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We sell both brands, so we have no reason to talk one of them down. This is the comparison we give people across the counter.

The short answer

If you want one can in the drawer for squeaky hinges, seized bolts and keeping tools off rust, either brand does the job well and Rexco usually costs less. That price gap is not a quality gap — more on that below. If you want a specific job done properly — a bicycle chain, a food-contact surface, long-term rust protection, a sliding window track — WD-40's Specialist range is far wider and that is what you should be buying.

The expensive mistake is not picking the wrong brand. It is reaching for a multi-purpose spray when the job actually needs a cleaner, or a proper lubricant.

What these sprays actually do

Almost every can on the shelf falls into one of three jobs. They are not interchangeable.

WD-40's original Multi-Use Product and Rexco 50 both sit in the first group. They are brilliant at freeing a rusted bolt, quieting a hinge, drying out a wet switch and leaving a protective film on tools.

What they are not is a long-term lubricant. The film is light, it attracts dust, and on anything exposed it washes or flings off. That is the whole reason WD-40 sell a separate Specialist range — if the can said “does everything” honestly, the rest of the shelf would not exist. So when someone tells you “WD-40 is not a lubricant”, this is what they mean: it lubricates lightly, but it is a penetrant and water displacer first.

Is Rexco actually as good?

We get asked this at the counter, so here is the straight answer: yes, for what it does.

Rexco is not an unbranded substitute. It is an established Indonesian brand with a very large following across the region — it won best anti-rust lubricant in Indonesia's consumer-voted Brand Choice Award in 2023, and in Indonesia it is simply what a lot of workshops reach for by default, in the same way WD-40 is the default here. The Rexco 50 versus WD-40 comparison is an argument people have been having in Indonesian workshops for years.

It costs less in Singapore because it is manufactured and distributed regionally at volume, not because the formula is thinner. We would not keep it on the shelf otherwise — a fair share of our customers are tradesmen, and if a can underperformed we would hear about it within the week.

So read the table below as two capable ranges with different strengths, not as a premium option and a cheap one.

Price for price, job for job

Everything below is in stock. Prices correct at the time of writing.

One caveat, and it matters. Can sizes differ between the two ranges, so a lower shelf price is not automatically better value. If you go through a lot of one product, read the volume on the label and work out the price per 100ml. For a can you will use three times a year, the shelf price is the number that matters.

Where Rexco is the better buy

Workshop consumables you get through in volume. Brake cleaner, degreaser, contact cleaner and carburettor cleaner all do a mechanical job on a surface and then evaporate. Rexco does that job as well as the equivalent WD-40 can and undercuts every one of them, so for anything you empty regularly it is the straightforward choice.

Rexco 50 is also a genuinely good penetrant — anti-rust lubricant is the product the brand built its name on, and it is the one Indonesian mechanics know it for.

Browse the full Rexco range.

Where WD-40 is the better buy

Specific jobs where Rexco has no equivalent on our shelves. These are not upsells — if you need one of these, nothing else in the shop substitutes:

• Food grade silicone, $24.00. Food-contact machinery, kitchen equipment, cutting boards, anything near where people eat. Also the right answer for rubber seals and plastic window tracks, which oil-based sprays slowly degrade.
• White lithium grease, $15.00. Gate hinges, garage door tracks, winches — metal-on-metal under load, outdoors. This is what people should use where they reach for multi-purpose spray.
• Long-term rust and corrosion inhibitor, $32.00. Leaves a lasting barrier rather than a film that evaporates. For tools and machinery stored in Singapore humidity, this is a different product class from a quick spray-over.
• Fast acting rust remover soak, 3.78L, $78.00. You drop rusted parts in and leave them. Nothing sprayed from a can does this.
• Bicycles. A proper chain needs a chain-specific lube, and which one depends on the weather you ride in — dry lube ($15.00) for dusty dry conditions, wet lube ($14.00) if you ride through rain, which in Singapore you will. Pair either with bike degreaser ($11.00) and bike cleaner ($14.00).
• 3-IN-ONE aircon cleaner, $9.00. For the evaporator coil on a split unit. Worth doing between servicing.
• Bulk 4L and 20L, from $58.00. If you are a workshop decanting into trigger sprayers rather than buying aerosols, this is the cheapest way to use it.

Browse the full WD-40 range.

What we actually keep in our own workshop

Four cans covers nearly everything, and it is a mix of both brands:

1. A multi-purpose can for seized fasteners and general rust protection. Either brand. We reach for Rexco 50 because it is cheaper and we empty them.
2. A contact cleaner for switches, connectors and anything electrical that has got damp.
3. A degreaser or brake cleaner for stripping a part back before you work on it.
4. White lithium grease for anything that needs to stay lubricated after you walk away.

If you buy nothing else, buy 1 and 4. They are the two ends of the job and most people only own the first.

Common mistakes

• Multi-purpose spray on a bicycle chain. It will quieten it for a day, strip the existing lube, then leave the chain dry and attracting grit. Use a chain lube.
• Multi-purpose spray in a door lock. Oil plus Singapore dust turns to paste inside the barrel. A dry graphite or PTFE lube is the right answer.
• Brake cleaner on anything painted or plastic. Many formulations attack paint, rubber and some plastics. Read the label, and test somewhere hidden first.
• Contact cleaner with the power on. Isolate it first. These are solvents, and several are flammable until they flash off.
• Spraying any aerosol near an ignition source, or in a bathroom with the door shut. Open a window, and keep it away from a running engine or a water heater pilot.
• Using a penetrant where you needed grease. If the hinge squeaks again in three weeks, you used the wrong can — not too little of it.

Which one should I buy?

• One can for the house. Rexco 50 at $6.30, or WD-40 Multi-Use at $8.00. Honestly, either.
• A workshop that gets through cleaners. Rexco across the board, and save the difference.
• A bicycle. WD-40 Specialist bike range. Nothing else we stock is formulated for a chain.
• Anything food-related, or rubber and plastic. WD-40 food grade silicone.
• Tools you want to still be clean next year. WD-40 long-term corrosion inhibitor.
• Gates, tracks, rollers, anything outdoors under load. White lithium grease.

Not sure, or you have the part with you? Bring it in. Both our showrooms will tell you which can it needs, including when the answer is the cheaper one — find our Geylang and Sembawang stores here.

The job you came here for

If you arrived with a specific problem rather than a shopping decision, these go straight to it:

• How to loosen a rusted or seized bolt. Clean, soak, shock, leverage, heat — in that order, and why most people snap it.
• How to remove rust from tools in Singapore. Three levels of rust, what each one needs, and why multi-purpose spray does not actually remove any of it.
• Squeaky hinge, sticky lock, noisy gate: what to actually spray. If the squeak came back in a fortnight, you used the wrong can.

Browse the full WD-40 range and Rexco range, both in stock.

General guidance only. Always read the manufacturer's label and safety data before use, and follow it where it differs from anything here.