Silicone lubricant for brake pistons?

[bakerlonglegs]

Hello,
Mid-way through a first time strip and clean of the 1150 front brakes (first time for bike and first time for me!). All going OK so far, seems pretty straight forward. (Thank you Steptoe for brake pads! )
The brake pistons are quite stiff and bone dry. However, having trawled the threads it seems that lubing the brake pistons with copper slip or ordinary grease is not a good idea, knacks the seals apparently.
I found a can of 'Silicone Lubricant for Rubber and Plastics' at Halfords—would that be OK? It doesn't mention that application on the (spray) can. Will it be OK at high brake temperatures?
Any advice appreciated!
Andy

 

[Schtum]

I wouldn't. You really want either pukka brake grease, Castrol do one or you could just buy silcone brake grease from a plumbers' merchant. Seriously....

 

[roly]

lube

hi
must of read my mind,

 

[cookie]

i've only ever lubed calipers on assembly after a complete strip.

have you got the caliper body, pistons etc. dismantled?

if you have, a seal kit should be fitted before reassembly & they come with grease.

 

[bakerlonglegs]

Thank you for the advice chaps. Confirms my suspicions that I need the pukka stuff.

Andy

 

[(RIP) maverick]

Hi Andy,

Pm me your address I have two tubes of red rubber grease which is what you need for the caliper pistons lying about in the garage. Will drop it in the post for you.

 

[newman7096]

I've been using this the past couple of years and it seems fine;

http://www.bikenet.com/order.asp?Pa...eyword=&SearchDescription=&Zone=&product=2125

 

[pomm001]

If your pistons are a bit sticky the suggest that you take 'pop' them out individually and clean very carefully, either replace the seals.
This is best done off the bike with the aid of compressed air and a great deal of caution
Remove the dust seal make sure the seal groove in the caliper has not got any dirt or build up from the winter behind it .
If there is it will make the dust seal drag harder on the piston and make it sticky, no amount of lube will improve it .
clean the dust seal well with brake fluid ,dont use solvents and make sure there isnt any crud in the V profile of the seal
put the very smallest amount of rubber grease or suitable on it and re fit
Lube the piston with some clean brake fluid and push the piston back in with finger pressure only.

 

[bakerlonglegs]

Thanks all again for the advice!

Maverick - I'd certainly like to take you up on that offer of the red rubber grease if that's still open - PM sent, thanks very much!

pomm001 - I agree a rebuild is probably imminent. However, the pistons have come up nice and shiny once I'd cleared the ring of crud away. For the moment I'm going to grease the pistons after this clean up and see how that changes things - the pistons do move back in with finger pressure now. In the meantime, I'm going to do a bit of reading up on 'how to strip, clean, refill and bleed brakes', which will be another first!

newman - cheers for the link, bookmarked for future use!

Andy

 

[NeverRodeBefore]

Just curious...

When my pistons stuck on the LandRover, I decided to rip the callipers apart (discovered them to be AP Lockheed HD units off a 110... no wonder my IIA stops nice), then replaced the pistons with polished stainless steel pistons, not cheap, but been on for a couple of years with no attention whatsoever... still look fine.

Does anyone do stainless ones for the GS models?

 

[GEOFFREY DEACON]

Iv`e used silicon grease for o/hauling brakes for years with NO problems at all!!,(done hundreds)!, in fact its a major advantage for longer life of caliper parts..
Copper slip is good for anti squeel and coating unpainted areas ,and silicon grease for the seals,, pistons and sliding pins and boots..
Just don`t get it on the discs,, and don`t use silicon sprays for the same reason,.
The little packets of rubber grease are also good but they never give you enough for a proper job.
Graphite grease will swell the seals and give you problems!!.