Advice on grease/lubes please

I've recently got a 2018 r1200gs.
I'm wanting to learn basic spannering to look after it. To date my spannering has been on push bikes only.
So far I've done the following, lubed the splines at final drive, changed the final drive oil, removed and refitted the silencer, the bash guard, and serviced the brakes.

1. The brakes, is copper lube best for the pins, and the caliper bolts? And should this be smeared on the backs of the pads?
What lube should be used for the rear brake where the slider pins (?) Go into the rubber bits? Apologies for the poor description.

2. What anti-cease grease should be used where heat is a factor e.g. exhaust clamp and brake caliper bolts?

3. Is any old grease good for things like bash guard bolts?

Your wisdom and information is much appreciated.

If there are any other specialist lubes you think I should know about please update me.
I know not to grease the rear wheel bolts.

Cheers Karl.

Be quite sparing with the copper grease (sometimes branded Coppaslip or similar).

Remember any area showing grease to the outside world will attract dirt, dust, insects, anything at all.

Yes, we all know we mustn’t lube our wheel bolts ‘cos it screws up the torque figure. Won’t go into that.

But - once in a while I do like to spin the bolts in and out with a touch of lube to clean the threads out. Then blow dry.

Be ready for a few cryptic replies but rest assured you’ll find all you need the know, and more, on here.

Go on then...

There aren't many greases/lubes you really need these days. There are so many excellent multi purpose ones out there.

A tin of Copper grease
A tin of red rubber grease (silicone, none-reactive for brakes, seals etc)
Tin of general purpose Moly-grease for bushes,bearings,spindles, springs etc
PTFE aerosol spray for side stands, levers etc
WD40/GT85 for petetrating, water dispursing.
Castrol Optimol white assemsbly grease for your splines.
No chain lub required

Some simple rules.

1) LESS IS MORE.... You don't need to put anything more than a thin covering on anything. Otherwise you're making nothing but a mess, affecting torque settings and loading bearings. If grease is being forced out of places when you're assembling, you've used too much. People who jam tons of grease into bearings etc need to step away from the work bench.

2) Use a small brush to apply grease to threads. I use a lot of cheap small paint brushes. 10 for £2 kind of thing.

3)Coppergrease is great for protecting threads from corossion. Exhausts, brake pins, general bolts here and there. NEVER use it where things move. It's an abrasive.

4)WD40 isn't really a good long term lubricant. Great marketing is all.

More important that lubricating is cleaning. Get yourself a Brake cleaner white bottle and a 5l tin of brake cleaner. You'll be surprised how you ever did anything without it. It's magic in a workshop.

Thx both, very useful.
Two questions:
1. What part of the brakes would I use the red rubber grease?
2. I'm not clear what grease I should use on the rear brake inside the rubber caps(?) On the ends of the sliders. But it may be the answer to above.

Thx again.

Karl P said:

Thx both, very useful.
Two questions:
1. What part of the brakes would I use the red rubber grease?
2. I'm not clear what grease I should use on the rear brake inside the rubber caps(?) On the ends of the sliders. But it may be the answer to above.

Thx again.

Click to expand...

The rubber grease for the brakes would be for the seals on the pistons in the caliper; personally i would just use some brake fluid and leave the rubber grease.

Red green for seals if you're rebuilding calipers. Old school way is dipping them in fluid but red grease is better for assembly and preservation of dust seals which you don't want brake fluid on really.

Inside the caps (for the sliders), you can pretty much use anything. Marine grease is good for where things get wet but you're over-doing it for occasion DIY.

MotoRevive said:

Red green for seals if you're rebuilding calipers. Old school way is dipping them in fluid but red grease is better for assembly and preservation of dust seals which you don't want brake fluid on really.

Inside the caps (for the sliders), you can pretty much use anything. Marine grease is good for where things get wet but you're over-doing it for occasion DIY.

Click to expand...

Good shout for the dust seals; different material to piston seals;

I was in the motor factors one day and came across Textar Cera TEC which is a "metal free lubricant for disc brakes" and is designed to be used on the pins and backs of the pads.
Its more like a normal grease rather than copperslip, but i presume is high melting point.

Stu

M30SJM said:

I was in the motor factors one day and came across Textar Cera TEC which is a "metal free lubricant for disc brakes" and is designed to be used on the pins and backs of the pads.
Its more like a normal grease rather than copperslip, but i presume is high melting point.

Stu

Click to expand...

A similar product is called Plastilube, made by ATE for their brake pads and caliper pins. A small tube goes a long way.

For sliding metal surfaces that can fret and wear such as splines, you need a suitable grease that contains molybdenum disulphide, not just any old grease will do. This is the mineral molybdenum suspended within the grease along with sulphur. These two grease additives bond to the metal to form alternating microscopic layers of sulphur and molybdenum which allow the shaft or spline surfaces to glide over each other due to their low friction coefficient. Its best to apply thinly to surfaces with an old toothbrush and burnish the surfaces prior to assembly.

Thank you very much chaps all very useful info.
Karl.

Karl P said:

1. The brakes, is copper lube best for the pins, and the caliper bolts? And should this be smeared on the backs of the pads?
What lube should be used for the rear brake where the slider pins (?) Go into the rubber bits? Apologies for the poor description.

Click to expand...

Caliper bolts should not be lubed, they should be assembled dry.