Lithium grease / Castrol red rubber grease
 

Is lithium grease the same as red rubber grease?

I've got a big tub of it and I'm wondering if it's ok to use on brake seals?

Re: Lithium grease / Castrol red rubber grease
 

No

Don't know if you can use lithium based grease on rubber though...

Re: Lithium grease / Castrol red rubber grease
 

No you can't.
Get some rubber grease, I got a mega pot of it off ebay for about £6 IIRC you can get little tubs/tubes for less.

Re: Lithium grease / Castrol red rubber grease
 

No it's not the same. Lithium grease is oil based, rubber grease is vegetable based so it's safe on rubber.

Re: Lithium grease / Castrol red rubber grease
 

Ok cheers. I'll get some rubber grease.

Re: Lithium grease / Castrol red rubber grease
 

Lithium grease will rot any rubber, so don't use it where rubber is involved.

Re: Lithium grease / Castrol red rubber grease
 

I heard a good 20% of mechanic's kids are born this way.

Re: Lithium grease / Castrol red rubber grease
 

Not quite true, there's rubber and there's rubber, just like "plastic" and "metal".

"Rubbers" that don't like mineral oils include things like natural rubber (latex), EPDM, polyurethanes etc

Those used for oil seals, O-rings etc are things like fluorocarbon ("Viton"), nitrile (NBR), silicone is reasonably OK. There are others with greater or lesser tolerance. Fuels are another matter.

Easy to find tables of materials and tolerance to different substances, the wonders of t'internet and all.

I'm not sure what brake seals are made of, but they don't like mineral oils as said, in this case red rubber grease is your stuff.

Re: Lithium grease / Castrol red rubber grease
 

Halfrods sell it, IIRC 5quid for a massive pot (I bought one years ago and barely touched it).

Druid

Re: Lithium grease / Castrol red rubber grease
 

TBH I've never used grease on the brake pistons, just lube them with fluid, push them in, and wipe off the excess. Can't say it need cleaning up that often, eveyr 2-3 years I guess, only ever done tha back once (since 1999) but I think it could do with another look soon, new pads on the way anyway.