hey everybody i have a question for anyone whom knows the answer,
yesterday, while cleaning a few bearings I accidentally lost a c-clip and now the balls are exposed on one side. Is this a bad thing, did i ruin my bearing or will i just have to clean it a little more often?? Basically I just want to know if it will effect the performance of the yoyo in any way. Also, I used lighter fluid to clean a ceramic bearing which now i’ve heard is not good. Is this true? did I ruin my ceramic?
-Eric H
I know the answer to your first question but not the second, sorry.
The shields on a bearing don’t matter too much, they protect the balls within it and stop any debris going into the bearing whilst playing or moving/storing. You will just have to maintenance your bearings without shields a little more than normal, lubing them more frequently (No shields means nothing to stop lube slipping out of the bearing and onto the yoyo), cleaning more frequently etc.
I always keep my shields on just because I like it, I know others that take the shields off of the bearing before even putting it into the yoyo.
p.s This should really have been posted in the maintenance section of the forum 
Just for future referance.
I have heard cases where lighter fluid has ruined a ceramic bearing.
Lighter fluid will not harm ceramic but acetone better
I’d say a majority of yoyo players keep their shields off for easy lube and clean. You actually are supposed to remove them for cleaning and there really hard to get back on depending on the bearing.