Hope silicon lube

[EMTBSEAN]

I want to get some silicon lube for my Hope callipers to keep them in tip top condition and I see Hope sell some Hunters silicon lube, my question is, is it any good or is all silicon lube the same, it’s opinions of personal experience I’m after really please, over to you guys, thanks

 

[RustyMTB]

It's Hope spec & works fine ime. Pro tip, buy it from a plumbers merchant, same gear, half the price.

Hunter Plumbing Lubricant (SC960/SC966)

Hunter Plumbing Lubricant (SC960/SC966)

guttercentre.co.uk

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Thanks for the heads up, I’m a plumber/heating engineer and I’ve never heard of it before

 

[RustyMTB]

Yeah? I won't be ringing you next time I spring a leak!

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Yeah? I won't be ringing you next time I spring a leak!

 

[EMTBSEAN]

It’s just typical, the item is £12 and the postage is £24, £44 included postage and VAT, how can they justify charging so much for a poxxy little bottle to be delivered by post, and also typical that no one near me sells it either

 

[RustyMTB]

The bikes shops seem to be around a tenner ish delivered for 30ml, plumber merchants £12ish for 250ml. I'd look round for the 250 just for value, one will have it around for reasonable delivery I reckon.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

I did a Google search and it threw up nothing in my area, there’s nothing on eBay apart from the little containers, I thought either screwfix or toolstation would sell it but nothing, I have some stuff I bought ages ago for my other brakes but I don’t know if it’s any good for Hope brakes, why is nothing in life ever simple

 

[EMTBSEAN]

The silicone lube I have is Servisol, it’s temperature range is -500c to +2000c, would this be suitable for Hope brakes please

 

[Mikerb]

£4 on ebay. I see no need to use it on brakes. When I clean my Code RSCs I use IPA to clean the pistons and brake fluid to lubricate them...........both using cotton buds.

I do use Silicon Lube on electrical connection seals. Silicon is dialectric and of course as a lubricant it ensures the seal is not damaged when inserting the connection, and keeps the seal flexible.

Be careful if you do an ebay search because you are more likely to get products designed for completely different lubrication needs!!

Tornado Silicone Fluid All Viscosities CST 100 - 50000 RC Lubricant Oil Silicon | eBay

Tornado Silicon Fluid in viscosities 100cst to 50,000cst. There is a wide range of different viscosities from 100CST (which is similar to water) all the way up to 50,000CST (which is very thick, and viscous. ).

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[RustyMTB]

Maybe compromise with the 30ml bottle. A little goes a long way. Use literally a drop or two on a cotton bud & it's enough for a caliper.

 

[Bones]

Silicone is a nasty product on machinery. It was developed for plastic and rubber use.
It has the ability to penetrate the outer surface of metal and under a microscope the outer surface lifts and causes stiction. Exactly the opposite of what you are trying to use it for.
This is the reason why it was removed from popular lubricant sprays and Teflon is used instead.
It's brilliant as a waterproofing agent and used on a cloth to wipe your paintwork down but it's almost impossible to get off.
Good for plumbing on soil pipe connectors though

 

[RustyIron]

I want to get some silicon lube for my Hope callipers to keep them in tip top condition and I see Hope sell some Hunters silicon lube, my question is, is it any good or is all silicon lube the same, it’s opinions of personal experience I’m after really please, over to you guys, thanks

SILICONE, with an "E". Silicon is something entirely different.
It's an appropriate lubricant for your brake caliper seals. It's also recommended when assembling faucet seals on your plumbing fixtures. It's cheap. Look on Amazon or your local auto parts store.

 

[Bones]

SILICONE, with an "E". Silicon is something entirely different.
It's an appropriate lubricant for your brake caliper seals. It's also recommended when assembling faucet seals on your plumbing fixtures. It's cheap. Look on Amazon or your local auto parts store.

Silicon is what I was referring to.
Bloody American auto correct!!!

 

[Mikerb]

Im guilty of mixing the 2...in terms of spelling!!
What we are talking a bout here is a lubricant and that is SILICONE............ Silicon is an element.

 

[Bones]

It's me thinking I got it wrong because rusty threw a spanner in the works!
Obviously it's the lubricant

 

[Hattori-Hanzo]

I've not heard of using silicone on calipers before, are you referring to using it on the pistons only?

The motorbike world uses Castrol red rubber grease to lubricate and protect caliper pistons and seals.
I've been using it on mine for years. I'm not sure if it's suitable for MTB calipers, but I can't see why not, might be worth a look

 

[RustyMTB]

It's a guy trying to buy a Hope recommended lube for Hope brakes. Can you Poindexters take it outside?

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Many thanks for all your feedback guys, plenty of things for me to look at there, I never knew that there was a difference between silicon and silicone, as a plumber I use quite a lot of silicone for fitting wastes etc but once I’ve looked, the stuff from Hunter is spelled silicon, every day is a school day

 

[RustyIron]

I never knew that there was a difference between silicon and silicone, as a plumber I use quite a lot of silicone for fitting wastes etc but once I’ve looked, the stuff from Hunter is spelled silicon, every day is a school day

Right? The more I read about it, the more uses I discover for this miraculous compound we call silicone. There's the rubbery stuff that we use to seal against water, there's the kind that we use on caliper seals and water faucets, and then there are the other, more esoteric uses.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

I've not heard of using silicone on calipers before, are you referring to using it on the pistons only?

The motorbike world uses Castrol red rubber grease to lubricate and protect caliper pistons and seals.
I've been using it on mine for years. I'm not sure if it's suitable for MTB calipers, but I can't see why not, might be worth a look

Primarily I’m wanting it to lubricate the piston seals if they get stuck in the callipers which has happened in the past with my old Sram callipers, I’m pretty much certain that the Servisol lubricant I have will do the trick as it’s a silicon lube and made for high temperature applications.

