What are some amazing uses of WD-40? For example, on automobiles?

Legend has it that 3,000 years ago in ancient India, while the legendary sage Vyasa was quietly documenting descriptions of Indian-style nuclear weapons and spacecraft in the Mahabharata, a certain eminent monk—deep in meditation at a serene Buddhist retreat—used his extraordinary wisdom to formulate an exceptionally potent essential oil, named 'Ayurvedic Herbal Essential Oil.' Due to its remarkable efficacy in enhancing performance for matters beyond ordinary description, it was revered as a treasured secret by seekers—including kings of ancient India—and gained immense fame across the subcontinent! Its potency proved so overwhelming that over the following centuries, it steadily advanced northward, eventually penetrating the imperial palace of China’s Qing Dynasty, where it was immediately designated an imperial treasure for overworked royalty. Today, this miraculous Indian essential oil continues to shine brightly—now dominating sales counters in countless small neighborhood hardware shops across China. Yet truth teaches us that behind every extraordinary thing lies something even more extraordinary: a mysterious liquid born from the aerospace industry. Upon entering the Chinese market, its explosive performance instantly eclipsed all the glory the Indian 'miracle oil' had accumulated over millennia! Worshipped and praised everywhere—from outer space down to kitchen sinks—this magical liquid further distinguishes itself with an astonishing array of secondary applications, effortlessly trampling the Indian 'miracle oil' underfoot. It bears a bold, high-brow name: 'WD-40.' Speaking of WD-40 inevitably brings us to its extraordinary origin story. Rewind to 1953: Norm Larsen, an engineer employed by Rocket Chemical Company in the U.S., was entrusted with a mission critical to human progress—to develop a rust-inhibiting, water-displacing agent for rockets. Faced with this sacred task, Norm endured over 30 failed experiments—each one driving him deeper into despair—until, just as he was about to renounce worldly affairs, greatness struck: With a sigh of melancholy, Norm jotted down 'Water Displacement, 40th formula' in his lab notebook—and thus, on the 40th attempt, a miraculous fluid was born: a single product combining six core functions—water displacement, rust prevention, rust removal, lubrication, electrical conductivity, and cleaning. And so, WD-40 got its name! Thereafter, this 'miracle oil' soared skyward, dominating outer space alongside the flourishing defense industry… but that wasn’t all. After five years of glowing praise from military users, WD-40 made its first civilian debut in San Diego—and instantly ignited the entire Earth’s surface!

The world’s most universal lubricant—only a handful of people know its formula.

Early sales were extremely informal. By 1960, the company had doubled in size—from three to seven employees—and sold an average of 45 cases per day directly from car trunks to local hardware and sporting goods stores. The real turning point came in 1961, when Hurricane Carla struck the U.S. Gulf Coast. WD-40 received its first full-truck orders—to repair vehicles and equipment damaged by floodwaters and torrential rain. Staff even worked overtime on Saturdays to meet demand in the disaster zone. In 1969, Rocket Chemical Company officially rebranded as 'WD-40 Company,' by then producing WD-40 as its sole product. The rocket emblem once featured prominently on early cans gradually disappeared, replaced by the now-iconic blue-and-yellow color scheme. During the Vietnam War, U.S. soldiers began including WD-40 in their care packages—to maintain the notoriously finicky M-16 rifle. By the early 1990s, the product had penetrated over 80% of American households, selling more than one million cans weekly; 81% of professionals reported using it regularly at work. Today, WD-40 Company sells its products in over 170 countries and regions worldwide, generating approximately $620 million in revenue for fiscal year 2025. While this figure may pale beside tech giants’, it remains nothing short of a commercial miracle—for a company that has relied almost exclusively on a single product for seventy years. The Value of Secrecy and the Gaze of Science WD-40’s formula has never been patented—a decision that seemed risky at the time but now appears brilliantly shrewd. Patent protection is time-limited—in the U.S., typically 20 years—and filing a patent requires full public disclosure of technical details. WD-40’s founders understood this well: rather than settling for temporary legal protection, they chose total secrecy. Without patent disclosure, competitors could only resort to reverse engineering—guessing, testing, and experimenting. And once the patent window closed, that secrecy effectively became permanent. This strategy mirrors Coca-Cola’s. Countless rumors circulate about the 'secret formulas' of both products—but neither company ever confirms or denies anything. WD-40 Company even claims that only one person in the world knows the complete composition of its formula. Still, modern analytical chemistry can deconstruct most chemical products. In 2009, Wired magazine sent a can of WD-40 to a lab for analysis using gas chromatography (GC) and mass spectrometry (MS). GC separates chemical components based on physical properties like boiling point; MS identifies molecular structures by bombarding fragmented molecules with electron beams. The results revealed WD-40’s primary ingredients: mineral oil (similar in composition to baby oil or petroleum jelly), decane (C₁₀H₂₂—a common alkane in gasoline, ensuring low-temperature liquidity), nonane, undecane (reportedly also a component of cockroach and ant pheromone trails), tridecane, tetradecane, dimethylnaphthalene, cyclohexane, and carbon dioxide as the propellant.

WD-40 Isn't Patented – Here's How The Company Keeps Its Formula A Secret

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WD-40 maintains its chemical formula as a trade secret rather than patenting it to prevent public disclosure. The handwritten recipe is stored securely in a San Diego bank vault with access restricted to very few individuals.

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