EXTRA INFO (UPDATED!!): If you get the 3M lubricant get the 08877 WET version (not the dry version). Considering the fact that, reasonably, a lot of people have doubts about this process, here is some evidence in support of the existence of this issue, the fact that all tapes have lubricant, and of the possibility to use a re-lubricant process for magnetic tape (just remember to use a dry cotton swab to absorb the lubricant that may have not been absorbed after a while). Here you will find a selection of scientific papers explaining the issue and how it is a standard procedure to relube tape (even NASA does this!). I have underlined a few crucial passages in the papers: Heritage: www.dropbox.com/s/f8254yfeqrrw9vp/heritage-02-00097-v2.pdf?dl=0 Nasa: www.dropbox.com/s/xxdw1qh8mlbppdu/Nasa.pdf?dl=0 HESS: www.dropbox.com/s/ydrvxg6zipjkrvw/HESS_Tape_Degradation_ARSC_Journal_39-2.pdf?dl=0 Preservation Commission: www.dropbox.com/s/3s3ejmho2jexhgt/pub54.pdf?dl=0 - (here is the official article: www.dropbox.com/s/rtvqt1n537w9vpa/Bogart.pdf?dl=0) Kondo: www.dropbox.com/s/zi4vv42ggi9vh8u/tribochemistry-of-ionic-liquid-lubricant-on-magnetic-media.pdf?dl=0 Here is an article of a lab that is relubing its cassettes: tasso.cat/re-lubrication-of-compact-cassette-tapes-with-sbs/ This is a page of a famous audio engineer: www.baileyzone.net/analog%20tape%20diy.htm This is a page of a company that sells its high quality tape lubricant: thelastfactory.com/tape-care-preservation/

Thank you so much for this video. With this process I saved a 40 year old BASF HF 120 cassette containing a unique recording. Is seized frequently. And the parts that did play squealed very badly. After transplanting the tape to a Maxell XLII housing, treating it twice with silicone and letting it rest for 48 hours, it now plays well enough to secure a digital copy from it!

IF you want to skip the extensive explanation skip to 5:35 -- Actually 8:58 ---

Worked amazingly. I used an old Panasonic portable boombox from the thrift shop and removed the door. This video saved so many cassettes from being discarded. Thanks

I found that you don’t actually need a compact cassette player to do this process. I used the casing of an old pen and attached it to an electric drill - worked just as well.

Just came across this video help my wasp cassette back to life after 30 plus years. Thanks 👍

Some years ago, I've discovered that one of my tapes sounded really worn out. But instead of throwing it in the trash, I've "retired" the tape and only kept it as a collectible item (because the tape is rare). After seeing this video, I gave this method a try with the 3M lubricant. And it works! Not perfect, but still a vast improvement. Thanks for the advise.

Just tried this with several cassettes that kept on slowing, stopping and some that wouldnt play at all. I used non staining silicone lubricant and now all the cassettes play flawlessly. I almost sold my entire collection before I saw this so thanks for the video 👍

This fixed a new old stock , pre-recorded chrome tape from 1987 I got. It was shedding old lube all over the tapehead (white debri) and as a cause would have massive dropouts suddenly whenever the head got clogged. The tape also squeeked at the end of the sides. I went over the tape with a dry q-tip first and then applied new silicone using your method. (though instead of a deck/personal stereo, I used a cordless screwdriver on slow speed and an old felt pen stuck into it that perfectly fit in the cassettes' hubs. True McGiver technique, lol) Now the issues are completely gone and the tape sounds as good as new!

Yes, Tried the process, and it works, 😀 I went for the cheapest winder possible, a Bic Crystal Biro, pen, yeah a bit of effort but worth it, some cassettes need more than one treatment but patience, and persistence pay off, the reward, many previously unplayable tapes now play back great. Thanks, great video.

I'm looking to remaster my old cassette recordings and this tip will come in very handy.

