Every unresponsive yoyo I get ends up becoming responsive. It’s getting pretty agitating buying new ones. Now I know I need to apply the smallest amount of thin lube. but each time I do it becomes responsive. I also have tried letting it stay dry but it’s responsive yet again. How do you apply thin lube correctly and what kind should I get brand wise.
Adding lube to the bearing actually makes the yoyo more responsive. That being said you just want to put a tiny dot of lube on a couple of the balls if you want to use lube. I prefer to not use lube and play my bearings dry. Any of the thin lubes available at yoyoexpert are fine. You want thin lube though, not thick lube.
I use this:
If you are using a yoyo that was at one time unresponsive and now is responsive even with a clean dry bearing then it sounds like there’s a different problem than the bearing.
It could also mean the bearing just needs a good thorough cleaning.
Lube is great if you want a yoyo to be quieter and “smoother”, and maybe add a little to the bearing’s longevity, but it will also reduce its spin time and unresponsiveness to a degree. It’s a trade-off.
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Could it be the string?
Probably not the string. To clarify, did you clean the bearing?
If your yoyo has a very narrow string gap and you string it up with a thick string, then you could end up engaging the response system when you don’t want it to. But if you have a yoyo that has been perfectly unresponsive with the string that’s already on it, and it starts to become responsive, it’s not going to be because of the string (which will have stretched and thinned out over time).
The ULTIMATE LUBE METHOD™ is here
That said if you are having difficulty with lubing and don’t care how noisy your bearing will be (and you live in a dry climate), it is easier to just clean the bearing in some pure acetone / rubbing alcohol / lighter fluid and then dry it out.