Had a shop owner tell me to use grease on bottom bracket threads. He was wrong.

I've been wrenching for about 8 years now and always used anti-seize on my bottom bracket threads like I was taught. Old guy who runs a shop near me in Portland said I was being lazy and that grease works fine for aluminum frames with steel BBs. Tried it on my personal bike last month and three weeks later I heard a creak on a climb. Pulled it apart and the threads were already showing some wear and galling. Anti-seize costs like eight bucks a tube and lasts a year. Why would you risk a frame for that? Anyone else run into this advice from older mechanics who swear by grease for everything?

2 comments

2 Comments

angelaellis1mo agoMost Upvoted

Does @taylor.mary think my bike knows it's getting garage-grade grease instead of fancy paste?

taylor.mary1mo ago

I rebuild old Schwinns for fun and I've been using good old Park Tool grease on my bottom bracket threads for over 12 years now, and I've never once had a creak or galling issue. You probably just didn't put enough on or you got a little dirt in there when you threaded it in. The thing is, anti-seize is basically just grease with some metal particles in it, so regular grease already does the same job for a fraction of the cost. Also, if you're getting galling on aluminum threads in just three weeks, that sounds more like a frame with a manufacturing defect or cross-threading than a grease problem. I've pulled apart bikes I built in 2016 with nothing but standard grease on the BB threads and they come apart smooth as butter every single time.