This is an absolute lifesaver! I hope you know that! I've ordered some cassettes off of amazon and have bought some at concerts. When I got my second cassette I thought there was an issue with my cassette player. However, some of my other cassettes play just fine, one even plays perfectly. Thanks for the video!

This has worked really well. I managed to revive a few old cassettes of mine. Your right though, it may take a few attempts to get the tape back to nearly new. I was very happy with my results. WD-40 specialist silicone seemed to work well with tapes.

Thank you for this, it worked for me. I found a Beatles tape that I had been looking for since I was about 7 or 8 years old in a music shop, but it had this problem. I've been wanting a copy of this tape for something like 34 years. I found your video and after multiple tries to lubricate the tape, I let it sit for a while I think over a week or more and voila it worked. My inner child Thanks you❤

I used a high alcohol hand sanitiser and rather than holding the cotton budds in place I cut them down to size and placed them under where the tape is brought by the pinch roller. Worked a treat on my Jamiroquai emergency on planet Earth cassette

I didn’t have any silicone lubricant laying around and didn’t feel like going to the store, so stubborn me just shaved some fine graphite off a pencil with a razor and rolled my cotton swab around in it until it was well coated. Worked like a charm, and no issues to speak of yet regarding the graphite. A plus to this method in my case is the results were instant. I played that sucker immediately, no waiting. Thanks for the inspiration, love your content.

This video caught my eye a few days ago. Today I popped in a well-loved copy of Boz Scaggs Greatest Hits and the tape Stopped! Thank you for the video!

Thanks so much for the advice! When I first started lubing my cassettes, I did it your way, with a Q-Tip brand cotton swab and a can of Liquid Wrench silicone spray. At some point in your video, I think you asked for other ways to do this, so here's the process I finally "graduated" to: I rewound each tape to the stop, then used a butter knife to gently pry/pull the tape out and away from the little follower pad, ending up with a loop just big enough to put my index finger through (if I'd wanted to). Then I sprayed the silicone lube through the little red applicator straw as gently as I could, trying to get a decent size drop to dangle from the tip. Next, I carefully dropped that drip onto the follower pad, tightened the tape with my finger, and rewound it like you did. Then I repeated the entire process. Some cassettes I lubed this way 4 times, some only twice. Now I'll leave 'em sit a day or two and give 'em a play! As I typed this, I wonder how one of those electronic lubes would've worked? Something like CRC's 2-26?

I've always wanted to own the dark side of the moon on cassette! but now I can finally save all my warpy cassettes most especially my xdr duran duran cassette...thank you so much for this my dude!:))

I tried it with my dad's old Pink Floyd casette, and now it sounds really good. Thanks.

This has saved some very special tapes of mine. Indeed, in some cases it takes a few weeks after applying the silicone for the tapes to play properly.

You can cut the ear stick with scissors for it to sit flush with the tape, and then, you can pretty much rewind it from any player without needing the access to the tape. Btw, this actually works. Right after I lubricated my Pink Floyd Animals tape, it now actually plays pretty decently, there is still some "lag", but like the guy said - it takes a couple of weeks for tape to fully lubricate.

Wow. what you are saying actually makes sense. i have a lot of old cassettes from 70s and 80s and this method might actually work. the key though is patience

Thanks for this, I have several tapes that I cannot play but do need to rescue valuable data from. This is seriously cool!

I recently got a sealed old stock Beatles Breadbox, and was extremely happy until finding out that the XDR tapes were sticking. I watched this video and was prepared to try it, but I freed them up with multiple FFWD/REW cycles. One tape had to be wound manually with a BIC pen at first, and another was squealing horribly, but they all work now without anything as extreme as adding lubricant. One cassette took about ten FFWD/REW cycles to loosen it enough to play well, but it works great now. I would only resort to lubrication after exhausting all other options.

very important video. a real game changer. thanks for the great info.

I can't tell you how much I've learned from you. Thank you thanknyou thank you!

