Brake Grease, Brake Quiet?

[BiscottiGelato]

I am slightly confused here. Where should the Brake Grease go, and where should the Brake Quiet go? So there's...

- Between the back of the brake pad & the backing plate
- Between the backing plate & the caliper/pistons
- The side of the brake pad & the side clip area of the backing plate
- The side of the backing plate & the caliper sides

What to where? Any particular brand of Brake Grease or Brake Quiet to recommend? Thanks!

[GaryS]

I don't use any of that stuff, and my brakes are silent even with race pads. Brake Quiet would go between the backing plates and pistons - yuck. Brake grease would go between the pads and backing plates. Are your Ferrodos squealing?

[Pig Farmer]

When replacing the pads (in the stock calipers), I used "Noise Free" disk brake squeal silencer on the face of the shims which come in contact with the caliper pistons. This is painted on and has the consistency of peanut butter. Once dry, it turns to a sticky rubber coating. The brake grease goes on the outer edge of the pad where the pad comes in contact with the caliper. I also put a thin film of grease on the pins that hold the brake pads in place. After installing the new pads, I experienced zero noise from the brakes (although I was running cool carbons). If my memory serves me, I order both the Noise Free and brake grease from HP Autowerks.

[Pig Farmer]

Originally Posted by GaryS

I don't use any of that stuff, and my brakes are silent even with race pads. Brake Quiet would go between the backing plates and pistons - yuck. Brake grease would go between the pads and backing plates. Are your Ferrodos squealing?

I agree. When moving on to a StopTech BBK I used nothing but a bit of grease on the outer edge of the pads and pins. The anti-squeal is a PITA and burns off after a few sessions.

[BiscottiGelato]

So the recommendation is grease only on the sides, between the backing/shim and the caliper, and also the pins? Nothing between the pad and the backing/shim, and nothing between the backing/shim and the piston side?

Thanks!

[Pig Farmer]

I believe the backing plates on the cool carbons where held in place with a bit of adhesive, so I never applied grease between the backing plate and the pad. If you can separate the backing plates and the pad, I can see how a little grease between the surfaces would be beneficial. And while i had no noise when using anti-squeal, i don't know how much of that was the result of the anti-squeal. In addition, when changing pads the anti-squeal did cause the pads to stick to pistons. Nothing major, but it was like breaking a rubber band to get the pads free. Then i had to make sure the pistons were clean of excess rubber. I didn't use anti-squeal on the StopTechs since I wanted to be able to switch out pads without the dealing with the pads sticking or cleaning up the residual anti-squeal. I just grease the area where the pad edge meets the caliper and the pins and in doing so I have had no noise.

[BiscottiGelato]

I ended up putting this

http://www.amazon.com/Gunk-L608-Brak.../dp/B002SELDAM

literally EVERYWHERE (side, between the pad and backing plate and between the backing plate and the piston) but on the brake pad friction material and the rotor. Did some high speed brake bedding with the Ferrodos. Brake works super smooth and fine with no noise thus far. Don't see a decrease in brake performance as I can still brake into ABS even with the PSS tires.

I am just a little worried that the grease will melt and flow all over the place and end up on the brake rotor? Can this be a concern?

[Southjersey128]

I use a moly lube similar to grease but a little thicker. I always apply lightly to any point of metal to metal contact. The squeal comes from vibrations while braking where there is contact between the metal puck of the pad and the metal of the bracket. Think of a bow on a violin string moving very slightly very fast. Check the used pad to see where it has been worn clean and then apply to the new pad.

[jargon_vn]

Wondering about this too since I'll be learning to swap pads & rotors for track days soon. I read the following notes from BMW:

"Do not grease backs of brake pads sleeve."
I interpret that as no grease between the backing plate and the pistons or adjacent calliper surface.

"Do not grease brake pads and guides with brake pad paste."
Sounds like no grease on the friction surfaces (duh), but also none on the guide pins.

"To prevent damage to the surface coating, refrain from mechanically cleaning the brake pad guide surfaces whenever possible. Rather, they should be cleaned with brake cleaner and given a thin coating of brake pad paste."
That seems to clearly state that grease should be used on the guide pins, contradicting the above note?

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by BiscottiGelato

I am slightly confused here. Where should the Brake Grease go, and where should the Brake Quiet go? So there's...

