alcohol is not good for bearings.
I would use fingernail polish remover and best for me is lighter fluid.
They are more abrasive so they will be better and getting the crud out.
Is this your first responsive throw?
Are you using thick lube?
I would try it with no lube. You might wear out a bearing faster that way, but it will still take years.
Especially if you are using it. I have only had one bearing go sour on me, and it had been sitting on a shelf for a couple years doing nothing.
At very least I would clean it and try it without shields or lube so that you can get a baseline.
Nail polish remover is Aecote with added fragrances, moisturizers, and dyes. Just buy good ole acetone or have your parents bu some for you. Walmart or any hardware store has it for like 5 bucks and itll last you FOR-EV-ERrrrrr
Rubbing alcohol only works if your using 90% or more, but isnt recommended. 70% is too weak to get the job done.
Dont worry about trashing the bearing. they are super cheap to replace IF you do burn one out, but i really dont think it will so long as it doesnt get wet with water.
How long does your bearing spin for with a flick test on the bearing removing tool? 2 seconds? 5 seconds? 10? 20? If its less than 5 something is wrong. Im happy when mine hits 15 to 20 secs on a finger flick.
also, are you de-sheilding the bearings before you try to clean it? its not necessary but can help.
It always confuses me why people hate playing responsive. I understand that unresponsive is easier, but playing and learning to play responsive will make you a better and smoother player. It shouldn’t ruin your yoyo experience.
I always think back to all the classic tricks, they were all created on responsive yoyos. So many other greats besides the one’s below. Just my .02
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You would rather quit yoyoing than to risk playing with a dry bearing?
Everyone of my yoyo’s gets played with dry bearings…Lube does nothing for my yoyo’s but slow them down. If a bearing ever gets too loud or doesn’t play to my liking, it gets yanked out, tossed, and replaced.
Out of curiosity, how often does that happen?
Well lets see…I started playing with bearing-ized yoyo’s back in 1994. Since then I’ve had 3 or 4
go bad. *Hence the reason I don’t use lube in my bearings! 8)
Agreed with the above. I lube my bearings, but I have a pretty strong understanding of why my yoyo might have gone responsive. And if it’s the lube, I try again.
It might be that you’re starting with a defective bearing to begin with. But my experience with the Puffin2 is that the factory lube just took time. It’s possible that your cleaning process didn’t actually work. 
To an earlier comment: my bearings touch water all the time. As long as you dry them, it’s fine. Water won’t instantly corrode your bearing.
Definitely try a different bearing also. Once you realize “Oh, the bearing just isn’t right (yet)”, you can decide to just give up and replace it, try different cleaning strategies, or what.
I HAVE thrown out bearings. Sometimes they just don’t work. There’s such thing as an acceptable failure rate on an assembly line-- there’s no guarantee that your bearing must absolutely 100% be defect-free.
I only lube my bearings to avoid annoying people in the household. Sometimes it does make it responsive especially in conjunction with the string thickness and whether or not the response is new. I learned early on to test the responsiveness before grinding and horizontal fingerspins. It can really bite. Give it some play time and the responsiveness goes away. I’ve also found that most of my CT bearings need cleaning before play. I’ve had three freeze up on me. The Onedrop 10 ball will play smooth without lube but will make a loud sound at some point. I haven’t had it effect play. Your bearing will last a long time even if you play it dry.
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This is what I do and it keeps the bearing smooth and quiet. I have had bearings that were complete tug responsive become completely unresponsive using this process.
- Remove the bearing covers.
- Fill a small cup or container with mineral spirits.
- Drop the bearing in. There should be enough to cover the bearing.
- Use a pin to spin the bearing a little, just to make sure every part gets soaked in mineral spirits.
- Let it sit for about an hour.
- Take it out with a pair of tweezers and use an air canister to dry it completely.
- Using a pin, add two drop of one drop lube directly to two different balls in the bearing.
- Slide the bearing down the point end of a bic pen and flick it with your finger 10 - 20 times so that the lube is evenly dispersed (Avoids any need for break in, in my experience).
- Re-install the bearing and have fun!
I have never had this fail me. Once or twice I’ve had to clean the bearing a second time to make it completely unresponsive, but that is really rare.
Good Luck!
I think GregP nailed it, every once in a while a bad bearing gets through to the consumer. It isn’t anyone’s fault, it is just the nature of manufacturing.
That being said, I do clean bearings with acetone and lube them with either YYF Thin lube (whatever sticks to the head of a pin – which is a fraction of a drop) or the terrapin dry lube (again, very little of the dust). When I find a yoyo is responsive for too long (my own subjective definition of what is too long), I usually reclean, add less lube and move on. Since moving to adding the lube off of a pin, the bearings usually break in in 5-10 throws. When I would just drop a drop of lube into the bearing, it would take days to break in.
As other posters have said, the lube is there to protect the bearing. Any lube will slow the bearing down. I don’t believe that bearings will destroy themselves from use, but, I’m not an engineer, I could be wrong. Certainly, after huge amounts of use the parts will degrade from the friction, but, I would think that would take years.
Finally, I feel your pain with getting hit in the knuckles by a throw you think will be nonresponsive. It isn’t fun and is very frustrating and painful.
french
I never ever lube my bearings. In fact I hate lubed bearings. None of my bearings have gone bad, and really even if they did they are not that expensive, but seriously I would not worry about wearing out your bearings.
I like to use tea tree oil to clean my bearings. it works really well to get the gunk out and then continue to lube my bearings after.
im not sure what the long term effects are of this but i’ve done it to several of my own and they are playing waaay better now. supah-long spins
That’s very interesting! This is one substance I’ve never heard of being used before!