I'd like to add my thanks to the many already here. I have been trying for years to get a working copy of a BBC TV soundtrack on cassette because... nostalgia... but every copy I got was stuck solid and unplayable. What I didn't realise is that the BBC used EMI for some of their cassettes. The tone at the start which you mentioned was the link that got me looking closely at the inlay where sure enough it said "Distributed by EMI". It took three applications of WD40 Silicone Lubricant (now called WD-40 Specialist Silicone Lubricant) with around a week between applications to get it playable. It's not 100% yet, but progress is being made and I am confident I can keep repeating the process to get it right. Thank you for the method and motivation 😀

Hi from England! As a hifi enthusiast and record collector I really enjoy you’re videos! Keep up the good work!

I found this lubrication problem on most EMI tapes from the 80s, made in the netherlands, thanks for the advice!

Thanks a lot man, hopefully I can save precious tapes now. Take care!

Oh...another thing is...this technique also helps to regain back the fidelity of the old cassette tape! Silicon lube not just lubricate, but it helps to clean the tape by wiping out the ferrite debris, moulds and etc from the reel. Note that if you're putting too much lube, you're likely ended up soaking the tape with the lube. You can clean the excess lube by rewinding back and forth with clean and dry cotton swab/buds. Also, you will need to clean the cassette housing inside as well. After cleaning the cassette housing, rewinding back and forth again and let it dry for few days and try to play the cassette and observe if the cassette plays well without being stuck. If cassette stuck again, try to lubricate the tape head and it should be played without much issues.

I tried this method for some 1980s/1990s 8-bit computer cassettes whose games weren't loading (they were for an Amstrad CPC464). I'd been given some cassettes and also purchased some recently that simply wouldn't play ball - first one I tried (after binning it!) work first time! Highly recommended.

Thank you for the info. I have a collection of tape cassettes all of them very well taken care of. But there are two or three that I’ve bought second hand have issues in them. I will try the method and I will tell you back the outcome.

The answer to my prayers right here! Thank you doctor

Great video! Def send some peeps here for the answer to the squeaky tape problem. Thanks!

Many thanks for the detailed analysis of the issue and the solution. I've got loads of cassettes, the oldest one is from 1968. I've had the issue with 3 cassettes so far, one 80s Fame reissue by EMI, and two cassettes from CBS (1973 and 1984). The first time I used your solution, I think I might have overdone it a little, I saw that I could play the side A for the first time which was a good sign, but the sound on side B was still bad. Can you say how much lubricant I should use each time. On the video, I can't really see it, I just want to be on a safe side and not damage my precious cassettes. So to sum up: I will do it twice rew/fast forward x2 per side and repeat it the next day and than will wait about a month or two? Sorry If I got it wrong, best regards Grzegorz

I have a bunch of Ampex prerecorded cassette tapes and they're having this problem. I'll be listening to one and it will drag or stop. Will definitely give this a try. Wouldn't this coat your tapehead with lubricant? I would think that you would need to clean your heads everytime you would play a tape that you lubricated. Is this so?

Thanks for the tip. My Led Zep tape was set for the bin. Stuck a pen in my cordless drill and held it in position. Will wait 24 hrs to see if it work out. I applied a little silicone to the pressure pad that had dried out. Fingers crossed. It already feels easier to turn with my fingers.

Awesome tips, thank you!:)

Really interesting. I have found certain TDK D (otherwise excellent tapes) have this squeaking problems. I have hundreds of pre-recorded tapes and have very rarely had this happen. I wonder now if the rare occurrences were with the XDR tapes from Capital.

Quick question: When I’m waiting for it to dry, what’s the ideal position the tape should be in to make sure that the lube is evenly distributed? I have mine standing upright against a couple of boxes at the moment.

