SOLIDOL / 10 / Practice

A new grease is a change of system

Compatibility deserves evidence.

Colour is not a compatibility test. Neither is the fact that two containers both say “multipurpose”. Thickener families offer a first clue, but the finished products, their base oils and their additive systems still matter.

Compatibility charts are guides. They do not turn every product pair in a labelled family into an approved mixture. If a change is necessary, ask the lubricant supplier and equipment maker how the transition should be carried out.

Treat the replacement as a small maintenance project: identify the existing product, document the proposed one, obtain the relevant advice and record what was actually done. The goal is not to memorise a colourful chart; it is to avoid an unknown mixture inside an expensive assembly.