It seems there are too many greases sold as brake caliper slide pin grease. I have three different brands, all big brand names, but they are completely different forumations. One is clear crystal blue, one is thick black, and I can't remember what the other one is. A a fourth that's not marketed as brake capliper slide pin grease but is a do-all type silicone from NAPA that is advertised as usable for that. I saw another one on the internet that was "pure silicone grease", looks like crystal clear, 3M brand iirc.

WHY are there so many choices, and what are the tradeoffs between the major types of formulations ? Or is like the great Sigforum discussions about the best grease to use on slides - aka, get you some grease, use it.

So what is it about brake caliper greases that make things so confusing ? Maybe they want us to be confused so you end up with 3 or 4 bottles that you'll never finish using.

quote:

A a fourth that's not marketed as brake capliper slide pin grease but is a do-all type silicone from NAPA that is advertised as usable for that.

I believe that is Sil-Glyde. I like the Permatex purple stuff because A, the shop buys it, and B, it has a brush in the cap for less grease on my fingers.

It doesn't really matter which brand you use, as long as they are capable of withstanding (i.e., not melting) under the high temperatures often encountered with brakes. Just a few quick stops in succession can get brake rotors 300° or more (probably more, since it takes time to get stopped, out of the car and shine a laser thermometer on them, during which time they've cooled off some). If the brakes are dragging due to a malfunction, it can go even higher.

I bought the expensive one and called it a day. Purple Permatex. It’ll last me a lifetime of brake jobs.

You want to talk about too many choices? Let’s talk about oil and oil filters. Every brand has at least four choices in a given weight oil or size filter. For example, there are seven choices for Mobil 1 in 5w-30. That’s just one brand.

I use Permatex instead of regular grease hoping that it does not cause the rubber boots to degrade.

Greases are formulated with additives, thickeners, and base oils.

Color is added.

Choose name brand and labeled for application.

Minimize the quest for the ideal here.

I have used the blue Permatex starting with the first disk brake job that I did many years ago.

Every now and then some sneaks on a Sig slide in the summer.

One of the most important things is to clean the pins and the bores. Many people don't clean the bores well enough. I don't know what the best pin grease is. I've tryed a handful over the years some of them just seem to turn to crap after only 2 or 3 years here in my climate. Some worse than others. Been using Raybestos silicone brake lubricant with PTFE last few years with just a very light coating. With none on the end of the on end of pin that goes into the blind bore.

I use anti-seize in places I think it's needed.

Brakes would likely work fine for quite some time with absolutely nothing applied so the idea you need some magic lube is B/S in my opinion.

Almost anything that would stay in place is fine.

Don't over-think it. Grease is like oil. Anything is better than nothing. Just pick a multi-purpose high-pressure grease and use it appropriately, which in this case means greasing any sliding parts of the caliper assembly and keeping it off the friction surfaces.

I used to be in industrial supply and one of my customers was a grease manufacturer. The maintenance guy that I used to call on told me the lighter the color, the better it is. They keep adding colors and additives then blending, so what was initially white marine grade could end up in blue grease, then red and black was the bastard child of everything mixed together and carbon or dyes added to it. Not sure how accurate it is, but probably some truth to it.

I use Sil-Glyde, it's silicone based grease which is what I understand is best for the slide pins.

I don't think it really matters if it's made for brakes or silicone based. The biggest thing is to cleaning and lubing the slide pins.