Oh my god thank you so much! I have been eagerly awaiting this video since I first discovered your channel.

wonderful maxell cassette! thank you

I got a tape in the mail that I had ordered from eBay. It’s specifically an album from the Motown record label, but it has a similar problem to that Beatles tape. The first song, which is roughly around four and a half minutes long, and the last song play perfectly fine. However, about a minute or so into the second track, things start getting wonky. The second side is even worse because there’s parts where it’s barely moving. My dad and I found out that one of the reels is apparently tighter than the other, which would explain why one side works better than the other. So that’s how I ended up here. Another thing I found interesting is that these were the issues it was having in deck 1 of my Technics RS-TR373 cassette player. In a Sony voice recorder that I own, the tape doesn’t even move. However, in deck 2 of the Technics player, it actually sounded significantly better. It still has its issues, but I found it interesting how the recording deck was able to play it.

I had cassettes from the late 70s', early 80s' that just didn't sound right, picked up a cheap onn. cassette recorder at Walmart, got a can of 3M (08877) wet type silicone and some art swabs (wood q-tips) lubed every cassette tape in my collection and I must say, what a difference...

Thank you! This absolutely works 🙏🏻

I had the exact problem with a xdr tape. What for sure worked for me was transferring the tape (after cleaning it with alcohol) to a new case with better rollers.

I would be very careful with silicone as it is an insulator and can cause head problems if you get too messy. Cool video

I have a couple Megadeth cassettes (peace sells and So far so good so what) that sound awesome when they work but in some of my decks they have the really bad wow and flutter, even though other cassettes worked great. Good to know WHY it is a problem.

Hi! Very interesting content! I've been reading some of the articles available, I'll still read all the pdfs... But reading the comments here I noticed 2 interesting points: - Those who abhor re-lubrication are thinking exclusively about their tape decks devices: In the useful life of the heads and pressure rollers, basically. * At this point, electronic devices are like human beings, they don't last forever, and just like us, they can go down instantly. This concern is understandable, because in fact, the more you care, the longer the useful life... But I always knew that a head, or a pressure roller wouldn't last forever, just like in a record player, the needle wouldn't last. * But on the other hand... I have my device to use it! And above all, my cassettes to listen to them! I will insanely look for the best ways to store and take care of them! * The point at which lubrication seems to me to be the only reasonable measure in my case, is that all the cassettes I have are from albums, originals, and I won't run the risk of compromising their physical integrity by trying to open them to do anything another thing. - So we come to the second point in question, which is the lubrication itself... Which first of all must be handled very well. But in relation to this, my biggest doubt would be: What would be the best lubricant actually to be used? Thinking and prioritizing the useful life of the tape itself. Can these lubricants actually contain substances that could somehow react negatively with the tape? I intend to gather more information on the subject before testing on my tapes that have this problem, and which unfortunately are already "Almost lost". I was also wondering about the "validity" and durability of this lubrication, these tapes that you lubricated, how are they today? Did you do this process other times during these 3 years?

Thank you for interested video I wonder if this process of lubrication should be done on side that touch head or opposite side thx

It took me quite sometime to find out the exact reason of this issue, and finally found a proper answer here, great information ！and it would be perfect to show the playback before and after the lucrative process in

I recently purchased a pre-recorded cassette on ebay, and based off what you said in this video, it seems as though it does need lubricating (i tried playing it on my twin deck, in deck 2 the auto stop kept activating towards the beginning of the tape (athough it was fine once i got past that part), and in deck 1, in that same spot it slowed to a crawl a few times) and thinking about it, i have a feeling there may be a few tapes downstairs that need lubricating (i remember i once tried to play one of those, and the auto stop activated before it had got anywhere near the end, that was before i got my twin deck, and the machine i had tried to play that tape on is now completly broken, well, the cassette part of it is broken, it makes a mechanical noise whenever i turn it on, the noise is coming from the cassette mechanism, for whatever reason the tape heads in that machine are now permently in the raised position, the machine broke when i was trying to record to a blank cassette, it breaking had nothing to do with the pre-recorded cassette) So i will now have to try and get hold of the things required to lubricate a cassette tape (i already have a cassette player which i think is suitable, i can definatly put a tape in place with the door open, athough i am not sure if the door will be in the way, athough as the door is already a little bit broken on it, and i have another one which is identical, i am not too fussed about breaking the door off of it if needed) and it seems i may have to experement with different lubricants, as neither of the ones you showed seem to be avalable in the country where i live

