Cleaning After that, you'll need to clean out all of the old gunk and grease from your bearing races. The best option is to use methylated spirit or just soak the bearings in a solvent or alcohol. If you can get a spray-on degreaser, you can effectively blast all the crud out of your bearings. Just make sure not to spray it into the holes where you put the balls. After cleaning, dry them off with some paper towels or let them air-dry. If you have time, you can also apply some light oil to keep them lubricated. Once a month, you should remove the caps of both sides of each ball cup and brush away any remaining dirt or debris. This will help prevent contamination of the bearing surface. If you don't get to this stage regularly, you'll soon find that there's too much grease for your balls to sit in comfortably. That can lead to cracking of the shells, which can cause noise and mechanical failure. So give your car's engine bay a good wash down at least once a year, even if you only wash the area around the engine when you wash the rest of the car you can still avoid contaminating other parts of the engine.