Greased brakes

On my trip from Texas to Alabama and back. My light came on to get my engine oil changed. When I took it in to my local shop, they said my brakes were squeaking. I got the purple oil for the oil change and when they checked my brakes they were not flouting right. The brakes were fine but they weren’t sliding right. So they greased them. Now my car ate up some miles on the long trip with ease, but it seemed that it had more get up and go after the service. Does this make sense? Also I got over 28 miles per gallon on my road trip.

 

If your brakes were dragging enough to have a noticeable effect on the car’s performance, it would have heated the wheels up to where they were hot to the touch. Did you notice anything like that?

 

I could not notice anything like that. My car drove very well to Alabama and back with no issues. The guys at the service center noticed some noise, but I didn’t hear anything (but my hearing is terrible from being in the infantry for so long). It seemed like a little fix with the brakes needing adjusting with grease so they would be able to work better. I really did notice the difference as soon as I started driving from the service center. She had a lot more jump to her. Which really made me smile.

 

I think it is notable that cleaning and greasing the pins/whatever holds the pads in place has been considered part of the maintenance by some people.

People who get very, very, very long life from their brakes.

Evidently brakes (not the friction surfaces) need some lubrication to not only apply smoothly, but retract properly.

 

They didn’t grease my brake pads. They greased the joints where the brake moved back and forth on the disc. Sorry for any confusion.

 

I knew that. Cleaning and lubing the pins/sliders is a way to make brakes pads and disks last longer.

 

Some applications are much more susceptible to debris buildup on caliper slider pins than others. The slider pin resistance became so bad on my son's recent model Rogue that it acted like a seized caliper piston and wore the pad quite quickly despite the caliper piston not being seized. As preventative maintenance I'm going to start cleaning and lubricating this area on my other vehicles when I'm in there.

 

Case in point.

Until some time last year, I had never heard much of actually doing any maintenance on brakes other than "slap in new pads or rotors when they get worn out" and machining the rotors flat.

I like stuff that leads to greater performance and longevity. It's why I tried DOT 7 silicone brake fluid, which is completely non-hygroscopic, but found it to be the only liquid I have ever encountered that was compressible. The brake pedal felt like a trampoline.

And, yes, it was not bubbles in the brake lines. I am not the only one who discovered this weird property of silicone brake fluid.

Too bad, as I liked the 700 degree boiling point and a complete lack of hygroscopicity. Could it be that it would work better in an ABS-equipped system due to the fluid being pumped and all that?

However, I just went to DOT 4 instead and the pedal was spongy no more. That was an eye-opener.

One little addendum: if you know you're going to go fast at some point, and it will require some aggressive braking, then try a few runs with your car at low speeds standing on the brakes and watching how car acts. Try a few more runs with progressively increasing speeds.

It's best to find out your car goes weird when you stand on the brakes at lower speeds alone than at higher speeds near potential hazards.

Also, you can practice how you react when the car might get squirrely and find out just how much braking you CAN apply. I never totally stood on the brakes in my Hellcat, but with the Nitto Motivos, I did get the front tires to skid a bit. I anti-recommend those tires. Never get them. Buy the Michelin PS4 tires instead.

"Good tires are the cheapest insurance you can get." -my dad.