I did remove the discs last weekend and added brake grease to the appropriate parts assuming that it would help. No joy on that one...
Just to bring this point up to the forefront, so that someone more in the know than me can clear it up once and for all (as if!), as far as I know, "brake grease" is not now, nor has it ever been for reducing squealing.
In fact it's probably not a good idea for people to use it as such, in case they get too much on and it's able to work it's way around and contaminate the friction surfaces.
In recent years magazine writers and mechanics and others have promoted that, and I would not be surprised if it sometimes works. At least on setups that are not that prone to squealing on their own.
Always use a product that's specifically listed for anti-squeal duties.
And here again we can run afoul of modern attitudes in advertising, that if it's listed as such on a product from a company like Permatex, Bendix, or other long-time product company that you trust (even if it's not made here anymore) that's one thing. But if a package of brake grease from some unknown Chinese company says it's for lubricating sliding surfaces and quieting noisy brakes, I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it.
Not unless that fact is specified by a well known company.
Many super competitive (but ignorant) import companies tend to jump on just about any bandwagon they see that looks like it would make good text on their packaging. Without ever having done any engineering other than what they have heard others say. Not their own testing results.
After all, if they read it on the internet, it must be true.
Sad to say all that, as we used to have regulations about that kind of thing. Just too hard to enforce I guess.
Bottom line for me though, is that brake "grease" is for one thing only. And that's to lightly lubricate any sliding surfaces on a brake system. Things like the caliper pins/bolts on a caliper, or the sliding mounts on a Ford spec front disc setup, or the point on the backing plates that the shoes ride on, etc.
It's just high-temp grease.
For anti-squeal/rattle/squeak duties, a more traditional product specifically for that duty, and not for lubricating other parts, is what I use.
Like I said, maybe there's a definitive source of info out there, a data-sheet from one of the big players even, that will give the true lowdown. At least the department of Centric that I worked with didn't believe in grease-for-noise, but that's a big company from China too, so maybe the one American side of it was not speaking to the other Chinese arm of it, and I got wrong info. However, it went along with what I knew from before.
But things change...
Rats... Now I suppose I'm going to have to search around for that source of info myself. If someone doesn't chime in here first? Sure hope so.;D
Paul
