How do I make lighting stands not stick?

Among other activities at my new job, I am doing a kind of spring cleaning/inventory of the studio and production offices. I found several lighting stands, that have "sticky" legs or masts (not sure of the term). By that, I mean that they don't operate smoothly, but bind up a little. They are on the cheaper and lighter side, but still functional, so I don't see any reason to replace them if I can fix them.

Is there any way to make them work better? I was thinking of paste wax, but another idea would be silicone spray or the like, but I don't want to mess up the locking mechanism by making everything too slick.
Any ideas? Is this just a think you deal with with junk tier products?