Yamaha Blue Marine Grease vs Corrosion X Grease

[farnorthlbg]

Hi all!

Well, after having used Yamaha yamalube blue marine grease for the past 9 years on customers reels (and my own), Im finally convinced on my switch-over to CorrosionX grease.

Ive been trialing the CorrosionX grease for the past couple of years on a handful of clients reels which are victims to some of the worst conditions a reel can be subject to (big game trolling reels on long distance vessels).  I received back 6 x Tiagra 80's that I rebuilt with CorrosionX grease 2 years ago that had skipped thier 'annual' service.

Normally after an annual service when using Yamaha blue marine grease, I would notice on areas with moving/sliding/rotating parts that had been greased like the attention plunger, gear shift mechanism, drag lever-to-cam interface, crank end spool bearing, head/main bearing etc. that the grease in these areas would be suffering from water emulsification (distinguishable by the very lite blue almost white colour the yamalube changes to when its mixed with water).

Upon inspecting this team of 80's and knowing exactly the abuse they would have been through (multiple huge blue marlin, striped marlin, black marlin, swordfish, rinsing few and far between and not forgetting they hadnt seen my workshop in 2yrs), I was amazed to see there was no emulsification or visible wash-out in these normally prone areas with the CorrosionX grease.

From my experiences, I can defenitely say that the superiority of CorrosionX's Calcium Sulfonate base soap in comparison to Yamaha's blue marine grease with its Lithium base soap that its not just noticable on paper but more importantly, on the field.

Dont get me wrong, I still really like and will always use the Yamalube grease on allot of reels, its just great to know theres a 'next level' grease out there that actually lives upto its hideous price!

Anyone else had any good or bad experiences with CorrosionX grease, would be keen to hear youre thiughts?

Cheers!

Jon

[sdlehr]

Thanks for posting, this is interesting. I'm following the discussion.

Sid

[Bryan Young]

Hi Jon,

I really like CorrosionX grease. It's just hard to find here in the states and a little expensive. Other than that, it's excellent. I got my grease from Germany.

Bryan

[handi2]

I have an account with CorrosionX in the USA. Discounts on case products only. It takes a long time to go through a case of grease. I'm not using it that much anymore. When the reels come back they are fine but the grease just looks too nasty. Does that make any sense???

[Cadman]

Interesting read. I have been using Penn grease, how much different is that from Yamaha Blue or Corrosion X Grease? All the reels I clean are fresh water.

[Rancanfish]

Cadman, in fresh water only usage, you are doing fine with your choice of grease.  I'd let you work on mine if I wasn't already doing it.

[farnorthlbg]

I hear ya Bryan!  Ive managed to locate a supplier with limited stock here in New Zealand.  A 15oz caulk retails at $39NZ where a 14oz caulk of Yamaha Blue Marine greases retails here for just over $16NZ so its over double the price.

Understandably though, greases using over-based calcium sulfonate complex thickeners are complicated and expensive to manufacture.  I geuss its a case of you get what you pay for.

handi2 a case would be real nice haha!  I know what you mean by its appearance, it looks terrible!  Appearance has no significance to me though, performance is paramount.

Cadman, I havnt actually used the Penn grease personally and cant seem to find its chemical makeup anywhere (other than its manufactured by X-1R corp) but judging by its cheaper price I wouldnt be suprised if it was comprised of a Lithium based soap (not Lithium-complex) and a mineral oil lubricant like most general purpose and marine greases, with maybe added tackifiers and anti-corrosion additives.  Much like the Yamaha blue marine grease.  I cant remember how similar the viscocity of Penn grease is to the Yamaha blue grease which is NLGI class 2.

The CorrosionX grease with its over-based calcium sulfonate complex soap (the soap/thickener is the 'heart' of any grease) is a totally different animal chemically.  Calcium Sulfonate complex thickeners have better lubricity properties, lower bleed-out/seperation, a higher drop-point temperature, exceptional resistance to corrosion and oxidation (this is the sulfides shining through) even in the presence of high chloride concentrations like in saltwater enviroments and also very water resistant.  This is just the nature of the soap let alone any 'additives'.

If I want to lower the viscosity for areas like around the cross-wind block/supports and worm drives on spinning reels I just mix it with ReelX or CorrosionX till I get the consistancy I desire.  Its very versatile.

I just hope I keep seeing reels Ive previously serviced come back to me with no water homogenised with the grease and Ill keep using it.

Jon

[Cadman]

Hey guys, Thank You for all the info. Very good read.

[Ruffy]

Hi Jon,
You mentioned that Penn was most likely a Lithium based soap, not a Lithium Complex. Is a Lithium complex better again? The reason I ask is that I don't understand the numbers but I have been using Inox MX8, it is a lithium complex and I am wondering how it'd stack up. http://www.inoxmx.com/msds/mx8-technical-data-msds/

Cheers,
Andrew

[farnorthlbg]

Hiya Ruffy

Yes I can say I have good experience with INOX MX8 grease, I used it extensively before I swapped over to the Yamaha yamalube blue marine grease.  The reason I stopped using the MX8 is I noticed no improvement in performance with the MX8 compared to yamalube.  The MX8 retails for around $30NZ per 500gm's so it is considerably more expensive than the yamalube so it was a no-brainer to run with the Yamalube. 

They are both Lithium-complex greases with varied additives to form thier complex.  They both have NLGI class 2 viscocities and both are quite particulated/granulated in texture.  For the MX8, im pretty sure this is due to the added PTFE polymers.  Im not sure what the added particulates are for the yamalube marine grease but they are coarse and very noticable.  I cant seem to find an MSDS or a data sheet for the yamalube explaining its chemical makep anywhere, other than its advertised as a 'Lithium Base'.  It would be nice if they could provide this info unless Im just not looking hard enough (does anyone out there have these details for the yamalube they woul like to share?).

The MX8 seemed to suffer the same degree of water emulsification as the yamalube does.  Couldnt say one suffered worse than the other, very similar.

I may seem a little anal with regards to water being homogenised with grease, but its no secret this is a major cause of premature failure/ware  in rolling element bearings.  To what dregree in our application (fishing reels, low-load low-speed) Im uncertain of.

Ruffy, do you have a link of the MSDS for the Penn Reel grease?

Jon