Rubber grease or brake fluid

Alright lads ,

I am rebuilding my calipers again, I have done it a few times in the past and have always used rubber grease on the new dust / fluid seals and pistons , but after a bit of reading some people say this is a no no and just to use fresh brake fluid?

what do you guys do? what would you recommend?

Cheers David

Brembo seal kits come with assembly grease/gel but if theres none of that I use rubber grease. I don't see any reason why you couldn't use brake fluid (apart from the fact it's horrible stuff to work with)

Why wouldn't rubber grease be ok?

cheers Stephen, I am not sure mate , usual Internet chat something about contamination of the brake fluid?

I always used rubber grease with no problems on my old bikes.

Question to you, does your bike have abs if so how do you go about bleeding it? My s1000 needs new calipers seals to but it's the first bike iv had with abs.

cheers mate , yeah my bike has ABS , tbh it's no different to bleeding any other brakes I have had, takes a while if the whole system is dry but no different

That's a relief going to order a seal kit now!

If you pull the brake lever in all the way and tape it to the handlebar that will prevent the entire system draining when you remove the pistons, you'll still loose fluid from the calipers obviously but the abs pump shouldn't drain.

Good tip about pulling the lever in, I just bought seals and pads 140 quid!

But the thought of seizing breaks is not fun.

I used red rubber grease when I did mine as well and no problems......this is the first ive heard of it potentially being an issue so would ignore if I were you.

I've done well over 100 pairs of callipers over the past 10 years or so, always used rubber grease and never had a problem


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When you guys do your seals do you split the calipers, the service manual says not to but it would make life much easier?

Got a feeling the caliper bolts might be stretch bolts but not sure.

P0u1 said:

When you guys do your seals do you split the calipers, the service manual says not to but it would make life much easier?

Got a feeling the caliper bolts might be stretch bolts but not sure.

Click to expand...

I would avoid splitting the caliper if you can, that's sort of a last resort if you can't get your pistons out..

I think I am definitely going to have to split the calipers to get the pistons out , does anyone know what the issue is with splitting them ?

cheers David

No issues just time effort and mess, I hate brake fluid.

Why not get yourself some piston removal pliers or grips?

cheers Stephen not a fan of the stuff myself, will check out the piston pliers , the bastards are coming out one way or another......

not a great advert for the Brembo calipers is it
cant believe that many need rebuilding in just a few years

DL84 said:

cheers Stephen not a fan of the stuff myself, will check out the piston pliers , the bastards are coming out one way or another......

Click to expand...

This is the one we use

Gaffa22 said:

not a great advert for the Brembo calipers is it
cant believe that many need rebuilding in just a few years

Click to expand...

I'm assuming that people are refurbing them for peace of mind rather than because it needs doing... as long as they're serviced regularly they should last for ages.

It's not like anyone's s1000 looks like this haha... at least, I hope not!

Just ordered some piston removal pliers, always best to follow the service guide I guess.

Also a big tub of red rubber grease as I doubt it's the last time these calipers are coming apart.

morning lads , anyone know the torque settings for the brake calipers? the 3 bolts that hold the two half's of the caliper together?

cheers David

I doubt that'll be in the workshop data as a BMW dealer would never split 'em, I think they'd just replace the caliper...

They're not that bad surely? I'll have a look at the data when I get to work