- Between the back of the brake pad & the backing plate
- Between the backing plate & the caliper/pistons
- The side of the brake pad & the side clip area of the backing plate
- The side of the backing plate & the caliper sides

What to where? Any particular brand of Brake Grease or Brake Quiet to recommend? Thanks!

The Brake Quiet should go on....

- Between the back of the brake pad & the backing plate
- Between the backing plate & the caliper/pistons

The Brake Grease should go on the slide for the pads. ie the caliper bracket that the pads slot onto.

That said... I never use any of this stuff. I do take a good flat balde screw driver or gasket scraper and scrape/remove all the built up gunt from the old pads. I clean the pad slides and bracket where the pads sit in. You want every thing clean and smooth.

Basically the Brake Quiet is a sort of "glue" that holds the pads onto the caliper piston so the pads do not move and cause any noise. When teh pads vibrate in the carrier that can cause squeal.


Dack

[BiscottiGelato]

Just to report back. As I said, I basically applied those GUNK Brake Grease EVERYWHERE but the friction surfaces. Didn't do any brake quiet cuz I don't like the idea of gumming things up.

Result:
- Virtually noise free for 1 week so far.
- Awesome 3 hours worth of on track time, as below.

[crowtrobot]

Dredging up an old thread here, but can anyone think of a reason *not* to use brake lube on the guide pins?

I didn't bother since the shop manual doesn't call for it, but seems kind of dicey to have metal-on-metal contact of the guide pin and brake pad plate without some sort of lubricant.

My recently installed Yellowstuffs are squeaking pretty good, but that could very well be the compound, not the lack of grease/brake quiet.

[juld0zer]

Dont lube the pins. The grease will attract dust and dirt. Grease only the short edges and the piston contact areas. BMW's instruction is confusing for Brembos because in the diagrams of that same document it pretty much goes against the written instruction. Must've been one of those lost in translation things.

If this is the Brembo calipers were are talking about here, anything but genuine pads or very good genuine equivalents with soft rubberised shims bonded to the pads will produce noise. You will be forever fighting it. Sports pads make noise, that's the trade off for superior performance. Some people get lucky and get away with it. Some people have different 'noise' tolerances. If you must, as others have said - brake quiet compounds are to be treated like a glue, DO NOT apply where you want movement.

[crowtrobot]

Originally Posted by juld0zer

Dont lube the pins. The grease will attract dust and dirt. Grease only the short edges and the piston contact areas. BMW's instruction is confusing for Brembos because in the diagrams of that same document it pretty much goes against the written instruction. Must've been one of those lost in translation things.

If this is the Brembo calipers were are talking about here, anything but genuine pads or very good genuine equivalents with soft rubberised shims bonded to the pads will produce noise. You will be forever fighting it. Sports pads make noise, that's the trade off for superior performance. Some people get lucky and get away with it. Some people have different 'noise' tolerances. If you must, as others have said - brake quiet compounds are to be treated like a glue, DO NOT apply where you want movement.

Yeah, sorry should have specified - talking about the brembos (recently installed them on my 128).

Good point about the dust collecting - figured that'd be the case, but was also concerned about the pad backing riding on the pins unlubricated and wearing and binding up. Guess it won't matter if the pin surface is much harder than the pad.

Not terribly concerned with the noise on the Yellowstuffs - figured they'd be squeaky, but did want to make sure that I was taking proper care of the new calipers. Thanks for the input!

[juld0zer]

The ears where the pins go thru on the pads will always erode slightly each time you change direction forwards/backwards.
F30 Brembos can be particularly clunky. The 6 piston E8x/E9x calipers do it too but not as badly

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by juld0zer

The ears where the pins go thru on the pads will always erode slightly each time you change direction forwards/backwards.
F30 Brembos can be particularly clunky. The 6 piston E8x/E9x calipers do it too but not as badly

Any contact point between the pads and calipers should have brake grease applied. MB makes one of the best brake grease out there, it's almost like an anti-seize compound but more gummy so it doesn't run off.

[juld0zer]

I always thought the MB goop was the same as the BMW one because the packaging is almost identical. It lasts longer if you squeeze out the paste onto some copy paper then let the paper absorb some of the oil.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by juld0zer

I always thought the MB goop was the same as the BMW one because the packaging is almost identical. It lasts longer if you squeeze out the paste onto some copy paper then let the paper absorb some of the oil.

Is the MB brake pad paste you are referring to the copper color variety?

[juld0zer]

We only get the grey one here.