I'm rebuilding used OEM calipers I got at the JY. I already sand blasted and powder coated them. On rebuilding the rear calipers the FSM advises to use rubber grease on several internal components behind the piston. No local auto store sells that grease. Is this silcone based grease safe to use?



Whatever grease is used I know it will be blending with the brake fluid. The front calipers are much simpler to rebuild and just require brake fluid on the boot, seal, and piston.

I got 2 Nissan rear caliper seal kits 44120-61E26 delivered today. I've had enough with swapping out these lifetime warrantied Cardone refurbished rear calipers at my local auto store.

 

I wouldn't think grease would be used anywhere in the closed part of the system. That doesn't make sense. I've never had a rear caliper apart, will brake fluid come in contact with the parts your greasing? If so, i'd just lube them with brake fluid.

If by chance those parts don't come in contact with brake fluid, use any high temp grease.

 

Coating those internal parts with just brake fluid like the front calipers crossed my mind. What tickles me is not only does the Brake System FSM suggest to use rubber grease on the rear calipers but the previous cardone rear calipers I disassembled were covered with white grease inside.

 

usually your rebuild kit comes with little packets of grease for the boots and etc.

for the small amount of the grease that you use...you should be ok. i'm with njmax and say use some brake fluid as lube.

just a little food for thought...
silicone brake fluid is not compatible with regular brake fluid...like you can't mix them in the same system...but that's fluid and not grease.

 

white lithium grease perhaps?

 

I dip into my tub of wheel bearing grease for the boots and slides. No problems

 

Most likely white lithium. It was thick and pasty.

 

After searching ‘Nissan rubber grease’ it appears to be only sold in the UK and Australia. It’s made by Castrol which is based in the UK. I also found rubber grease is a lithium soap based gylcol grease.

I talked with 2 brake mechanics along with a Nissan mechanic yesterday. Two of the mechanics stated to use Dot 3 fluid for lubricating the internal components during reassembling. One of the brake mechanics informed me he’s used Nissan Silicone Grease 999MP-AB002P. He said it will protect the rubber components.

I’ll be putting a tab of the grease included with the seal kit on the rubber parts where the FSM suggests using rubber grease. I’ll cover the piston with dot 3 then twist it in.

 

I got a tube of red rubber grease at a local Toyota dealership for $12 last weekend.

Toyota OEM 08887-01206

Nissan no longer sells red rubber grease. After internet researching and talking with mechanics it appears to be the only grease that's glycol based and safe to use with dot 3 & 4 brake fluids.

After reading the Brake System FSM I see it recommends that this grease be applied to the piston bore and seal for the front calipers also.

I already have the 4 calipers disassembled. After cleaning the parts with denatured alcohol I'll start the reassembling using this grease and dot 3 brake fluid.

 

I installed the 4 reassembled calipers & brackets, 4 drilled/ slotted discs, 8 new ceramic pads, and 2 new rear disc splash shields several weeks ago. Here's photos of the right side brakes.













I powder coated all calipers along with their brackets. I’ve tried numerous different caliper spray can brands over the last several years but they couldn’t tolerate the highly salted roads during the winter. The VHT red caliper paint I applied to the discs closely match the red powder coated calipers. Due to the time and effort it takes to powder coat them I also reassembled all calipers with Nissan caliper rebuild kits. Using Nissan gaskets flooded with red rubber grease these calipers will outlast my previously installed calipers refurbished by Cardone.

 

On a scale of 1 to 10 reassembling the front calipers gets a 1 while our rear calipers lands at 10!

Here’s a photo and a diagram of a rear caliper disassembled. Note that the piston dust seal is missing in this photo.







Inserting clip ring B (part 22) is the most challenging task in reassembling the rear calipers. To get that ring inserted into the bore groove the spring & cover (parts 20 & 21) need to be compressed. I overcame that obstacle by using the adjusting nut (part 29). I extracted the adjusting nut from an extra piston I had. Tightening the adjusting nut onto the wide coarse push rod (part 16) compressed the spring & it's cover enough for clip ring B to reach the groove. I got the clip ring B seated in it’s groove using these Motion Pro Snap Ring Pliers 08-0279.