Reel Grease

[GoTakeANap]

What is a good reel grease i can purchase from somewhere?

[MarkH024]

Shimano Drag Star Grease. TW.  $5.99      It'll last you a very long time.

[BrettD]

The shimano stuff is pretty good I use cals drag greese. Its around $7 and I got it from the tackletrap the little container it comes in will probably last 10 years at the pace I use it.

[OkeechobeeAngler]

Hot Sauce

[Bass Junkie]

Hot Sauce

Don't... It might be a good grease, but it's red dye will taint everything, and it had a nasty effect on Shimano's Septon knobs. 

[OkeechobeeAngler]

Worked fine on all my fresh and saltwater reels with no problems.

[BrettD]

Don't... It might be a good grease, but it's red dye will taint everything, and it had a nasty effect on Shimano's Septon knobs. 

Same reason I quit using it.

[TiNuts]

Don't... It might be a good grease, but it's red dye will taint everything, and it had a nasty effect on Shimano's Septon knobs. 

Like what? I've never had any issues with it. It has cleaned off all my gears without staining anything. I've never gotten any on my handles.

[retiredbosn]

Hot sauce grease breaks down quickly, attracts dirt like a magnet, stays on everything but the gears. Alot of reel smiths will not use it. The oil is good though if u have hybrid bearings.

[Bass Junkie]

It will stain practically any material capable of being stained, from your clothes, to the cork on the rod. It is especially annoying on some Shimano's, which you have to partially disassemble to adjust the breaks. And it deteriorates the Septon knobs, and makes them sticky. 

[TrippyJai]

I use Shimano Drag Star Grease because I can put it on my Carbontex drag as well.

[rockchalk06]

I use Rig Gun Grease. I've had the same tube for 5 years. It's like 8 bucks.

[BobP]

I like Superlube grease.  It's a white translucent grease fortified with PTFE (aka Teflon) and works great on reel gears and other parts.  You can buy it at auto supply stores (NAPA carries it) in little squeeze tubes for around $3 or you can buy an 8 oz can (lifetime supply) for under $10.  Good stuff.  Shimano Drag Grease is a thick, sticky cosmoline based grease for drag disks (Cal's and Penn Muscle grease are similar).  If you want your drag to work right for any length of time, use only drag grease on its disks.  Drag grease can do double duty as a gear grease and is especially good if you have gears that are not meshing together smoothly.  But regular grease like Superlube is slicker on good gears, IMO.   

[Quitlimpin]

I use cal's on my drags. Just broke down and reassembled my Calcutta and used NAPA sil-glide on the gears. It's the only grease that I use on brake caliper slides. Thought I'd give it a shot on a reel. I haven't had it out too much yet, but so far-so good.

[0119]

There's drag grease and there's gear grease, which are we talking about? Gear grease should never be used on a drag. Yamaha marine lube is good for gears.

The shimano rep posted here years ago that hot sauce will void your warranty.

[5fishlimit]

I use the Ardent line.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

No magic here, just like bearing oil. Drag grease can do double duty otherwise any good quality grease preferably with corrosion inhibitors added will work fine. The Super Lube or marine grease are good choices. I'm not a fan of the Hot Sauce as it gums up too much.

[TiNuts]

You guys that are having problems with hot sauce, how long are you keeping it in your reels? How often do you fish? I'm not arguing for hot sauce, I just haven't had any of the problems I'm reading about. I do clean and regrease my reels once a year just for something to do over the winter, and I don't get to fish nearly as often as I'd like.

I'm just curious if it really is a substandard grease and I should switch, or if its ok for my lighter use.

[OnthePotomac]

I have seen elsewhere where Yamaha Marine grease is gaining in popularity for frame bearings and gears.  Only the Yamaha Marine blue though. The  other Yamaha gease is a general purpose grease.

[Bass Junkie]

You guys that are having problems with hot sauce, how long are you keeping it in your reels? How often do you fish? I'm not arguing for hot sauce, I just haven't had any of the problems I'm reading about. I do clean and regrease my reels once a year just for something to do over the winter, and I don't get to fish nearly as often as I'd like.

I'm just curious if it really is a substandard grease and I should switch, or if its ok for my lighter use.

I had the misfortune of owning two Quantum's that came with it already inside, both of which are no longer in my rotation, for multiple reasons. I also own a Shimano Cardiff 100A that has been out twice, and it is lubed with Hot Sauce. It will not be so equipped for long. I tend to put long hours on my reels, and therefore they tend to get re-oiled every two trips and re-lubed around two times a year, some more, some less. For lighter fishing in moderate climates, it should last until you break the reel down at the end of the year.

[Maico1]

While ordering drag grease from Shimano this morning I asked the question would using Hot Sauce on the gears void the warranty. The answer was no.....

[BobP]

I don't use Hot Sauce oil or grease because the red dye migrates all over the interior of the reel.  I've not seen any specs on the grease but a material scientist on another cite tested bearing oils and the Hot Sauce oil came out very good in lubricity, viscosity, and maintained its viscosity in a wide range of temperatures.  Too bad they insist on the red dye - it's a killer for me.

[Capt.Bob]

Cal's drag grease anywhere grease is used. Great stuff, Shimano drag grease is excellent also, the only two I use when I service reels, spinning or casting.