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Do New Brake Cylinders Need Greasing?

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#1 zero_wlv

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Posted 28 March 2021 - 01:00 PM

Hi everyone,

 

I was just wondering,  when you fit new brake cylinders on the rears,  do the pistons need to be greased (with red rubber grease presumably) or are they ok to be used out of the box?

 

I ask because I fitted new rear backplates, cylinders and shoes a couple of years ago.    I didn't grease the cylinders at the time as I thought they were ready to fit as supplied.   However the brakes have worked perfectly fine ever since.

 

The only thing is,  a couple of weeks ago after the car had been laid up on the drive over the winter months, when I first tried to move it the rear near-side wheel was stuck fast and the car needed quite a bit of rocking backwards and forwards to free it.    I didn't think much of it as the car had been sitting still for a few months.     Then I took it for a 20 mile drive to recharge the battery and after a while the rear near-side started 'whistling',   when I got home I realised the wheel was hot   (whereas the other three were fine).     So I took the drum off to inspect the brakes and noticed only one of the shoes was responding to the brake pedal,    i.e. one of the pistons was stuck and applying pressure to the shoe.    After applying a G-clamp across the pistons and then after that a bit of pumping the pedal,    it came unstuck and both shoes started moving again.      The car has been fine since then.

 

I've since noticed that Haynes recommends to apply a bit of red rubber grease to the piston surfaces when overhauling.

 

So I wondered,   should I go back and grease all the 'new' brake pistons or should they be safe 'dry' as they are?

Did one of them seize because I neglected to do the greasing originally or is it just one of those things because the car was left standing for a couple of months?

 

I try not to bother the technical section with trivial issues,  but on the other hand anything brake-related could at worst turn into a very major issue!

 

Thanks in advance,

Liam

 

P.S.   I checked all handbrake linkages and they're all greased and working fine.



#2 gazza82

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Posted 28 March 2021 - 01:29 PM

More likely it was water in the brake fluid which rusts the internal of the cylinder. Brake fluid attracts moisture so needs replacing every few years



#3 MiniMadRacer

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Posted 28 March 2021 - 02:05 PM

I never grease the pistons and just fit dry out of the box... I do apply a little anti seize coppa slip though to all metal to metal parts.. but a mere smidgen, nothing more, which for me is more to stop any squealing







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