How to Lubricate a Walking Pad

1. How Do You Lubricate a Walking Pad? The Short Answer

Unplug the pad, loosen the two rear roller bolts by the same number of turns, lift each edge of the belt in turn and apply 100% silicone treadmill lubricant to the deck under the centre of the belt, then restore the bolts to their original position, walk at a low speed for a few minutes to spread it, and re-centre the belt if it has drifted.

That is the whole job. The details that make it go well are counting the turns when you loosen the bolts so you can put the tension back exactly, applying silicone to the middle of the deck where your feet land rather than near the ends, using a modest amount rather than a lot, and checking the belt runs centred before you walk on it for any length of time.

Three things to check first. Read the manual, because some pads have a pre-waxed or maintenance-free deck and should not be lubricated at all. Use only 100% silicone lubricant made for treadmills — never WD-40, household oil or general-purpose sprays. And unplug at the wall before you touch anything.

If you own a full-size treadmill as well, the general method is in our guide totreadmill belt lubrication. This page covers what is different on a walking pad.

2. Does Your Walking Pad Need Lubricating at All?

Most do, but not all, and the manual is the only reliable way to know. Walking pads fall into roughly three groups.

• Pads that need periodic lubrication. The common case. The manual gives an interval, a method and often a quantity, and the box usually includes a small bottle of silicone and the hex key for the rear bolts. Follow the manual's schedule.
• Pads with a pre-waxed or maintenance-free deck. The deck or belt backing is treated at the factory so that it should not need adding to, at least for a long period. Adding silicone to these can make the belt slip and may conflict with the warranty terms. If the manual says not to lubricate, do not.
• Pads whose manual says little. Some budget pads come with sparse instructions. If the manual is silent, check the seller's or brand's support pages, or ask them directly, before adding anything. If a bottle of silicone came in the box, that is a strong hint that lubrication is expected.

Whatever the group, the deck still wears. Even a maintenance-free deck can dry out eventually, and the signs listed further down this page apply to every pad. If a pad described as maintenance-free starts showing them, contact the seller before lubricating it yourself, particularly while it is under warranty.

3. What Do You Need to Lubricate a Walking Pad?

Very little, and most of it usually comes with the pad.

• 100% silicone treadmill lubricant. Often supplied with the pad in a small squeeze bottle. If you need more, buy one labelled as 100% silicone and intended for treadmills. A bottle with a long nozzle or applicator tube makes reaching under a tight belt much easier.
• The hex key for the rear roller bolts. Usually supplied. If not, check the size in the manual; a standard set of hex keys will cover it.
• A lint-free cloth. For wiping the deck edges and any excess.
• A torch or phone light. To see under the belt edge.
• A marker or a strip of tape. To mark the starting position of each bolt head, which makes it easier to restore the tension.
• Paper and pen, or your phone. To write down the number of turns you made on each side. It sounds excessive; it is the step that saves you from a tracking problem afterwards.

If the lubricant that came with the pad has run out, check the label of any replacement for two things: that it says 100% silicone, and that it is intended for treadmills. A bottle lasts a long time at walking pad quantities, so there is no need to buy a large one.

4. What Should You Not Use on a Walking Pad?

Anything that is not 100% silicone treadmill lubricant, unless your manual specifies a different product. The deck and the underside of the belt are designed to run against a silicone film, and other products can damage them.

• WD-40. It is a water-displacing solvent, not a deck lubricant, and on a treadmill deck it does more harm than good. Our page onusing WD-40 on a treadmillexplains exactly why, and what to do if you have already used it.
• Household and machine oils. Cooking oil, sewing machine oil and general-purpose oils are not designed for this surface, can attract dust and grit, and can degrade the belt backing.
• Petroleum-based products and grease. Too thick, and potentially harmful to the materials.
• General-purpose silicone sprays. Many contain solvents or propellants alongside the silicone. Treadmill lubricant labelled as 100% silicone is a different product even if the word silicone is on both cans.
• Wax, unless the manual names it. A small number of machines specify a wax-based product. If yours does not, do not improvise.

The rule is simple enough to remember: if the bottle does not say 100% silicone and treadmill, it does not go under the belt.

