@ AaronW: I totally agree with you about your view on responsive yoyos. I totally miss using Freehand 2’s from Sport Chalet and burning through countless friction stickers, all the while actually not know what vibe was 
1 Like
I also use the terrapin dry lube (i not longer use the YYF thin lube except for conditioning my side effects’ O-rings and I also like to add a drop to the threads for silky unscrewing if needed. I ahve found terrapin dry lube to be the exception of lubes. While any “wet” lube WILL slow any bearing down, but make them quieter, but I found that the dry lube increases spin time dramatically.
Acetone and Dry lube is the magic combo as far as im concerned. Once you get the hang of it that is. hahaa
I’ve been using 90% Rubbing Alcohol, then flick dry the bearing to get all the alcohol out, and I’ll do a tiny drop of YYJ thin lube. Within about 10 minutes the bearing’s broken in and is dead unresponsive, smooth, and quiet.
Also some response systems are snaggy. I was wondering why my DV888 was snapping back unexpectedly and realized it came with a thin bearing (how on earth did I not catch that?) and used thick pads that actually stuck out of the recessed areas. Definitely set up for a newer player and requires a bit of work to get it to unresponsive play.
Responsive yoyos made me keep on yoyoing. Weird.
1 Like
(Warning… This post contains many many words. Some may not have the attention span or open mind to deal with the information. Some Yoyodoc haters will not even care if any of the following information is indeed helpful to any extent whatsoever. They will just Whine about the length of the post and suggest the length of the post dismisses any useful information it may contain. Please don’t hurt yourself reading this post if you have nothing to add but crying like a baby.
I use Margarine on my bearings because it makes me feel like a King.
…But seriously, I will share some factual insight into this situation.
let me use another bearing for an example. A Skateboard bearing. A Skateboard bearing would technically be considered a ‘load bearing’ bearing. Put the bearings in the wheels… wheels on the trucks… trucks on the board… and you standing on the board. And I have seen guys that have to weigh over 200 pounds on Skateboards, lol. The bearings are supporting your bodyweight; hence, load bearing.
Bearings used in yoyos are also considered ‘load bearing’ bearings. Fortunately the bearings used in yoyos are not subjected to ‘weight bearing loads’. And many bearings are manufactured to withstand many thousands of RPMs more than they are subjected to by even the most powerful throwing yoyo players on Earth.
Lets move on to ‘lube’. Anytime the parts of a yoyo bearing move, there is friction. Parts microscopically eating each other alive. Lube obviously has an excellent and necessary application for uses like Skateboard bearings because the lube reduces the wear created by the heat and friction of the parts moving while some Monster is pounding the Skateboard into the pavement. <If you don’t keep your Skate Bearings lubed, you know what happens soon enough. They grind to a halt.
Yoyo Bearings are not subjected to the pressure of Downward Loads. You are not standing on your yoyos. So Yoyo bearings fall into a completely different category of wear from use.
For this reason it is much less necessary to ‘oil’ yoyo bearings. Think of it this way. Load creates friction. Friction creates heat. Heat facilitates wear to all metal contact points.
This wear factor is Maximized in Hard Skateboard use, but minimized in yoyo applications.
Yoyo bearings can do quite well without any lube at all.
No doubt you have to start with a good quality bearing. Many different grades of bearings are used in yoyos. Just because you have a good yoyo does no mean you have the Best Stock bearing. The yoyo could be great, but the bearing that comes with the yoyo may be a ‘dog’.
I seldom lube bearings. When I do I usually use One Drop VM4. I usually run my bearings shield free. They get ‘dirty faster’ without shields. But then again they are much easier to clean without shields, lol.
I NEVER use Lighter fluid. Lighter fluid is an Excellent cleaner. But I don’t use it for that very reason. It cleans TOO Well. It literally removes All lubricant from bearing surfaces. Seriously it is too effective. Once you have No lubrication, things go south sooner than later. That is why some people notice after they have cleaned a bearing with Lighter Fluid, it will actually get more noisy. It isn’t noisy because it is ‘Clean’. It is Noisy because it to Squeaky clean.