Thanks for the vid, the process most certainly helps! I've tried this with both Walmart branded silicone lube, and WD-40 brand lube as well. Can confirm work just as well for tape hubs. Now I can make all those Type 0 tapes I have a little bit more tolorable.~

I ordered a bunch of preloaded cassettes from the manufacturer. Some of the cassettes had lubrication issues. They literally told me this process, but to use sewing machine oil and nothing else. I've had pretty good luck with that and have only ever waited 48 hours, as that was recommended.

I have used the cassette format on and off since around 1973. The only tapes that ever have given me trouble are the prerecorded ones. I still have old C-60 Concert tape [ old dudes like me know what that is ] that are 50 years old and play almost as good as they did when new, which wasn't very good to start with.

This is great! I want to try this on some (junk) reel to reel tapes just to see what happens. I wonder if this could increase the audio head lifespan when transferring/archiving some extremely rough old tapes. I'd have to test carefully with various tape stocks to make sure they don't disintegrate as I have no idea about that. And videotape might be out of the question but it could be worth a try... to see the head drum try to grab and wind up tape @ 200+ ips. But if it worked instead maybe it would be worth further experimenting.

Grande! Anche oggi mi hai insegnato qualcosa...ho tantissime cassette e seguirò i tuoi consigli. Grazie. Ciao

Thanks. I'll try this. I've subbed your channel.

Thanks for posting this. It's a problem I've been thinking about for some time. Some tapes, quite modern ones relatively speaking, definitely have transport issues (squeal, deck shutdown) in the tape itself. Re-homing them does no good. I look forward to trying the 3M product.

Hi, love your channel. Hope the hi-end tape deck vid is coming! Does lubricant on the tape stop the grip between capstan and pinch roller?

I tried your method on several stuck tapes and waited a couple of months. They all work now. Thank you for the information.

I've found Warner Bros. (WEA) made the best sounding tapes that have lasted the longest over time with good sound.

I thought the issue with cassette tape binding was always with friction against the cassette shell 'sides'? Many cassettes even have special film sleeves between the tape and cassette covers to combat this.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Could you recommend any other brand other than those? I'm struggling to find em

Awesome video! If my tape reel has some crinkles in it, is there any way to fix that too? I'm concerned that they'll break after I finish this & test the sound 🥺

Similar Sqeaking issues can also be caused by the Cassette "Pressure Pad" which can get covered with 'Tape Oxide' from the Back of the Cassette Tape. That part is difficult to clean off as the 'Pad' needs to be smooth for the Tape to run across the Heads. Not sure if you can buy new "Pressure Pads" as they would then have to be Glued into place on the metal spring?. Had lot's of problems with this from old cassette tapes (mostly Blanks) that i was Archiving on to "CD-R" for a friend. Not sure on the Long term issue that this 'Fix' might have on the Tape Heads. Not one for my Nakamichi!.

Wow, that's interesting. Exactly with these very old cassette tapes i had the issue, that there were that dirty, that I had many dropouts. My solution: clean the tape with isopropyl alcohol. Fine, the dropouts were gone, but now I was facing the problem of a squeeky tape. I just started thinking of the sticky tape syndrome. But I didn't find any deposition on the tape mechanism. Now I possibly have the answer. Due to the cleaning process with alcohol I took away the lubrication of the tape. Tank you for this video!

After a 30 year hiatus. Just getting back to cassette. ever little bit helps. Mostly what I can raid in auction houses, and old damp basement's. Tks. Kv4li

Nice :-) Lutz is all over the place. Cheers

Perfect timing, I thought my cassette was done, I'll have top give this a try.

