Originally Posted by
SamSam77
After reading some of the purported benefits to using a a waxed chain, as opposed to a liquid ("drop on") lubricant, I wanted to give it a try. This week, I made my first attempt to wax the chain and clearly my efforts did not live up to my expectations, as shown in
this photo of my now rusty chain after only 5 days of use.
To start, “purported” is correct. There is no reason that hot wax is any better than solvent wax (aka “liquid” wax). People seem to think that the more complicated something is, the better it is going to work. Wax dissolved in solvent dripped onto the chain will penetrate just as well (and perhaps better) as hot wax.
To summarize my process, which mirrors other procedures I found online:
I started from a brand new chain (KMC X9.93) and cleaned it by soaking it in mineral spirits for about 24 hours, then soaking it in isopropyl alcohol for another couple of hours, and finally dried the chain before proceeding.
You don’t need to clean the chain as much as people think. If you want to wade through
this thread, I’ve discussed complicated cleaning schemes extensively. Mineral spirits with about a minute of agitation will do everything you need to do in terms of cleaning.
I used ordinary paraffin wax (new, clean, white/clear) without any additives (such as PTFE or MoS2, etc.) and melted it in a water double-boiler at roughly 90 °C.
Gulf canning wax, right? Paraffin wax is quite brittle. Adding in a soft wax, like the wax on the chain will make it a bit more flexible.
Once the chain was cleaned and the wax was melted, I dipped the chain into the wax and agitated it around a bit. A few air bubbles were observed to come off the chain once it was in the molten wax, which I attributed at the time to be trapped air escaping from the small joints between links that was previously 'frozen in' by a thin layer of solid wax that formed immediately after placing the relatively cool metal (acting like a heat sink) into the molten wax. After about an hour of letting the chain rest at the bottom of the pool of molten wax, I lifted the chain out and let it drip for a short time, then set it down to allow it to cool to room temperature. Afterward, the chain was very stiff and I methodically loosened each link by hand to ensure it would move freely. In doing this, little bits of wax did fall of, as expected.
Pretty normal for a waxed chain. Part of the reason that I don’t like hot waxing chains. Too futzy for too little benefit.
I installed the chain on the bike and then rode it around for > 8 miles to 'break it in.' During this break-in time, I noticed that it was not shifting well and would lag behind the gear it was supposed to be in as I moved up/down the ramp, but I did not change anything during the break-in period, or the next day, in case it would self-adjust back to normal. It did not go back to shifting well, so I loosen the derailleur a small amount, which made it shift nearly perfectly.
I’m not sure that your waxing the chain caused the shifting problems. It’s probably just an unfortunate coincidence.
After installing the waxed chain (and the derailleur adjustment), I had several consecutive days of commuting through the rain as well as rain on my bike while it was locked at an outdoor bike rack, while seemingly the chain performed fine. Today was my first dry day and I took the time to actually get down and inspect the chain closely, which is when I found all the rust (see photo, linked above).
I wouldn’t expect an oiled chain to perform any better. Water has an affinity for metal that oil and wax (which are closely related) don’t. Water doesn’t “dissolve” wax and oil but it is denser and can float the lubricant off by infiltrating through cracks for solid lubricants and just settling under the oil for liquid lubricants.
[I expect paraffin to be long-lasting and extremely hydrophobic, not only to repel water quite well but also to resist being washed away by water, and to last at least as long as liquid-based lubricants (if not substantially longer).
It is extremely hydrophobic. But you are putting it down on top of a substance (steel) that doesn’t have much of an affinity for hydrophobic materials.
The exterior parts of the chain (where nothing rubs), where some bits of way are still visible, looks fine (clean and rust-free). However, the interior surfaces and joints, where there is a lot of rubbing (chain-on-chain and chain-on-cassette) are very rusty. It would seem as though the wax came off these regions and left the metal unprotected. Also, I noticed that the cassette, which was also brand new at the same time as the chain, is also covered in darks splotches of material, which I am guessing are bits of dirty wax that came off the chain. Why is this happening? Why didn't the wax stay adhered to the chain? What could/should I have done differently?
Part of the problem with
any lubricant is getting it to stay were it is needed. Liquid…or low viscosity…lubricants will flow when displaced by pressure or gravity. Solid…or high viscosity…lubricants don’t flow when displaced by pressure. Gravity really isn’t a problem with solid lubricants. The properties have good and bad points. With a liquid lubricant (oil), the oil can flow around and around as the chain goes around. Some of it is going to be lost as it drips off which is why it need more to be added from time to time.
The flowing, however, comes with a down side. As the oil moves from inside the chain to the outside and back again, over and over and over, it gathers tiny particles of dust (mostly quartz) that get into the inside of the chain and grind away at the metal bits. Quartz, being harder than steel, wears the steel out and the chain wears out.
Oil is good at keeping the chain quiet during or after rain because it flows in and out of the chain but it is only masking the issue. The water forms an emulsion with the oil and upon sitting, will separate out towards the bottom of any oil that it is sitting on. On a metal face, the water will get under the oil where it can oxidize the metal but the oil covers the sounds you might expect from a rusty chain. The bottom line is that grit grinds the chain and water helps oxidize the chain. The chain wears out, probably in about 3000 miles.
Wax also has a down side. As the wax is squeezed out of the contact points, it can’t flow back into the gaps. The solid wax won’t gather grit that can damage the chain because it fills the gaps and keeps the grit out of the chain. However, the contact point is staved of lubrication and starts to grind metal on metal. The chain wears out, probably in about 3000 miles. When water gets into the contact points through cracks in the wax, it rusts the contact points and the chain squeaks. The oiled chain just doesn’t squeak because the oil keeps the sound down.
Solvent wax lubricants don’t protect any better than either oil or hot wax. They have the same issues as hot wax. The only advantage is that they can be easily applied and they don’t get as dirty as the oil lubricants.
Basically, there is no way to win. A chain is either going to be ground into metal shavings by grit in the oil or ground into metal shavings because of the metal on metal friction. Pick your poison. I choose solvent wax because it is easy and clean.