Brake caliper slide pins

[Tex 36,817]

I still use it (Coppaslip) and AA patrolmen are still issued with it for use as required. Just don’t put it anywhere stupid.  

[embee 7,288]

Copper grease is one of the various "anti-seize" products, and should be used as such. It is not a lubricant for moving parts (the copper particles will act as an abrasive to a greater or lesser extent). Copper grease is intended for steel/iron applications. The idea is that under extreme circumstances the copper particles will shear and act as a solid lubricant when you undo a stuck fastener etc and protect the underlying surfaces from pick-up and seizure. There are similar products based on aluminium (for alum alloy applications) and nickel (stainless steel applications).

 

The use of copper grease on the backs of brake pads is a bit old school if you'll excuse me, the idea was the copper particles acted as a solid lubricant for the micro movement between the pads and pistons. Modern brake components don't really need this. Having said that, bike brakes do suffer from corrosion effects (they shouldn't but that's another subject), and some sort of covering with water repellent stuff does help protect them. As discussed elsewhere, today's practice is generally to avoid any sort of free grease etc in production for a variety of reasons. Bike brakes have parts which suffer as a result, the retaining pins being a common one, and the exposed ends of brake pistons another. Personally I use red rubber grease around piston ends, and a silicone grease on the pins.

 

On the fastener front, torque figures are usually given for dry/lightly oiled condition. By lightly oiled they mean the sort of oiling sometimes found for storage protection. If you apply oil/grease or even Loctite it will act as a lubricant during tightening and torques used should be reduced accordingly. There's no real hard and fast value, but a rule of thumb is around 20% reduction typically. Fasteners not designed for "torque to yield" tightening (e.g. con-rods, main bearings and cylinder heads normally torque to yield) are normally designed for around 80% of yield, lubrication plus quoted torque often takes them right up to yield when they weren't intended for it.

Edited March 10, 2018 by embee

[trisaki 2,029]

On 13/09/2017 at 22:35, Exceledsteve said:

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

Don't use it on anything  that slides it will end up binding better off with a form of silicone grease etc -ok on backs of pads