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By ed.lazda
#40179
WD40 is a petroleum based product, consisting mainly of "aliphatic hydrocarbons" (like naphtha or white spirit) and a light mineral oil. O-rings on chains are made of oil-resistant rubber, nitrile or similar, and will not be damaged by the stuff that's in WD40. This is made explicit on the WD40 website. My Yamaha owner's booklet says to clean the chain with kerosene, which contains a similar mix of hydrocarbons.




WD40 damaging O-rings is one of those urban myths that gets repeated so often people believe it's true. It isn't.
By Jim
#40180
Just to throw the feline amongst the avian rats, I used to spray the wheels on my Bonnie after being out in the rain, and WWD40 rotted the tyres. It also eroded the wires to my ignition switch, leaving them bare.
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By Presto
#40182
WD40 stripping the outer cover off wiring!

Don’t know about cats and pigeons – more meerkats.

You must be joking Jim!
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By ed.lazda
#40184
I guess it's possible that non-nitrile rubber or early plastic insulation could be damaged by hydrocarbon solvents, but today's modern PVC stuff wouldn't.
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By Adrian
#40199
Why did you want to make your arms and hands smaller? Now if you were trying to degrease them, I understand!

Regards,

A.
By Norm
#40201
Adrian I have been using WD40 on my hands for years, so now I know why it is so hard to put my socks on, it has decreased the length of my arms

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