That is why it is actually better to use milder solvents to clean a bearing without completely sucking all lube from bearing surfaces like Lighter Fluid.
Mineral spirits is fine.
I use Alcohol. I try to find the 90 percent grade. It is not that hard to find, you just have to look around. I pour it into a Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner. I clean a lot of bearings. For just occasionally cleaning a few bearings a small jar with a good sealing top will do just fine. Especially if the shields are removed. You just have to do a little shaking. With no shields on my bearings, it sure doesn’t take more than a few minutes in the tank. I take em out of the cleaner with a pair of tweezers and set them on a few paper towels or put em directly on a pencil and spin them several times with the thumb on my free hand. Then while still on the pencil, I put a drop of the VM4 lube into the bearing. I immediately flick the bearing and spin it on the pencil several times to move the lube around. I take the bearing off the pencil and hold it between my thumb and index finger. I get a can of compressed air and give the bearing a few short blasts to blow out most of the lube. I don’t want to ‘blow it all out’ like a tornado, lol.
The bearing parts will be pretty much coated with a tiny film of oil. The little blasts of air are just to remove some of the residual oil that might create a small amount of drag that may cause the yoyo to be too responsive. Remember the yoyo bearing is not being subjected to a weight load, so the need for serious amounts of lube has no advantage.
Also you have to consider other factors that may assist in causing or minimizing Drag and creating responsiveness or lack of same: String you use… String tension… Brake pads(type and/or condition)…etc.
Sometimes the bearing is not the primary problem when you have a responsive yoyo giving you a pain in the backside. Sticky pads, dirty string, thick strings or certain string material blends can make your yoyo come back in a big hurry.
If you get too anal about ‘my bearing’ is totally to blame for everything I hate about my yoyo; then your focus on problem solving is way too narrow. Sometimes you can simply change ‘1’ pad in the yoyo. Not even both. Just take out one sticky feeling pad and replace it with one that is not sticky at all. Or take out one pad and install a thinner pad so the pad wont even be flush mounted any more. Real simple changes once you get into the mindset of all aspects of what makes a yoyo a ‘bind back yoyo or a tug responsive yoyo’.
This is definitely a learn by doing situation. The OP obviously is more frustrated because at his early learning stages of yo-yoing, he is just not well versed in Yoyo problem solving.
Sometimes people solve their problem by quitting. That is not a solution. That option just removes you from having to solve the actual problem.
I find it interesting how so many yoyo players want to tackle that hardest yoyo tricks, yet are not up to the challenge of getting their equipment to function properly. Getting your yoyo to play the way you want it to is a trick in itself.
Take the challenge.
5 Likes
Alcohol is the way to go.
Vibe is just a yoyo enhancement, kind of like Hub Stacks. It’s cool ;D
I’ve been playing dry almost exclusively, along with most people around here (my country). Let me tell you, just as Doc said there is not enough “weight” or rpm of the yoyo that may cause the bearing to fail by using it dry. I have zero amount of bearing that “wear out” because of playing it dry over the years.
Even if we theoretically say that the bearing will wear out anyway, it will be long enough that you most likely have put that yoyo down and used the newer ones, it will be totally dinged out, or the yoyo already broke, or you got something inside the bearing that you can’t clean. And when for some reason it happens, simply buy another bearing. You would have spent tons of money for strings, pads, and stuff that a bearing doesn’t cost anything compared to it.
The question is, do you prefer having all the hassle of breaking in and having inconsistent response just for the sake of getting that little cheap bearing work for like 20 years, or simply play it dry and having consistent unresponsiveness?
Also, completely clean bearings sounds “clean”, it’s not loud except for some yoyos where even lubed bearing doesn’t help (usually plastic yoyos). If it’s suddenly sounds or play gritty, stop using it and clean it right away. As long as you take care of it, a bearing will last you pretty much forever even when played dry. That may not apply on skateboards or bikes or RC models, but it’s not a problem for the lightweight, low rpm yoyos.
I like a TINY amount of lube for the smooth and quiet performance, but I totally agree that it’s not necessary. Run dry and be free. 
1 Like