Lubricate front door key/lock.

sonny liston

Getting very difficult to insert and remove the key from my front door lock.
I see many threads online stating "never use wd40, only use graphite powder".
But I also see just as many threads stating the exact opposite.
Can anyone recommend a good lubricant for external door locks?
Thanks!

nuac

Suggest you rub a soft-lead pencil along the key

Cerco

Silicon based lubricant. Aldi / Lidl.

BrokenArrows

WD40 is perfectly fine to use in a lock. Its a very light lubricant and degreaser.
WD40 will not do any harm to your lock.

Its lubricating effect might not last that long and may require occasional respray throughout the year but it will help clean the lock and remove the bits that are causing it to jam in the first place.

Its very easy to use wd40 a few times a year rather than start messing around with graphite and pencils etc.

Also dont combine the use of a liquid + graphite/pencil. It will just create a paste and jam the door.

TopTec

BrokenArrows wrote: »

WD40 is perfectly fine to use in a lock. Its a very light lubricant and degreaser.
WD40 will not do any harm to your lock.

Nooooooooo. Can't agree. Anything moist attracts small particles of dirt and dust and over time clogs up the mechanism. I have seen lots of locks that are all manky inside due to WD40 and the like. True it degreases but the residue of that process remains in the lock. Graphite is the only way forward. Bought some last week from Amazon, £5. Do the job properly.

TT

Gravelly

I had to get my front door lock replaced recently as it got so stiff we couldn't use it. The locksmith told me not to use WD40 under any circumstances, as it has very little in the way of lubrication qualities (I knew this already from working on cars - WD40 is good for repelling water and freeing seized nuts, it is not a lubricant). He told me to use either graphite spray like this (which costs the princely sum of 67 cents), or ballistol. Since I have ballistol already, I use that.

CJhaughey

Lidl had a Graphite spray recently, grey cap I bought some as a trial and have used it on a couple of door locks.
It seems to have done the trick.
You can buy squeeze bottles of powdered graphite for small money as well.