What Grease To Use On Brakes?

Making sure that your brakes are well lubricated is important for your safety. But what grease to use on brakes is a crucial question, because only the right grease will make your brakes work efficiently. Find out everything about brake grease, and which one you should use here.

You should always make sure that your car brakes are well lubricated so that they can do their job efficiently. But more importantly, you need to understand how to use lubricant. Incorrectly lubricating brakes can be troublesome. You might even cause your brakes to stop working entirely. 

Hence, one must ensure that the you apply the lubricant or caliper grease to only those parts where its is needed. This article will answer what grease to use on brakes and answer crucial questions regarding where one should apply the grease. 

 

What Grease To Use On Brakes

What Happens if You Don’t Put Brake Grease on Pads?

Keeping some brake grease on the rear of the pad metal keeps the metal-to-metal vibrations to a minimum. The vibrations are caused when the pad gets pressed against the disk. 

This noise gets transmitted and amplified further due to the bare metal-to-metal contact between the brake pad backplate and the caliper. When the brake pads in your vehicle are not lubricated, the brakes do not contact the rotor properly. 

This will lead the brake pads to wear unevenly. Moreover, the slide pins may stick, which will cause the brake pads to come in direct contact with the rotor. This contact cause more heat buildup which again can speed up the wearing process in your brake pads. 

 

You might also like to read: Where To Apply Brake Grease On Pads?

 

Can I Use Any Grease for Brake Pads?

Can I use regular grease for brakes? Not all lubricants are meant for withstanding the high heat that brakes have to face every day. 

When these ordinary lubricants cannot take the brake heat, they melt off, evaporate, burn or oxidize. Hence, you should not consider using ordinary grease for lubricating brake components. 

 

What Grease To Use On Brakes

What Kind of Grease for Brake Pads? 

The grease you use for brake components must be specially formulated, high-temperature grease which can withstand the high brake heat and not cause any damage to plastic bushings and rubber seals. 

Brake pads generate massive frictional force, and grease is a lubricant that reduces friction. The most powerful system in a vehicle is not the engine. The brakes handling tons of pressure in the hydraulic lines generate thousands of kg of bite force on the disc. 

Indeed use grease on drum brakes, not on the pad, but the brake line wire and the springs; that will help.

 

Also read:  Everything to know about O’Reilly’s brand of brakes

 

What Kind of Grease Do You Use on Brake Caliper Pins?

You can use caliper grease on rear disc brakes that have calipers that are locked into each other, cables that are connected to the parking brakes, and other such linkages. You might consider using brake grease that has Syncolon for wheel cylinders and caliper. 

The next obvious question is about the method of usage. You should use the grease on all moving joints and parts. This includes pins, bushings, caliper sides, and contact points where the pads slide within the caliper housing. These are the lubrication points in the case of disc brakes. 

 

You might also like to read: Why Does My Car Make A Clicking Sound When Turning Steering Wheel?

 

What Grease to Use on Brake Caliper Pins?

 If you are worried about the caliper pin getting rusted, don’t. These are made of cast iron. 

The whole piston set is set on these caliper pins setting the pads at the perfect angle for maximum contact and bite force. 

If the vehicle is stranded or you live in an environment with high humidity, consider using grease or an agent like WD40 to protect them from rusting.

 

What Grease To Use On Brakes

Can I Use WD 40 on My Brakes?

Many use WD40 to get rid of the squealing noises coming from their brakes. WD 40 is essentially a potent cleaning agent for removing grease or rust and hence protects the surface on which it is applied from corrosion. 

Now, if you have disc brakes, there’s nothing where you can use it except the brake pads. But using it on them does not makes sense as, after each braking effect, the upper surface gets a little worn off. 

You can use it on brake calipers to clean them. The drum brakes are not easy to clean as the drums are embedded in the wheel and adequately protected from direct contact with water or anything for that matter. You can check and clean them once in a while with your regular vehicle service. 

As someone who has worked at a repair shop, Survival Freedom emphatically outlines reasons for avoiding using WD40 on your brakes. 

  • WD40 can reduce friction when the same is not needed and ultimately break down and damage brake components. 
  • Spraying WD40 to get rid of the squealing brakes may work, but it may also cause the brakes not to function correctly. 
  • WD 40 can even cause caliper corrosion. When the brake caliper and WD40 come in contact, the dust boot and piston seal may swell. Since the former and latter become soft, they begin to break down. 
  • Spraying WD40 on brake pads can affect their integrity in the long run. Your brake pad’s purpose is to provide friction between the brake shoe and the brake drum to bring the car to a halt. Spraying this substance will cause the friction surface to wear away and degrade. 
  • There are strong chances that your car’s brakes may also fail if the brake pads aren’t working correctly. When sprayed on the brake rotor, WD40 is left behind, and being oil in nature, it can cause trouble in halting your car when you try to do so. 

 

You might also like to read: Why Are Brake Jobs So Expensive?

 

What Happens if You Don’t Grease Brakes?

Nothing. Disc brakes are completely hydraulic operated. Greasing on the lever will help but other than that, no. 

Using grease on the disc or the pads will eventually lead to thermal degradation, which you may have noticed as a black oily-slimy substance on a surface coated with grease over time. 

 

What Grease To Use On Brakes

A Few Final Words

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