5. Step by Step: How to Lubricate a Walking Pad

This method assumes a typical flat walking pad with the motor at the front and two tension bolts at the rear, one on each side, that adjust the rear roller. Some pads put the bolts behind small caps in the rear end covers; a few are laid out differently. Where your manual describes a different layout or method, follow it.

1. Unplug and let it cool. Pull the plug at the wall. If the pad has just been used, give the motor a few minutes. Move the pad somewhere you can kneel at the back of it with a little space on each side.
2. Clear the deck edges. Wipe the visible edges of the deck and the belt sides with a dry cloth. Dust and fibres pushed under the belt with the lubricant end up where you do not want them. If it is very dirty underneath, our guide oncleaning under a treadmill beltcovers that first.
3. Find the rear tension bolts. Look at the rear end caps on either side of the back roller. There is usually a hex bolt head on each side, sometimes behind a small removable cap.
4. Mark and count. Put a dot of marker or a small piece of tape on the head of each bolt so you can see its position. Then loosen each bolt anticlockwise by the same number of turns — often two or three full turns is enough to give the belt some slack — and write the number down. Loosen both sides equally, so the roller stays square.
5. Lift one edge of the belt at the centre of the deck. Halfway along the pad, lift the belt edge away from the deck. On a loosened belt you should get enough of a gap to see the deck surface with a torch. Do not force it; if there is no gap, back the bolts off another turn each, and add that to your count.
6. Apply silicone under the centre. Reach the nozzle under the lifted edge and apply a thin line of silicone across the deck towards the middle, where your feet land, rather than at the very front or back. Use the quantity the manual gives; if it gives none, a modest amount is the right instinct — a thin line, not a puddle.
7. Repeat on the other side. Lift the opposite edge at the same point and apply a matching line, so both halves of the deck get the same.
8. Restore the tension. Turn each bolt clockwise by exactly the number of turns you loosened it, until the marks line up where they started. The belt should be back at the tension it had before you began.
9. Wipe any excess. Check the belt edges and the floor for drips and wipe them off. Silicone on the top of the belt makes it slippery underfoot.
10. Walk it in. Plug in, start the belt at the lowest speed, and watch it run empty for a minute to check it is tracking straight. Then walk on it at a slow pace — around 1 to 2 mph — for three to five minutes. That spreads the silicone across the whole contact area; until you do, it sits in two stripes and does very little.
11. Check tension and centring. Stop, watch the belt run, and correct any drift or slip with small adjustments, as described in the next two sections.

A note on step four. On some pads there is enough give to lift an edge at the centre without touching the bolts at all. If you can see the deck clearly with a gentle lift, skip the loosening and you will not have to restore anything. Loosen only if you would otherwise be forcing the belt.

6. How Do You Get the Belt Tension Right Afterwards?

If you counted the turns and put them back, the tension should be where it was before you started, and that is usually correct. Check it before walking on the pad for long.

Signs it is too loose

The belt hesitates or slips under your foot as you land, especially when you push off, and the motor may seem to keep turning while the belt stutters. Tighten both bolts by the same small amount — a quarter turn each — and test again. Be aware that a freshly lubricated deck can make a marginal belt slip briefly until the silicone has been walked in; if a few more minutes of walking cures it, leave the tension alone.

Signs it is too tight

The belt cannot be lifted at all at the centre, the motor sounds strained, the pad runs warmer than usual, or the belt seems to drag. Over-tightening loads the motor, the rollers and their bearings, and is one of the quieter ways to shorten a pad's life. Loosen both bolts a quarter turn and test again.

Manuals describe the right tension in different ways — often as a small amount of lift available at the middle of the belt. Follow your manual's description if it has one. Our guide tohow tight a treadmill belt should beexplains the checks in more detail.

7. How Do You Re-Centre the Belt After Lubricating?

Run the pad empty at a low speed and watch the belt. If it stays an even distance from both sides of the deck, leave it. If it drifts towards one side, it needs a small correction at the rear bolts.

