How often do you grease your brakes

[tony72cutlass's']

How often do you guys grease your caliper pins, boot seal, and where the brake pad ears sit

I typically use the high temperature brake grease once a year before the winter on all my old Ford vehicles and have never had to change a caliper (I kept most of them 7-8 years) not sure what the rule of thumb is for trucks

UPDATE:

pins needed a good cleaning and greasing, but turned out great about 15 mins per wheel

before:

After:

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[Blueshound]

I bet maybe 1 in 1000 people do it at all. I haven't ever done it. Yes, it's a good idea.

 

[tony72cutlass's']

I bet maybe 1 in 1000 people do it at all. I haven't ever done it. Yes, it's a good idea.

back in the 90’s I had a Datsun seize up me so hard that the brake disc got red hot. After paying an arm and a leg for a caliper and showering myself with brake fluid, I’ve been greasing ever since!

 

[JerseyGlock]

Re-grease during pad replacement.

 

[Bluesman]

I now check the caliper pins for free movement at every tire rotation with any vehicle I own.

 

[psambrose]

My neighbor sprays down his calipers every couple of months with white lithium grease in a spray can. He doesn't even take the wheels off, just sprays through the wheel spokes.

 

[JerseyGlock]

My neighbor sprays down his calipers every couple of months with white lithium grease in a spray can. He doesn't even take the wheels off, just sprays through the wheel spokes.

White lithium grease can easily burn off from heat generated from rotor and pads.

 

[Pedaldude]

Here in the Southwest, dust is more of a problem than corrosion and while I will generously grease the pins, I will use hardly any grease on the retaining clips and then make sure to clean off all the excess. Then, before I push the pistons back in, I spend almost as much time cleaning the pistons as the rest of the brake job outside of bleeding them.

That’s why I change my own brake pads, I know that I cleaned them as much as reasonably possible, bled the fluid the right way and didn’t just change the fluid in the reservoir. I also like to change my pads earlier than most.

...He doesn't even take the wheels off, just sprays through the wheel spokes.

Ask him how often he accidentally greases his discs

Once I picked up a Land Rover from the dealership service center and when approaching a traffic light on a parkway, the light turned yellow. The road curved to the left right before the light and as I was passing slower traffic while traveling in the left lane, I applied the brakes with a little over a hundred yards before the intersection. The truck immediately pulled hard to the right in the LH turn and barely slowed down. Luckily there weren’t any cars in front of me, since I barely stopped by the time I got to the light! I warned a colleague about the brakes and after he drove the truck, he exclaimed that I wasn’t kidding as he almost crashed too

 

[Icecoldak]

NEVER

 

[tony72cutlass's']

I now check the caliper pins for free movement at every tire rotation with any vehicle I own.

do you take them out or just squeeze the caliper by hand and see if they move around

 

[tony72cutlass's']

Here in the Southwest, dust is more of a problem than corrosion and while I will generously grease the pins, I will use hardly any grease on the retaining clips and then make sure to clean off all the excess. Then, before I push the pistons back in, I spend almost as much time cleaning the pistons as the rest of the brake job outside of bleeding them.

That’s why I change my own brake pads, I know that I cleaned them as much as reasonably possible, bled the fluid the right way and didn’t just change the fluid in the reservoir. I also like to change my pads earlier than most.



Ask him how often he accidentally greases his discs

Once I picked up a Land Rover from the dealership service center and when approaching a traffic light on a parkway, the light turned yellow. The road curved to the left right before the light and as I was passing slower traffic while traveling in the left lane, I applied the brakes with a little over a hundred yards before the intersection. The truck immediately pulled hard to the right in the LH turn and barely slowed down. Luckily there weren’t any cars in front of me, since I barely stopped by the time I got to the light! I warned a colleague about the brakes and after he drove the truck, he exclaimed that I wasn’t kidding as he almost crashed too

100% agreed last time I got a mom and pop shop to do my pads and rotors on my mustang I asked the guy to take the extra time and charge me to grease the pins and piston boot. Needless to say he didn’t do it and my pads wore crooked and needed replacing within 9 months

I also drove that car like a hero, not sure if that affected anything lol

 

[Bluesman]

do you take them out or just squeeze the caliper by hand and see if they move around

Initially I would check them for movement but now I pull the slide pins and grease them.

 

[780]

Greasing brakes? Never heard of it.

I honestly thought this was a joke like blinker fluid, exhaust bearings, piston return springs.... lol

 

[HeadBanger]

I only do that when I change the brakes. I will say though that sometimes they are difficult to move when I pull them apart. That said, it's probably not a bad idea, I just don't do it.

 

[tony72cutlass's']

I'm going to take a peek and see what they look like when i change my tires this weekend. I have 10K miles so it should hopefully look pretty good

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