Brake caliper slide pins

[rjp996 1,091]

Hi - been wondering if anyone puts any brake lube (silicon) or some such on the caliper slide pins.

I noticed especially last winter, how corroded and messed up they get.

On a car you would grease the slide pins, however they are encased in a rubber sleeve to keep out the muck from the grease

So... just wondering what people do.

[Exceledsteve 2,191]

I use copper slip grease on everything that slides or has a thread, including the back of the pads where the Pistons contact them.

Edited September 13, 2017 by Exceledsteve

[DaveM59 1,603]

Ditto

[embee 7,288]

I use a silicone grease for the slide pins (inside the rubber boots as you say). This is what the manual recommends. The stuff I use has added PTFE for ......... slippyness I guess.

[ste7ios 469]

I do the same: Molykote 33 Medium as suggested by Dow Corning. 

[Trumpet 215]

You can buy stainless steel caliper pad retainer pins. The sliding caliper pins are sealed.

Edited September 16, 2017 by Trumpet

[Guest bonekicker]

But don't put too much on--take them out cleanup--and rub the copper grease all over pins--copper grease is what we older members use--because we bought a can in 1951--and it still almost full even after 1000's of applications 

[sandalfarm 2,764]

Bought my tin in 1981 used about an inch and going to leave it for someone in my will

[commuter 262]

Bought my can in about mid 80s... nearly used it all now! There goes the heirloom!

[Guest bonekicker]

Can you still buy this stuff?--or as it been banned as toxic??

[DaveM59 1,603]

You can still get it, but like a lot of things, it looks and feels different somehow. It's slimier and shinier but seems to do the job. Just bought a new plastic tub (used to be a tin) to replace one I have had since as long as I can remember. Probably was a tin I inherited from my Grandad.

[ste7ios 469]

Honda (and other manufacturers) is using high temperature silicone grease on pistons and other moving parts.

 

I also made an inquiry to Dow Corning about what lubricants should I use according the application and they suggested me one of their high temp. silicone grease for that usage, although they have copper greases...

 

With some digging, It seems that there are some reasons not use copper grease in some cases, like galvanic corrosion, heat transfer, incompatibility with o-rings and seals... (don't forget not all implementations are the same. Something that work for the X doesn't work the same way for the Y. Just stick to specs and avoid generalizations.)

 

Have in mind that any grease out there has a limited shelf life. That's why I purchase the smallest possible packages (e.g. 100 gr)... And some times it's an opportunity to save some money. You may buy a recently expired grease for a few bucks instead of the normal price...

 

Some copper greases have a shelf life of about 5 years.

[embee 7,288]

As Stelios says.

Copper grease is usually mineral oil based so may not be compatible with some rubber used in brake and cooling systems. Silicone grease is fine with most common rubber types, NBR, EPDM etc. If the manual recommends a silicone grease it's wise to stick to that unless you know the materials.

[Trumpet 215]

Red rubber grease and Silicone are fine. I have personal experience of using the bicycle, added PTFE red grease. It was not in fact vegatable based as thought, but was in fact lithium based. Over time it made the rubber in the slider swell and go sticky, and it also made the piston dust seals break up ! Make sure you use the right stuff.

Edited September 18, 2017 by Trumpet

[Guest Biffo501]

Silicone is ok as it is totally inert to water salt etc, avoid copper slip on pistons it attacks and swells seals, also red rubber grease can be used but will not last as long as silicone. Have been using silicone for several years, as it stops pistons corroding only prob is it is a pig to clean off as its virtually insoluble in anything.

[Trumpet 215]

I have some other synthetic grease I can use, its non reactive to everything and impervious to most things. It's horrendously expensive, but I get it from work Its a PFPE lubricant. don't tell anyone. Brake piston seals are EPDM and swell and break down when doused in lithium based grease.

Edited September 30, 2017 by Trumpet

[DaveM59 1,603]

Don't forget, the slider pins only need a smear of whatever you like to prevent corrosion, they don't need to be pumped full of any sort of lube or you end up with an air lock and they don't slide. You are not actually lubricating, just protecting.

Piston seals need proper brake grease that doesn't soften or damage the seal and also doesn't contaminate the fluid on initial priming and bleeding, and again the grease is only needed for initial assembly, it isn't required in operation other than to protect the exposed side of the piston as it extends as the pads wear. Whatever you use is wiped off, or should be before you press the pistons back in when new pads are fitted. Brake fluid itself swells the seals by design, or the older stuff did. If you ever had a leaking engine or power steering oil seal, adding a cup of brake fluid to the oil 9 out of 10 times dried up the leak usually permanently, or for a long time!

[makman 975]

Red grease for pistons and sliders.  Copper grease for bolts and backs of pads.  ACF50 grease for exposed areas you don't want corroding.  Titanium caliper retaining pin that does not corrode.  Job jobbed for me.  Going to give the brakes a quick clean this morning, just a scrub and refresh.  When it is warmer I will strip and clean them thoroughly, pistons out etc...  Worth doing it properly.

[trisaki 2,029]

Exactly as I do in my wshop but if I need to change the Pistons I use stainless  /certainly don't use copper grease on sliders as they won't ! !

[kharli 100]

just an old toothbrush clean every few thousand miles seems to work ,I gave up using anything on my callipers and apart from a yearly strip down clean after winter have noticed no problems at all ..now the problems I got by getting a bit of grease where it shouldn't..... I do use silicone grease inside the rubber grommet thingies , have just replaced those after 6 years as one had a split in it.

[Reckless 945]

Just a word about copper grease, take care when tightening bolts as it acts as a torque multiplier, we had many large bolts shear on mining machinery where the bolts had been torqued up "correctly " investigation showed the grease to be the cause of failure 

[ChrisCB 6,653]

We stopped using copper slip in the motor trade 20 years ago! One reason of many is because copper is very conductive and can have an adverse effect on ABS sytem sensors particularly with modern hall sensors. I would avoid.

[Neo 214]

57 minutes ago, Chris750 said:

We stopped using copper slip in the motor trade 20 years ago! One reason of many is because copper is very conductive and can have an adverse effect on ABS sytem sensors particularly with modern hall sensors. I would avoid.

Trisaki got me into blue grease

[trisaki 2,029]

3 hours ago, Neo said:

Trisaki got me into blue grease

I'm glad you added "grease " on the end of your sentence  😂

[TheEnglishman 401]

23 hours ago, Chris750 said:

We stopped using copper slip in the motor trade 20 years ago! One reason of many is because copper is very conductive and can have an adverse effect on ABS sytem sensors particularly with modern hall sensors. I would avoid.

 

 

Thats seems a hammer to crack a walnut reason to me.  Surely just don't put it on the ABS sensors?  Or connectors.

 

Personally, I've never found coppaslip to cause galvanic corrosion or rotted rubber/silicone and my 80's tube of it is almost fully squeezed.   I do use it on brake pins, mainly as it lasts longer than red grease. And that's all I've got out when I'm cleaning my brakes.