We have a machine we use to demonstrate the oil treatment and grease - it's fairly simple, maybe a bit gimmicky, but it sold me on giving them a try!
It consists of a motor-driven arbor which holds a mild steel wheel about 1 5/8" in diameter, and about 3/8" wide. The rim face of this wheel is not square (parallel to the axis) but is rounded.
The motor which drives it is a 1/3 HP electric, and is connected through an AC ammeter, for an indication of the load placed on it.
The load is provided by a lever system into which is chucked a fresh roller bearing slug that can be brought to bear against the rotating wheel. The pressure of the lever is controlled by a normal torque wrench, which by reading of the card can give a comparitive reading of pressure exerted against the wheel by the slug.
In the oil treatment demo, the wheel runs in a "well" of oil, straight or with treatment added. In the grease treatment demo, the wheel just runs in air.
The preparation for each demonstration consists of thoroughly cleaning the wheel - I use a solvent-soaked rag, and follow up with 180 grit sandpaper.
For the grease demo, we start the motor and coat the rotating wheel (it's running about 500rpm) with a good-quality competitive grease, generally from some oil company or another. Once the wheel is greased, we bring the slug to bear on the wheel, and gradually increase the pressure by compressing the torque wrench. As the reading goes up on the card, a point is soon reached at which the slug/wheel interface begins to smoke, a screeching noise is emitted, the motor current draw increases radically, and the motor is finally stalled. All this happens within the range from 0 to about 20 ft-lbs on the torque wrench. (This is much more than 20 Lbs on the slug.) We take the pressure off, the motor resumes running, the current drops radically, and we put the pressure back on and repeat the process.
Then, without cleaning the wheel, we put a dab of our grease on a finger, and smear it on the rotating wheel. We then repeat the above process.
This time, there's a difference! Now, the wheel can withstand more pressure. MUCH more pressure! In fact, the torque wrench indicator needle will go right off the end of the card - to over 100 Ft-Lbs - and the wheel just keeps rotating away merrily, with no smoke, no increase in current draw, and no noise. We can repeat this as often as you wish, and the results are the same. A RADICAL reduction in drag, even though the pressure is increased by a factor of 5 or more!
Starting friction has is much greater to overcome than than rolling friction. For those who understand this, we then turn the motor off, and turn it back on with full pressure applied to the slug. The motor starts right up, and the roller spins as if there were no pressure at all! And the Ammeter shows no more starting current!
Then, just for fun, we squirt water on the interface while the pressure is at its greatest. The grease withstands water incursion with impunity!
The oil treatment demo is very similar, but this time, we run the roller in a small oil bath. We start with a good-quality oil - I usually use my favourite - Pennzoil (TM) straight 40wt. Then we run through the old torque-wrench/pressure/ammeter routine.
The results are about the same. The maximum readings for the untreated oil are about identical to those for the grease, and once we add some oil treatment to the oil in the well, the pressure can be increased again to right off the card. Starting friction demo is the same, as is the water incursion, although this time we use a mixture of water and anti-freeze. (Anti-freeze is well-known to mechanics as being a real killer of bearings, due, the popular feeling goes, to the anti-freeze breaking down the oil barrier.)
Then, for the finale, we wipe off the bearing slug and the roller with a clean, dry rag. We then turn off the motor, apply full pressure, and do an impression of a "cold start." The motor starts right up, the starting current is minimal, and it runs on full pressure for 10 or 15 seconds before it finally starts to smoke, screech, and eventually stall - but if I back off on the pressure as it runs, it will go for over 30 seconds before it finally does this at the pressure it took for the untreated oil/grease at the beginning!
Now, if that doesn't impress you, you're just a died-in-the-wool cynic! I recognize the signs, because I am, too. That's why, the first time I saw this demo, I didn't immediately pony up the 50 bucks or so to buy a bottle of each of the treatments, and a tube of grease. I did, however, take a card from the nice man, and went home and thought about it. Long story short: since I didn't live in that town, I had to go to some trouble to get some later, since there wasn't a dealer in my town. Now there is: me!
CONCLUSIONS: The conclusions from this demonstration are obvious, but let me summarize anyway:
And it does. See the actual figures elsewhere on this site.