Banging the cassette on a table was also a good effective method of freeing up a jammed tape!

Hi, great video, very helpful and knowledgeable! I've got quite a few of EMI tapes and XDR Tapes were the lubricant has dried up, mainly some really nice Frank Sinatra tapes that I haven't seen anywhere else. Also happens on tapes produced by Sony in the mid 1990s. Is there an alternative solution that works just as well nowadays, as here in the UK, the 3M silicone lubricant has been discontinued? Many thanks!

Hi, Thank you so much for your video. I want to say its highly informative and I've learned so much from this. looking into repairing some of my cassette tapes from the 80's which are very squeaky when playing. I can't seem to find the 3M (08877) wet type silicone spray that you suggest. is there an alternative that you can suggest me to try?? Thank you again :)

Firstly I would like to admit that I thought this whole thing was akin to selling snake oil. I was totally gobsmacked especially when I realised that the day that I first viewed the video was 1st April! (True) I was looking for a remedy to squealing tapes as my prized copy of a rare audiobook was stopping and making a racket. I didn't believe a word, but since I tried changing the slip sheets in the cassette and putting the tape in another cassette body I was left with little choice. Waddaya know. It works. Thank you.

I knew you would be a Police fan ;)

Funciona!!! Gracias por una información tan útil!

I just wish to thank you for your kind reply . We seem to both love music and all the sorts of equipment we have to care for to keep it running . But in the end ,it's the enjoyment of the music , that is the goal .........DGR

Too many words but clearly spoken.

I used Aloe Vera hand cream twice then a dry cue tip on a tape that I didn't care about, it sounds new now, and I didn't have to even wait I tried it straight after, the tracks mainly had slowing issues at random points, completely gone now, I am amazed to be honest, it was just an experiment, oh well it worked, if you think I am joking try it on a junk tape, just don't use loads it could have been a weird fluke but it's worked, wish I'd recorded it.

I have a 45-50 yr old tape from the garage band (Stale Faces). The case was warped, so I carefully changed it to a newer case. I don't want to play it until I can be sure it's not going to be chewed up. What are your suggestions to reduce my fears?

Thanks for this video. I have purchased The Debussy Album (2 LPs' worth of music) on cassette tape 3 times thus far and every single copy had bad tape drag, wow and flutter and resultant distortion. I just bought the 3M spray you recommended and am going to give it a try. Fingers crossed . . . If it works, I will digitize the audio and use GoldWave to denoise and remaster it.

Interesting but I have never needed to do this. Most of my 100s of cassettes are 30+ years old and never needed any maintenance...the only ones I have had to ditch are BASF ones from early 80s (particularly the chrome ones) which left my heads covered in brown goo. I just threw them away.

Been tested on several old tapes where changing its cassette housing still not fixing tape stuck issue and it's really works. Also, make sure to spool the cassette back and forth to realign the tape reel.

Hey there. Can something like Realistic Tape Head Lubricant also be used to lubricate stuck & squealy tapes when using it on the lubricant side of the recording tape itself? :) Would this 3M spray lubricant you're talking about also be good use on 8-track tapes? :) Thank you! :)

Very, very useful. I wonder if, instead of #M Silicone Lubricant, would CRC 05074 Heavy Duty Silicone Lubricant work or would it be presumably too harsh on the cassette tape? I don't find Kontakt on Amazon here in the US

You have all the BEST unheard of solutions for me.Thanks! I'ma try this. 🧐♻

What really frosts my fur is that the cheapo Certron tapes (the ones everybody said to stay away from) work much better now than the expensive TDK tapes I bought in the 1980s. The TDK tapes tend to wind too tightly. I try to play them, and they squeak and squeal, and like you said, the tape player shuts off.

XDR = Xtra DRy

I'm a HK based cassette listener. Tapes are very susceptible to moulding thanks to the notorious local humidity, and Polydor/EMI products which have plastic instead of paper slip sheet often squeal after that. I am experimenting your method by doing it completely your way vs simply lubricating the plastic slip sheet. See if the latter works just as fine.

