Topic

By: Mazrus
Posts: 1345
Joined: 04/06/06

Brake pad lubrication

Posted: Mar 26 2010 Tags: brakes, clunk, grease, shims Views: 70

My brakes are squeaking, so I sprayed some WD40 on them... yeah, right. But that's what you were expecting this topic to say, right?! Drunk

Well, the real reason I've named the topic as above, is because I've got a clunk from the brakes, which, according to Mazda, just requires a bit of grease on the pad shims to fix.

I've done it before, but for a different noise that was coming from the brakes, but now there's a clunk coming from them, which Mazda claimed was still the shims. They greased them up on a service and (I think) the noise went away for a short while, but it's back again, so with more daylight to spare these days I'm considering getting my hands dirty to shut it up.

Question is, what's best to use? I used copper grease before, but have since read that this can corrode alloy parts, such as our calipers. Therefore, would something like this be better? http://www.autobarn.com.au/products/10/151/8078/ Excuse the foreign website, it was linked from elsewhere, but appears to be the same product that I've seen in the shops over here.

Or is there another alternative that would better suit this application?

Replies

RE: Brake pad lubrication

I don't think the MX brake calipers are alloy (at least not Aluminium alloy) so don't see why copper grease should be a problem.

Posted: Mar 26 2010 By: GDCobra Posts: 2912
RE: Brake pad lubrication

Oh right. I thought they were aluminium? Still, is copper slip the best thing to use? Or is there a better alternative?

Posted: Mar 29 2010 By: Mazrus Posts: 1345
RE: Brake pad lubrication

Hi Mazrus,

Not sure about the corrosion issue myself but I remember when the car was 6 months old it developed a slight squeaking on applying the brakes. The car went to the dealer and came back with plenty of copper grease applied (in the right places) and had no more issues after that.

Posted: Mar 29 2010 By: joey Posts: 1182
RE: Brake pad lubrication

29/03/2010 09:53:46, Mazrus said:
"
Oh right. I thought they were aluminium? Still, is copper slip the best thing to use? Or is there a better alternative?
"

Hi there

Copper slip or grease is used by lots of car manufactueres during assembly, I was thinking it may well be lack of grease in the guide pin bores, lack of grease can cause a clunking sound where there is too much movement between the g/pin and the inner bore!!!

When I worked for lucas braking we used Klubber GLKO grease to lubricate piston seal/boot grooves and also the guide bores on many of the brakes we munufactuered, Toyota, Honda, BMW and jag.

Another grease used was Molycote mainly by Rover, Ford and R/Royce.

Hope this info is of help to you.

Regards

Jeff

Posted: Mar 29 2010 By: jeff5 Posts: 679
RE: Brake pad lubrication

Posted: Mar 29 2010 By: joey Posts: 1182
RE: Brake pad lubrication

I ve always found 9 times out of 10 that putting Mintex pads in any car I have had that has had squeely brakes sorts the problem

Done with the Mk1, Mk3, 3x Boxster S MR2 Roadster, Beta Spyder, MGB and Z4... Just happy to go into my 50s with my Aluminium silver Sport Tech !!!

Posted: Mar 29 2010 By: Mikey Boy Posts: 348
RE: Brake pad lubrication

29/03/2010 03:30:52, jeff5 said:
"
29/03/2010 09:53:46, Mazrus said:
"
Oh right. I thought they were aluminium? Still, is copper slip the best thing to use? Or is there a better alternative?
"

Hi there

Copper slip or grease is used by lots of car manufactueres during assembly, I was thinking it may well be lack of grease in the guide pin bores, lack of grease can cause a clunking sound where there is too much movement between the g/pin and the inner bore!!!

When I worked for lucas braking we used Klubber GLKO grease to lubricate piston seal/boot grooves and also the guide bores on many of the brakes we munufactuered, Toyota, Honda, BMW and jag.

