What Kind Of Reel Lube Do You Prefer? 2025
unionman reply :
I searched for a related topic and surprisingly didnt find one. Ive got three new baitcasters and I was looking for a good, long lasting lube. Quantum had some I looked at when I got my reel but it was rediculously expensive($20). Recommendations?
aavery2 reply :
Take a look at TG's RocketFuel and Cal's drag grease.
Fishing Rhino reply :
In the overall scheme of things reel lube/grease will be one of the cheapest products you will buy. Compared to fuel, line, baits, etc., twenty bucks ain't much, when you consider how many times you can use it to lube your reels.
I'd stick with the brand of lube the reel maker recommends. Some like Hot Sauce, if memory serves, is not compatible with all reels. It can literally ruin internal parts of some brands from what I've read on this forum. You may pay more, but you won't go wrong using the products with the manufacturers name on them.
RyneB reply :
iv used hot sauce, but once i switched all my reels over to Abus, i started using Reel Butter and i love it.
BASSclary reply :
I use Ardents products in all my reels, and it's very nice in my opinion
Michael DiNardo reply :
I'd like to see JFrancho's and DVT's opinions on this topic.
Mike
Jaheff reply :
Cal's original grease on gears and drags,cheap walmart marine grease in non spool bearings, and oust for spool bearings.
Jake P reply :
Astroglide
unionman reply :
On 5/29/2012 at 8:21 AM, Fishing Rhino said:In the overall scheme of things reel lube/grease will be one of the cheapest products you will buy. Compared to fuel, line, baits, etc., twenty bucks ain't much, when you consider how many times you can use it to lube your reels.
I'd stick with the brand of lube the reel maker recommends. Some like Hot Sauce, if memory serves, is not compatible with all reels. It can literally ruin internal parts of some brands from what I've read on this forum. You may pay more, but you won't go wrong using the products with the manufacturers name on them.
Well put.
Stasher1 reply :
On 5/29/2012 at 11:44 AM, Packman89 said:Astroglide
Not reel-related, but I found KY liquid to be the best lubricant for putting window seals in my VW. It's water-soluable, non-staining, won't dissolve rubber, and it's as slippery as wet goose turds.
baluga reply :
TSI 301
.RM. reply :
27 yrs reel servicing.
We use our Lithium Gold Grease, have recently added Cals (depending on the regon the reel is in).
Oil is our RM reel oil (same viscosity as Shimano's) ...
FYI only use Quantum HS in Quantum reels!!!
Tight Lines All! 
LgMouthGambler reply :
Ardent has a nice little kit that has grease, lube, cleaner, a brush, foam applicators, etc. I think its like $25.
J Francho reply :
I don't have a solid, single answer. In a general sense, Cal's light grease (purple stuff) works well, so does Shimano Star Drag Grease, and Dave's gold grease holds up really well. For oil, Bantam oil is hard to beat. You really have to take into account how the reel is going to be used to develop the best lube strategy. Little things, like packing knob bearings in grease, or just oil make a big difference to some users.
SoFlaBassAddict reply :
Shimano Grease
Cal's light drag grease
Shimano Oil
The first two I've found work about the same. No noticeable difference to me. Both are great products. The Bantam oil has worked flawlessly for me for years. If I ever run out, I'll be buying more of it. I've tried Abu and Daiwa oil and found the Shimano stuff to work a little better IMO. Mind you, I've also got a stockpile of Shimano oil lying around that came with my reels....
TrippyJai reply :
I use Shimano Star Drag Grease and Bantam Oil on my Shimano reels and they work fine. Have no had a problem for a couple seasons now.
Delaware Valley Tackle reply :
Lube brand is much less important than proper application combined with cleaning. Adding new lube on top of old can do more harm than good. Once everything is clean a marine grade grease will work and you may have some already. If you're going to buy, using Cal's drag grease on the gears as well as drag lets you keep one less product laying around. The Super Lube synthetic works well but is not suitable for drags. I would not recommend Hot Sauce grease for any reel. It gums up too much.
The same applies to bearings. Flush them completely before relubing and use one of the quality lubes available. I like Yellow Rocket Fuel and currently use Boca Speed Oil if I want lighter vis. One small drop is all you need on a spool bearing so a tube of the Bantam oil will last a long time. Non-spool bearings can be packed with grease or oiled more heavily. I use a middle ground and give them a bath in 90w-140 gear lube.