Thanks for your recommendation for the Castro red rubber grease, let’s face it if it’s made for motorcycle callipers it’ll possibly work for MTB callipers, it’s totally different but look at dot brake fluid, you can buy large containers of dot 5.1 for cars for less than £10 but put it in a tiny container, label it as MTB brake fluid and it suddenly gets considerably more expensive even though it’s the same stuff, it’s just hype.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Right? The more I read about it, the more uses I discover for this miraculous compound we call silicone. There's the rubbery stuff that we use to seal against water, there's the kind that we use on caliper seals and water faucets, and then there are the other, more esoteric uses.

View attachment 130337 View attachment 130338

I see what you mean about the differences between silicon and silicone, I just did a little reading about the differences too, some of it went over my head especially the chemical elements but I now know that there’s a difference and I’ll leave it at that

 

[EMTBSEAN]

£4 on ebay. I see no need to use it on brakes. When I clean my Code RSCs I use IPA to clean the pistons and brake fluid to lubricate them...........both using cotton buds.

I do use Silicon Lube on electrical connection seals. Silicon is dialectric and of course as a lubricant it ensures the seal is not damaged when inserting the connection, and keeps the seal flexible.

Be careful if you do an ebay search because you are more likely to get products designed for completely different lubrication needs!!

Tornado Silicone Fluid All Viscosities CST 100 - 50000 RC Lubricant Oil Silicon | eBay

Tornado Silicon Fluid in viscosities 100cst to 50,000cst. There is a wide range of different viscosities from 100CST (which is similar to water) all the way up to 50,000CST (which is very thick, and viscous. ).

www.ebay.co.uk

I did watch or read somewhere that Hope don’t recommend using some kinds of IPA for cleaning their calliper piston seals as it can cause the seals to expand but don’t quote me on that because it could possibly depend on the different strengths of IPA, I’m not a scientist and I don’t understand that stuff

 

[irie]

I did watch or read somewhere that Hope don’t recommend using some kinds of IPA for cleaning their calliper piston seals as it can cause the seals to expand but don’t quote me on that because it could possibly depend on the different strengths of IPA, I’m not a scientist and I don’t understand that stuff

Have been told never to use IPA due to the risk of chemical damage to the seal.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Have been told never to use IPA due to the risk of chemical damage to the seal.

That’s what I read, I didn’t think I’d imagined it

 

[TimC7]

Have been told never to use IPA due to the risk of chemical damage to the seal.

Same with petroleum based grease - ISTR it causes the seal to swell and jam. Red rubber grease is vegetable based and widely used on vehicle brake pistons.

 

[Hattori-Hanzo]

Primarily I’m wanting it to lubricate the piston seals if they get stuck in the callipers which has happened in the past with my old Sram callipers, I’m pretty much certain that the Servisol lubricant I have will do the trick as it’s a silicon lube and made for high temperature applications.

Thanks for your recommendation for the Castro red rubber grease, let’s face it if it’s made for motorcycle callipers it’ll possibly work for MTB callipers, it’s totally different but look at dot brake fluid, you can buy large containers of dot 5.1 for cars for less than £10 but put it in a tiny container, label it as MTB brake fluid and it suddenly gets considerably more expensive even though it’s the same stuff.

Red rubber grease maybe a good option then. For motorbike caliper services the seals are covered in it during assembly. It's cheaper and works really well as a lubricant, and keeps rubber seals supple.
The only difference is motorbikes tend to use steel pistons while I believe MTB calipers can have ceramic pistons.
Might be worth checking that red rubber grease is compatible with ceramic, but again I can't see why not.

I'll be using it the next time I service my MTB calipers

 

[TimC7]

Silicone is a nasty product on machinery. It was developed for plastic and rubber use.
It has the ability to penetrate the outer surface of metal and under a microscope the outer surface lifts and causes stiction. Exactly the opposite of what you are trying to use it for.
This is the reason why it was removed from popular lubricant sprays and Teflon is used instead.
It's brilliant as a waterproofing agent and used on a cloth to wipe your paintwork down but it's almost impossible to get off.
Good for plumbing on soil pipe connectors though

Have you any sources for that? Every silicone lube spray I can find says it's OK for metal . .

 

[Bones]

No it's something that was common knowledge when I was in the motor trade and an engineer I know tells me that any silicone on jobs means he has to throw away the cutting bits as it knackers then up. Similar with car spraying as the silicone is almost impossible to remove and the paint won't stick properly.
Also brickwork needs to be pointed and in good order before applying silicone waterproofing as you can't repoint it properly afterwards.

 

[Mikerb]

Red rubber grease maybe a good option then. For motorbike caliper services the seals are covered in it during assembly. It's cheaper and works really well as a lubricant, and keeps rubber seals supple.
The only difference is motorbikes tend to use steel pistons while I believe MTB calipers can have ceramic pistons.
Might be worth checking that red rubber grease is compatible with ceramic, but again I can't see why not.

I'll be using it the next time I service my MTB calipers

I think there is some confusion here between regular cleaning of the pistons and assembly of the pistons in the calliper. My use of IPA and then Dot 5 ( SRAM brakes), then finally IPA once the pistons have been "exercised", is for cleaning. Using an appropriate brake block with one quarter of it machined down, each piston in turn can be pushed out but not to the extent the seal is exposed or pushed beyond its recess. IPA on a cotton bud is used to clean the exposed piston so it is very little and quickly evaporates...............and goes nowhere near the seal. In operation, the back of the seal and the part of the piston behind the seal is lubricated by the brake fluid...........the seal merely flexes shape.
Its a different story if the piston is being assembled in the calliper. I assume the Hope recommendations for lubrication are about assembly not maintenance.