Part of the normal preventive maintenance of vehicle is body component lubrication. This typically comprises of your door, hood, and trunk/hatch hinges as well lock cylinders. Your owner's manual will specify the lubrication locations and frequencies as well as the recommended lubricant(s). Typically, this lubrication is done at the same time as the engine oil is changed.
Many people will take their vehicles to a shop to have this preventative maintenance done for them. It is important that the vehicle owner become familiar with the maintenance schedule of his vehicle and understand what is required at each service interval and especially at the oil change intervals. Often, when people shop on price alone, a cut-rate shop only does the minimum work possible with the cheapest labour and materials, with the eye towards upselling extra work.
Hinge lubrication is extra work and there is no way for the shop to charge the vehicle owner for additional parts and labour to install worn parts (unless it's also a body shop). Unused doors can become seized from corrosion. Driver's doors can suffer from worn pins & bushings resulting in hard-to-close sagging doors. If you hear the door making a creak or groan when you open & close it or if it takes some effort to open & close your door, your door needs lubrication.
The following video shows the work involved to replace the pins and bushings in a door. In this particular vehicle, this work is relatively easy. Replacing the worn parts in other vehicles could involve removing the doors and/or replacing both upper and lower hinges.
DIY Door Hinge Pin & Bushing Replacement How to Fix a Sagging Door Chevy S10 Ford Dodge GMC
To avoid this unnecessary grief, keep your door hinges lubricated.
Older vehicles can have obsolete lubricant recommendations. In the case of a 1965 Plymouth Valiant for example, Chryco recommended the following in the owner's manual:
| Lubrication Item |
Lubricant |
| Hand Operated Parking Brake | Chryco Lubriplate |
| Door Hinges and Other Hard to Lubricate Places | Chryco Super Motor Oil |
| Door Lock Striker Plates | Chryco Stainless Stick Lubricant |
| Hood and Deck Lid Hinges | Chryco Lubriplate |
| External Lock Cylinders | Chryco Lubriplate |
| Door Latch Rotor | Chryco Super Motor Oil or Door Lock Ease |
| Deck Lid Support Bracket and Pivots | Chryco Super Motor Oil |
| Deck Lid Support Channels | Chryco Stainless Stick Lubricant |
| Deck Lid Latch | Chryco Lubriplate |
| Hood Lock, Release Handle, and Safety Catch | Automotive Multi-Purpose Lubricant |
| Door Locks, Remote and Locking Control Linkage, Window Regulators, Window Lower Glass Channel and Plastic Rollers | Chryco Lubriplate |
| Ash Receiver Pivot Pin and Snuffer Contacts | Chryco Stainless Stick Lubricant |
| Second Seat Back Retainers | Chryco Stainless Stick Lubricant |
| Tailgate Lock | Chryco Lubriplate |
| Tailgate Hinges | Chryco Super Motor Oil |
| Tailgate Lock Striker Plates and Dovetail Surfaces | Chryco Stainless Stick Lubricant |
| Tailgate Torsion Bar and Support Arm Guide Pillars | Chryco Stainless Stick Lubricant |
| Tailgate Support Arm (Left Side) | Chryco Super Motor Oil |
| Tailgate Torsion Bar | Automotive Multi-Purpose Lubricant |
| Tailgate Inside Remote Control Handle Linkage and Window Regulator | Chryco Lubriplate |
It appears that a stainless "stick lubricant" is still available at hardware stores. "Lubriplate" is a brand and that company still sells a wide variety lubricants.
For door hinges, a penetrating lubricant is required that will creep into the bearing surfaces. Penetrating oil can do this but this lubricant is not recommended for anti-wear. WD-40 is another lubricant that many people consider as a lubricant or as penetrating oil but it's more of a light lubricant rust inhibitor. White lithium grease is a good lubricant but it doesn't penetrate or creep very well. For antiwear protection, a hinge lubricant should ideally have a NLGI grade of 2.
Machinery Lubrication: Systematically Selecting the Best Grease For Equipment Reliability:
Journal Bearings and Sliding Contacts. Greases commonly lubricate heavily loaded sliding surfaces at low surface speeds up to 10 to 20 feet per minute and when cooling is not needed. In applications involving lubrication of earthmoving machinery, such as excavators and bulldozers, grease lubricates a series of cylindrical journal bearings (pin bushings) and track links used in the undercarriage of these enormously heavy machinery that help propel them forward. The need for heavy load-carrying capacity (static, vibratory and shock loads) requires a thicker film than oil can provide at moderate speeds. Other factors favoring grease selection include low maintenance and space restriction for supplying lubricants to journal bearings. In applications involving sliding bearing surfaces, bulk grease properties commonly determine performance, without the oil's viscosity playing as dominant a role as in ball and roller bearings.
There are many penetrating greases on the market today and many of them are for industrial chain lubrication, such as penetrating red grease. Another alternative is to use a chain lubricant spray. These are very common in hardware and automotive stores and are designed to penetrate into motorcycle chain links and rollers . Some chain lubes also contain solid lubricants, such as "moly" (molybdenum disulfide - a low friction solid lubricant) or graphite, which should provide additional antiwear protection.
Any lubricant used regularly is better than no lubricant used at all. Keep your hinges lubricated with a good quality, penetrating grease!