Dr. Watson reply :
I haven't used the Hot Sauce grease, I probably won't ever now that I've read this; but for me, I use Ardent reel butter grease on my gears and drag (light coating), Hot Sauce bearing lube on my spool bearings, and then ardent reel butter bearing lube on the other bearings. To clean and degrease I use the Mil-com reel cleaner sold under the Bass Pro name. This system has worked awesome for me and keeps everything very smooth and clean. I have also used dry lube, like Remington dry teflon lube, for the worm gear; it seems to work very well, but it does need to be re applied after a few outings as it does get washed out a little. I mainly like to use the reel butter grease on my worm gear (light coat)
0119 reply :
Shimano wont warranty their reels if they find remnants of hot sauce inside. For spinning reels and gearing I use Yamaha marine grease. Baitcasters get Reel-X oil. All drags get Cals Drag Grease.
unionman reply :
On 5/30/2012 at 9:32 PM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:Lube brand is much less important than proper application combined with cleaning. Adding new lube on top of old can do more harm than good. Once everything is clean a marine grade grease will work and you may have some already. If you're going to buy, using Cal's drag grease on the gears as well as drag lets you keep one less product laying around. The Super Lube synthetic works well but is not suitable for drags. I would not recommend Hot Sauce grease for any reel. It gums up too much.
The same applies to bearings. Flush them completely before relubing and use one of the quality lubes available. I like Yellow Rocket Fuel and currently use Boca Speed Oil if I want lighter vis. One small drop is all you need on a spool bearing so a tube of the Bantam oil will last a long time. Non-spool bearings can be packed with grease or oiled more heavily. I use a middle ground and give them a bath in 90w-140 gear lube.
I am new to baitcasting and have been trying to find videos on "greasing" a reel. There are plenty on cleaning and oiling, which I have done, but I want to know how to pack bearings and grease my gears and drag. I plan on getting Boca Bearing upgrades for both my Quantum TE's and my Smoke so I need to learn these things well.
p.s. I tried quantum hot sauce and it worked great. It added distance to my cast and made my reel more quiet. I hope it doesnt get gummy like you said. It should be the perfect product for what they charge for it...
Delaware Valley Tackle reply :
On 5/31/2012 at 7:08 PM, 119 said:Shimano wont warranty their reels if they find remnants of hot sauce inside. For spinning reels and gearing I use Yamaha marine grease. Baitcasters get Reel-X oil. All drags get Cals Drag Grease.
I don't know Shimano's policy on warrantees regarding lube, but if this their policy it is a total cop out and should be challenged if experienced. Some automakers tried this in the 80s and it didn't work out so well for them. I'm not a fan of the Hot sauce lubes. There are better choices but in all fairness they won't cause a self destruction.
unionman reply :
*I tried Hot Sauce Oil, not grease...*
Delaware Valley Tackle reply :
Some drags are designed to be run dry. If they are greased it must bebd one a drag specific grease by rubbing a film over the fiber washers. Gears are greased by applying a thin coat pressed into the teeth with something like a small craft brush. It's not necessary to pack the gear teeth. Most of the grease squeezes out and just makes a mess. To properly pack a bearing requires a special tool. Just to maintain your own I'd suggest just a heavy oil, for non-spool bearings this is. You'll need all 3 bearings for an upgrade to be effective.
0119 reply :
That was straight from Bantam, back when he had a page here. Miss those days
unionman reply :
On 5/31/2012 at 8:51 PM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:Some drags are designed to be run dry. If they are greased it must bebd one a drag specific grease by rubbing a film over the fiber washers. Gears are greased by applying a thin coat pressed into the teeth with something like a small craft brush. It's not necessary to pack the gear teeth. Most of the grease squeezes out and just makes a mess. To properly pack a bearing requires a special tool. Just to maintain your own I'd suggest just a heavy oil, for non-spool bearings this is. You'll need all 3 bearings for an upgrade to be effective.
I went to Boca's site and they only have a 'two bearing upgrade' ,and an 'eight bearing upgrade'. I just want to upgrade the spool bearings on my Quantum Tour Edition. Which three do you mean and how do I find the exact size of the third bearing ,for ordering, if its not in the upgrade kit already?
POPRG reply :
Got 3 tubes of quantum hot sauce oil a few years back thrown in a clearance bin by mistake,but they honored the yellow sticker price of 50% off..was always hesitant to buy it from the mixed reviews i've read on line,but for the price i figured what the heck..
Its been running for over 2 [heavy-use!] seasons in a 200 E7,zillion sha,revos and now recently a lews PT. The difference in my E7 after a complete break-down/re-lube was insane! I never knew it could cast that well! I'm pretty sure any other high quality oil would have worked as well,but i was very impressed and so were a few others that tried it.