The usual rule is to turn the bolt on the side the belt has drifted towards a quarter turn clockwise, which nudges the belt back towards the centre. Make one quarter-turn adjustment at a time, let the belt run for a minute to settle, and look again. Belts respond slowly, and impatient half-turn adjustments are how a belt ends up swinging from one side to the other. Some manuals suggest loosening the opposite side instead, which keeps the overall tension the same; either works if done in small steps.

A belt that will not stay centred however carefully it is adjusted may have uneven tension, a worn belt or a roller problem, and is worth raising with the seller if the pad is under warranty. For the full method, including how to tell whether drift is caused by the way you walk, see our guide onhow to centre a treadmill belt.

8. How Often Should You Lubricate a Walking Pad?

As often as the manual says, and if it gives an interval in hours of use rather than in months, you will probably reach it sooner than you expect. Walking pads are often used for far more hours a week than a treadmill in a spare room, because they run in the background of a working day.

Manuals vary: some give an interval in hours, some in months, some say to lubricate when the deck feels dry. Pre-waxed decks may give a long interval or none. Where a manual gives hours, it helps to know how fast you are using them. The table below is arithmetic, using an illustrative 50-hour interval — substitute your manual's figure.

The practical point is that a desk walker on a pad can hit an hours-based interval in a month or so, while someone using it for evening walks may go a season. A calendar reminder set by months alone can leave a heavily used pad running dry for weeks. If your pad or app tracks total hours or distance, use that.

Heavier users, long continuous sessions and dusty rooms all tend to shorten the interval. Over-lubricating is also possible: too much silicone makes the belt slip and can work its way out onto the floor or the rollers, so more often is not automatically better. For a fuller treatment of intervals on all kinds of treadmill, see our guide tohow often to lubricate a treadmill.

9. What Are the Signs Your Walking Pad Needs Lubricating?

The clearest sign is a dry deck. With the pad unplugged, lift the belt edge at the middle of the deck and run a fingertip across the surface where your feet land. It should feel slightly slick. If it feels dry, papery or grippy, it is due. Check in the middle of the walking area rather than at the edge, where wear is lighter.

Other signs, any of which can point to a dry deck:

• The belt hesitates as you land. A brief slowing with each step, as friction between belt and deck rises.
• New noise. A squeak, a rubbing sound or a motor that sounds more laboured than it used to at the same speed.
• The pad runs warmer. The motor housing at the front is noticeably warmer after a normal session than it used to be.
• Cut-outs or error codes. Some pads protect themselves by stopping or showing an error when the motor is overloaded, and a dry deck is one of the commonest reasons for overload.
• The belt feels heavier. If you stop the motor and push the belt by hand with the pad unplugged, it drags more than you remember.

A burning smell is different. Stop, unplug, let the pad cool and investigate before using it again; lubrication may be part of the fix, but a hot smell is a reason to stop rather than to carry on and hope.

10. What If Something Feels Wrong Afterwards?

Most problems after lubricating a pad come from tension, tracking or quantity, and they are fixable in a few minutes.

The belt slips

Walk for a few more minutes first; fresh silicone can make a belt slip briefly until it spreads. If the slip persists, the tension may not be fully restored — tighten both bolts a quarter turn and test. If it still slips, too much lubricant may have been applied; unplug, lift the edges, and wipe the excess from the deck edges with a lint-free cloth, then walk it in again.

The belt drifts to one side

Usually uneven tension from restoring one bolt more than the other. Correct it with quarter turns as described above.

The noise has not gone

If a squeak or rub continues after the silicone has been walked in, the noise may not be coming from the deck at all — it may be a roller, the belt edge rubbing on a cover, or something loose. Check that the belt is centred and not touching the side covers.

There is silicone on the floor or belt surface

Wipe it off. Silicone on the top of the belt is slippery underfoot, and on a hard floor it is a slip hazard around the pad. Next time, use less.

When to stop and contact the seller

If the pad cuts out repeatedly, smells hot, will not track however it is adjusted, or the deck surface looks worn through, stop using it and contact the seller or brand. On a pad still under warranty, describe what you did and what happened; following the manual's maintenance method is part of what keeps a claim straightforward.

11. Frequently Asked Questions