Bicycle Bearing casing disintegrating
 

Recently, last week I applied coating of MAG1 lithium grease to my Mom's beach cruiser and now today the casing of the ball bearings has disintegrated into shards of metal pieces. Why on earth would this lithium grease do this when it states it is a "Break-in lubrication for bearings".

No judgement intendended, but Are you certain that you put the retainers in the correct way?

There is no evidence that a lubricant has any breakdown ability on metal parts. Breakdown after a week is also a bit weird without some type of mechanical influence.

Sounds like you put the bearing cage in backwards..........

Thank you gentlemen. I was working on another bicycle and thought the orientation of the bearing cage would be the same. I was wrong, thanks for pointing this out.

Also note that greases are often not compatible with each other. Mixing them can result in lubrication failure. If you intend to regrease anything, the only safe way is to thoroughly clean out all of the old grease before putting new grease in.