WD-40: It’s Not Just For Squeaky Door Hinges!

All of my life, I’ve been told – jokingly, of course – that man only needs two tools: Duct tape and WD-40. If something moves and it shouldn’t, you use the duct tape. If something doesn’t move and it should, you use WD-40. While that’s a bit generalized, it does relay exactly what WD-40 is good for: making things move when they’re stuck.

From rusty screws and bolts to siezed hinges, the top-secret formula works amazingly well for penetrating through rust and build-up to help loosen things that have become stuck over time. However, that’s not he only use for the mysterious fluid in the blue and yellow can. It can also be used, as seen in this video below, to clean stubborn brake dust off fo wheels, though you want to take special care not to get it on your brakes, since it is, after all, a lubricant and the last thing you want to be slippery is the brakes on your car.

There are a couple of demonstrations of the previously mentioned loosening of things that need to move more freely, and then a curious use that I wasn’t aware of, and am still not actually sold on, even after watching this video. I’ve seen WD-40 used for a lot of things, but polishing chrome has never been one of them. The very nature of chrome, being a chemical plating, usually means unless the surface is pitted or heavily oxidized, all that’s needed to polish it is a little soap and water and a dry cloth to keep it from spotting after the water dies. However, this guy sprays the chrome trim on his car with WD-40 and wipes it off, so at least it doesn’t appear to do any damage.

There are quite a few other uses, though some of them are basically the same thing, and none of these are truly unheard of uses, since most of them are listed on the can itself as things WD-40 is designed to do. However, I’m always surprised to see people who don’t know what all it can be used for, so hopefully this will help share that info!