Clean Bearings (edited)

[Malu]

Black grease smears across your fingertips, Grease commonly comes in the color black, I don't think "black" is needed for this line. Especially with the context of this poem, we know what car grease/oil looks like.
sticking to the surface and filling up the ridges;
wad a paper towel, clean away what you can,
the rest'll smear across your forehead when you Classic grease monkey look
wipe your face with your hands. I don't think you meant to rhyme can and hands, but it reads a bit weird, almost forced rhyming although it may be unintentional

Before, as you stuttered over sidewalk cracks The car is on the sidewalk?
wheels grinding on axels like forgotten gears
in a rusty clock ticking another five minutes behind, This car must be getting old, if I'm correct, I think this line is a good representation of a aged car, "rusty clock" I enjoyed that, possibly one that has been in the family for a while? With sentimental value. Or this is all one big metaphor to a different story? I'm gonna go with my first hunch
you thought you might get new wheels, justification
to scrap your old ones and toss them aside.

The edge of a razor blade lifts the little cap
red plastic revealing a chain of rolling orbs beneath. I liked this line
Squeeze a drop or two of oil, let it drip down between
the spinning circles; add the cover, grab another,
pry it open and repeat.

It's just a repair, only lasting until that sudden
hurdle, a landing that damages the delicate balance
of suspended spheres and prevents the smooth turns
that let you glide through silent city streets
like a concrete-bound bird. Good stanza

Line up the spacers and press down on the wheel Press down on the wheel? Not sure with this lingo, I'm no car expert/mechanic or anything like that, but I usually just associate the wheel with holding, grabbing, driving. Not really pressing down on it
little silver circles sliding back into their places
spin it down the axel and tighten til it catches
on your wrench, adjusting for speed and checking
that each rotation matches. Decent ending, I think it could be stronger

I liked this poem. You mentioned circles, orbs, and spheres, which all apply here and definitely have connotations of those parts, but to me these words are almost the same. Even though they may represent different car parts. I typed orb into the thesaurus and got back six results, two of which were in fact circle and sphere. I think that even though those car parts are indeed those shapes and dimensions, you could possibly describe them with some metaphors that allude to their shape. Thanks for the read.