I suspect most people tend to apply too much grease the first few times. I suppose this must be better than not using enough—but only if all the excess is thoroughly cleaned.
Time to make you cringe a bit...
The first lens I ever relubricated was a Soviet lens that had seized absolutely solid. I forget whether it was an Industar 26M or an Industar 61 L/D, but either way, you could barely turn the ring at all. Classic Soviet "beeswax" in the helical. Thankfully, they're ridiculously easy to take apart (three set screws and back all the way out, if I remember right), but cleaning all that gunk out? That took a long time. I was using surgical spirit and "q-tips" - not ideal, but got the job done.
Problem is that a dry fit after cleaning showed a LOT of play. Turns out this isn't uncommon. One theory I found online was that late Soviet production purposely cut the threads wider than needed; it was faster and easier to pack the threads out with thick grease than it was to cut things to fine tolerances.
So, with this in mind, I went down a local mechanic's yard with a film canister and asked if I could steal some automotive grease. Scooped a bunch up, came home, slathered the male thread in the helical until it was thoroughly coated, and put everything back together, cleaning off all the excess that gooped out the ends. The result was a smoothly focusing lens without all the wobble that was present when it was "dry", so maybe there's some truth in that old theory.
Now, I'd never do that with a 90mm Elmar - if only because automotive grease makes a finely-cut helicoid feel excessively heavy (don't ask how I know that). But that Industar? Still smooth and still wobble-free 12 years later. And, amazingly, that automotive grease doesn't appear to have caused any haze or damage to the optics, either.
