String Lubrication

After reading about the spin-producing benefits of lubricating tennis strings, I thought I'd try it out.  I went to WalMart and bought some WD40.  I strung a Prince EXO3 Tour 100 with 17 gauge Gosen Polylon at 51 lbs.  About an hour later I sprayed the strings and began to play.  I don't know if I was producing more spin than if I had not sprayed since I have no way to measure spin, either before or after.  But I was producing a fair amount of spin.  I also could tell that the strings were springing back nicely.

This spring-back was in contrast to how the same string at the same tension in the same racquet performed for a friend of mine this weekend.  His strings moved and failed to snap back.  Consequently he got only three hours or so from a full bed of polyester string.  My next step will be to spray his racquet and see how it changes the spring-back and durability for him.

During my 90 min hitting session, I chose to reapply the WD40 once near the end.  I had no good reason to do it, other than I had the lubricant with me and thought my opponent would get a kick out of it.  I couldn't really tell much difference before and after the reapplication.

UPDATE:  I have a racquet strung with Luxilon that I've only hit with for a few minutes (15 roughly) that is starting to move and not snap back.  Today I'll spray those strings and see if they spring back better.  Another update later.

UPDATE 2:  Failure regarding the Luxilon Adrenaline 1.25 mm lubricated with WD40.   I hit with it today for about an hour, in addition to roughly an hour two days ago after I strung it.  The strings seemed to spring back better than before.  Unfortunately the strings broke in roughly two hours of hitting.  I had hoped for much better.

UPDATE 3: Silicone spray works better than WD40. It lubricates the strings but doesn't get on the balls or the court, at least not nearly as much as with WD40. I don't know if I get more spin, but the strings do seem to snap back better than without the spray. They may produce more spin and last longer. Or not. But at $2.29 a can or so at WalMart, I'm gonna keep trying it.