Another grease used was Molycote mainly by Rover, Ford and R/Royce.

Hope this info is of help to you.

Regards

Jeff
"

Thanks Jeff, do you have a web link to any of those items? Also, do you have any diagrams of what the g/pin is, so I know what I'm supposed to be paying attention to?!

Also, for the record, the brakes don't squeal at all. They just clunk. Most notably when I'm moving slowly, such as when moving forward to a junction in traffic, then stopping again. When applying the brakes at a slow speed there is a notable "clunk" as the brakes are applied. This isn't the first time it has happened either, so it seems that Mazda didn't put enough grease on, or put it in the right place when they fixed the problem last time.

Posted: Mar 30 2010 By: Mazrus Posts: 1345
RE: Brake pad lubrication

30/03/2010 09:10:10, Mazrus said:
"
29/03/2010 03:30:52, jeff5 said:
"
29/03/2010 09:53:46, Mazrus said:
"
Oh right. I thought they were aluminium? Still, is copper slip the best thing to use? Or is there a better alternative?
"

Hi there

Copper slip or grease is used by lots of car manufactueres during assembly, I was thinking it may well be lack of grease in the guide pin bores, lack of grease can cause a clunking sound where there is too much movement between the g/pin and the inner bore!!!

When I worked for lucas braking we used Klubber GLKO grease to lubricate piston seal/boot grooves and also the guide bores on many of the brakes we munufactuered, Toyota, Honda, BMW and jag.

Another grease used was Molycote mainly by Rover, Ford and R/Royce.

Hope this info is of help to you.

Regards

Jeff
"

Thanks Jeff, do you have a web link to any of those items? Also, do you have any diagrams of what the g/pin is, so I know what I'm supposed to be paying attention to?!

Also, for the record, the brakes don't squeal at all. They just clunk. Most notably when I'm moving slowly, such as when moving forward to a junction in traffic, then stopping again. When applying the brakes at a slow speed there is a notable "clunk" as the brakes are applied. This isn't the first time it has happened either, so it seems that Mazda didn't put enough grease on, or put it in the right place when they fixed the problem last time.
"

Hi there

I did put some pics of the pad change for both front and rear on the old forum last year, they must be on here somewhere!!!

The Guide pin is where the caliper bolts go into and these move inside the pad carriers when the brakes are used and also move when the pads ware down...

There is also a rubber boot that covers the Guide pins, hope this helps.

Regards

Jeff

Posted: Mar 30 2010 By: jeff5 Posts: 679
RE: Brake pad lubrication

30/03/2010 07:03:01, jeff5 said:
"Hi there
I did put some pics of the pad change for both front and rear on the old forum last year, they must be on here somewhere!!!

The Guide pin is where the caliper bolts go into and these move inside the pad carriers when the brakes are used and also move when the pads ware down...

There is also a rubber boot that covers the Guide pins, hope this helps.

Regards

Jeff
"

Thanks Jeff,

So would you recommend using copper slip, or is something like the product linked in my first post better?

Posted: Mar 31 2010 By: Mazrus Posts: 1345
RE: Brake pad lubrication

31/03/2010 12:20:56, Mazrus said:
"
30/03/2010 07:03:01, jeff5 said:
"Hi there
I did put some pics of the pad change for both front and rear on the old forum last year, they must be on here somewhere!!!

The Guide pin is where the caliper bolts go into and these move inside the pad carriers when the brakes are used and also move when the pads ware down...

There is also a rubber boot that covers the Guide pins, hope this helps.

Regards

Jeff
"

Thanks Jeff,

So would you recommend using copper slip, or is something like the product linked in my first post better?
"

Hi

There is no reason why you cannot use the grease in you're link, brakes get very hot and so the high temp grease is a must...

Just be careful using WD40 some rubber compounds react with oils and this can make the rubber compound swell.

Regards

Jeff

Posted: Apr 01 2010 By: jeff5 Posts: 679