I work on all my own reels [and curse a lot!] and have never seen any ill effects to them caused by the HS oil..i have NEVER used the grease,still have a huge tub of super-lube & cals,so that may be a different story as to reel damage,but i think many people are getting the 2 mixed up.
Not sure if i'll buy it again,there are many good products out there now,but i'm just finishing up the first tube! i know im in the very small minority here,but so far,ive been very pleased with the HS oil performance.
Delaware Valley Tackle reply :
On 5/31/2012 at 10:18 PM, unionman said:I went to Boca's site and they only have a 'two bearing upgrade' ,and an 'eight bearing upgrade'. I just want to upgrade the spool bearings on my Quantum Tour Edition. Which three do you mean and how do I find the exact size of the third bearing ,for ordering, if its not in the upgrade kit already?
My first suspicion was that they weren't including the bearing under the pinion gear but it's actually the crank side bearing under the control cap that's not in the kit. I have no idea why but I'll contact Boca and let them know. I think the missing one measures 3x8x4. I think I have one staged for service that I can measure. Bearings are sized by IDxODxW(thickness). You'll need a caliper or take it to a shop that has one.
unionman reply :
On 6/1/2012 at 12:34 AM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:My first suspicion was that they weren't including the bearing under the pinion gear but it's actually the crank side bearing under the control cap that's not in the kit. I have no idea why but I'll contact Boca and let them know. I think the missing one measures 3x8x4. I think I have one staged for service that I can measure. Bearings are sized by IDxODxW(thickness). You'll need a caliper or take it to a shop that has one.
Thats what I figured too. That they werent inluding the bearing under the tension control cap. Kinda weird. The video I watched on youtube for the smoke series had a three bearing replacement too...
unionman reply :
By the way I have a TE101HPT
unionman reply :
On 6/1/2012 at 12:34 AM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:My first suspicion was that they weren't including the bearing under the pinion gear but it's actually the crank side bearing under the control cap that's not in the kit. I have no idea why but I'll contact Boca and let them know. I think the missing one measures 3x8x4. I think I have one staged for service that I can measure. Bearings are sized by IDxODxW(thickness). You'll need a caliper or take it to a shop that has one.
Thats what I figured too. That they werent inluding the bearing under the tension control cap. Kinda weird. The video I watched on youtube for the smoke series had a three bearing replacement too...
BobP reply :
Yellow Rocket Fuel, Superlube Grease, Shimano Ace-2 Drag grease, Reel Butter oil (non spool bearings).
There are lots of good spool bearing oils nowadays. Which is best depends on to what extent that last 5% of casting performance is important to you, how often you want to relube high speed spool bearings and the temperatures you fish in. Lower viscosity oils perform better but it's a trade-off because they get thrown out of bearings faster than higher viscosity oils. Temperature is important because the viscosity of most bearing oils tends to increase substantially below 50F. Yellow Rocket Fuel does this but I seldom fish in cold temps, so it's not an issue for me. It's a good "middle of the road" high speed bearing oil. Superlube is a white grease fortified with PTFE and works excellently well in reels. An 8 oz can of the stuff is reasonably priced at many NAPA stores and will last almost a lifetime. Don't lube a drag with anything other than a drag grease like Cal's or Shimano. They are based on thick/sticky cosmoline grease and that's what drags need to keep working properly.
QUAKEnSHAKE reply :
On 5/31/2012 at 7:08 PM, 119 said:Shimano wont warranty their reels if they find remnants of hot sauce inside. For spinning reels and gearing I use Yamaha marine grease. Baitcasters get Reel-X oil. All drags get Cals Drag Grease.
I emailed Shimano about this and this is the reply I received
"It will not void the warranty but we do not suggest using their lubricants in our reels. We have seen some damage occur on certain reel models from their lubricants. We only suggest our lubricants that were designed to work with our products."
I picked-up Rem Oil seems to work well
unionman reply :
On 6/2/2012 at 11:41 AM, QUAKEnSHAKE said:I emailed Shimano about this and this is the reply I received
"It will not void the warranty but we do not suggest using their lubricants in our reels. We have seen some damage occur on certain reel models from their lubricants. We only suggest our lubricants that were designed to work with our products."
I picked-up Rem Oil seems to work well
This sounds like some BS. How would a lube damage a reel? If anything, it may attract dirt or something and gum up your reel but thats your fault for not cleaning it.( Not aimed at you quake, but Shimano) Sounds like a , DONT USE ANY "XYZ" PRODUCT BUT OURS! Its usually followed by, "Damage will occur" or "You risk poor performance"...blah blah
Do you guys think when they say this that it has nothing to do with money?
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