I've got one of them old dual cassette recorders with Dolby stereo and it's in perfect condition

I have used silicone on reel to reel tapes for years. Matter of fact the Hoppes #9 silicone rags are great to run a reel to reel tape thru. BASF LP 35 can get "dusty" and the rags clean them up nicely. Interesting it took time for the silicone to "sink in". More then probably I would suspect it softened up the lube in the tape. Similar thought process on old dried up grease.

Please do not ever do this. Lubricant can contaminate the pinch rollers and heads of your machine. Some chemicals can dissolve the glues used in tape heads, and can cause rubber compounds to fall apart. Slippery capstans and pinch rollers will cause speed instability. Slippery tape can coggle and cinch, which is not good. The tape needs to bind for consistent back tension. Chemicals could cause the tape to delaminate, leaving oxide on everything. Maxell oxide shedding caused much damage in the '90's to video machinery, and cross contaminated other tapes. The squeaking and jamming is caused by uneven winding, and by oxide shedding. Yes you can use a q-tip (carefully) in the manner shown, but do it dry. Best is to take the shell apart and clean the oxide out. Also clean out guide rollers within the shell. Also clean the sheet film in the shell. Please do not use any lube though or you may find you cause irreparable damage to your machine.

Hi, thanks for your guidance. When I play my audio cassettes there is a squeaky sound when it plays. Will lubrication stop the squeaking. I am also using wd40 contact cleaner. Is this ok. I don't want to damage my tapes. They are about 40 years old.

Lubrication is rarely the problem - it's ALIGNMENT of the tape, how it winds onto the hubs. Constant random fast winding and flipping the tape over and back again throws off the alignment and it gets snug inside. Lack of, or absence of, the liners which I call "slip sheets" inside the shell, also casues misalignment of tape onto the hubs - some tapes have "ribbed" or "ridged" liners will help tape wind onto the hubs in good alignment, but they're not perfect. It's always best to allow tapes to play (or wind) all the way from start to finish before flipping the tape over or prompting "reverse playback". To the best of my knowledge, you are not supposed to apply ANY kind of solvent or substance onto the actual tape. The only lubrication I've ever seen is applied to the guide rollers (inside the front corners of the shell) or possibly even a sparse amount on the hubs (where they fasten to the shell's holes, where they do NOT touch the tape), cos if those parts get dry and dodgy and sticky, or even gritty, then that can cause problems with the tape's steady fluid movement. You could also look to see if the deck/players mechanisms and motors are moving with proper lubrication as well. These all require disassembly, of course, so this is "advanced users" kind of stuff, lol. But NEVER put lube on the tape itself. Lube the PARTS of the inner shell and/or the inner mechanisms of the deck... NEVER the actual tape. You'll potentially ruin the tape applying lubes and stuff. That's just my experience. I've been working with tapes for nearly 20 years since I was a teenager, even modifying them and repairing them. I've tried and done it all. The only thing that has remained consistent as a hard and fast rule is to never let anything but the deck heads and the cassette hubs touch the tape.

Used to keep jammed cassettes in the console of my car so I could throw them at brain-deads' that cut me off.

Wouldn't the wet playing side stick the tape to the dry underside and does the lubricant air dry, so it is not wet like water and oil?

Would this work for VHS tapes too? I have many, including old home videos, that squeak and make strange noises when fast forwarding and rewinding. Sometimes the picture wobbles too. I've been very reluctant to put any kind of fluid on my tapes even for cleaning. If it goes back into the shell before it's dried out, the tape can stick to itself and get torn apart when next played!

To those of you who kept banging their heads on the wall and repeating "kill me" trying to get through the initial part of the video: the actually "useful" part begins at around 6:00 mark. You are welcome. (But even after that it still goes in circles a lot.) But, having said that, if you can find nothing better to do than to "lubricate" your cassettes, maybe you need another hobby.