Disc Brake Caliper Slide Pin Grease(Lube)? Gen2

I don't know why people angst over the lithium soap based glycol grease, when a 100g (3.5 oz) tube is cheap as chips at the dealer, at least here it is. It cost me NZ$12 (currently US$10.31) for the tube and I've done probable 12 brake services (so, 48 units) and still have 3/4 of a tube left to use. I use it on other things too, seeing as it is so cheap.

The part number is 08887-01206, as ChapmanF said and it is called Rubber Grease by Toyota.

The black Brake Shim Grease (Part Number: 08887-80409), well that is another completely different story! [Edit] ... but I see it is only US$6.15 in the US. It doesn't say what size it is, so going to assume one of the little packets. It is still more affordable than what I would have to pay.

 

Slide pins have to be lubricated with silicone otherwise the rubber on the boot and rubber gromet on the pin can swell.

3M Silicone Paste can be used - US Part Number: 08946

The best all-in-one brake lubricant (can be used on slide pins and mating surfaces) is made by Permatex (someone above listed the wrong one)

Permatex Silicone Ceramic Extreme - US Part Number: 80653

 

Toyota, having selected the rubber formulation used in their seals and boots, specifically recommends a grease that is not silicone based, but rather glycol with a lithium soap.

 

They could recommend the body and blood of Christ.

You as the end user can't guarantee that that those boots and grommets are OEM (especially on a used car) and silicone is 100% non-reactive with any rubber formulation. It's the safest option.

 

In case of any doubt, buying the rubber kits from Toyota ends up getting you the right rubber and a packet of the right grease.

I don't know jburg or have any opinion positive or negative about jburg's materials-science expertise ... but I pay Toyota for theirs.

It's a forum, so there's nothing wrong with plugging other products we like and our opinions about them, as long as we take care that new readers will reliably find the information on what Toyota's recommendations are. That empowers them to make informed choices.

 

I have a PhD in Chemistry from Duke University FWIW. Author of around 10 peer-reviewed publications, and one patent pending. Specific expertise in the area of analytical biochemistry - mass spectrometry, assay development, compound profiling, steady-state kinetics, etc. The only thing that silicone will break down is silicone. Now material chemistry is not my area of expertise, but chemistry is chemistry.

For peace of mind, go ahead, use the Toyota stuff, but most shops will use a lube like SIL Glyde or Permatex Silicone. There are even reports of people calling up the dealership and being told that they use SIL Glyde on all applications. In addition to that, there is apparently a TSB in which Toyota states to use silicone based lubricants on brake mating surfaces.

 

Most of the roughly ten claims in that post I'll leave unquestioned as we're all dogs on the internet anyway, but TSBs have numbers and can be downloaded and it would be a genuine contribution on the topic to be able to review that one and see what it says exactly.

 

Someone already did all of the leg work over on BITOG:

Toyota Brake Pad Grease Know It All | Bob Is The Oil Guy

The TSB that I was referring to above (BR004–00) covers all '90-00 Toyota Vehicles. Also, in the BITOG thread, there is another claim that they use 3M silicone paste on slide pins in the dealership on everything.

Bottom line is: you are 100% safe to use a silicone based compound on your slide pins for ANY make and manufacturer. Including any Toyota.

 

May the composition of Toyota rubber is not so much rubber as silicone???

Statements that begin with phrases such as these do not hold a lot of credibility with me. It is akin to, "I heard it on the internet." I like cold hard facts. There were some in the subsequently linked BITOG site, but mostly it was similar "I heard it on the internet," claims and people's opinions of what they think should work.

A discussion of facts is always good. Sometimes hearing people's opinions can also be helpful. I agree also with ChapmanF in this too:

Good to know though that an equivalent to the brake shim grease is Dow Corning's Molykote AS-880N, which seems to be as elusive to get as the Toyota stuff. Nobody stated what it cost, either. Anyone know why it contains Mica, Magnesium Oxide, and, less so, Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane and quartz. One guy said", but it seems like the graphite/mica/magnesium oxide are the lubricant components alongside the silicone fluid and silica(quartz) is there to thicken," so would that be correct?

Does anyone one know the tie-up with Dupont and their use also of the Molykote branding?

As for the other two greases, 08887-80609 (brake caliper grease) and 08887-01206 (rubber grease), they are cheap enough that I am happy to buy them and use them. It's not like I will be buying a second tube of either for a very long time.

 

Here are the package sizes for the Toyota brake greases:

Brake Shim Grease, 08887-80409, 5 g packet
Brake Caliper Grease, 08887-80609, 50 g tube
Lithium Soap Base Glycol Rubber Grease, 08887-01206, 100 g tube​

In Toyota’s Brake Systems: Course 553 Technician Handbook (revised 2013, available by subscription to techinfo.toyota.com), page 29 states:

• Disc brake grease P/N 08887-80409 should be correctly applied as in the repair manual. Note that TSB such as T-SB-0236-12 specify another disc brake grease (08887-80609) be used. Always refer to the appropriate repair information about which type of grease should be applied as well as specific application points.

• Where ‘Lithium soap base glycol (rubber) grease’ is specified, use P/N 08887-01206 (refer to Tech Tip T-TT-0132-11).

Presumably they wouldn’t handle all three varieties in the parts system if they were interchangeable.

 

If you had reviewed just the last three days of posts in this very thread, you would already know that that BITOG post, which has been there for nine years and already discussed here before, involves an oddly manipulated image of a Toyota document captured without identifying information, and mentions two numbers, "BR004-00" and "BR94-004", that do not appear to have the format of any Toyota TSB number that I could successfully look up on TIS; nor am I aware that anyone else has succeeded in finding "them", or either one of "them", over the last nine years.

I do not have the hubris to suggest that something is definitively nonexistent just because I didn't find it. OTOH, I am relatively skilled at searching and certainly willing to say that until somebody actually finds one of "those", I would not be too quick to offer it as a citation.

Certainly not when more recent and easily verifiable Toyota documents, such as T-SB-0150-13 that I linked to a year and a half ago, as well as the references kindly supplied by Elektroingenieur above, continue to make consistent recommendations for the different points of application.

I do not know whether Elektroingenieur has ever tried to find the mystery "BR004-00" or "BR94-004" documents. That's probably who could, if anyone can. Perhaps they are real numbers for some non-North American market? If they can be found, I would be interested just to see what the corresponding page image really looks like in the original.

Edit: two different BITOG threads involved; I was a little trigger-happy here, sorry. More below.

 

I don’t have a link for Toyota service bulletin BR94-004, “Introduction of New Disc Brake Pad Kit,” June 24, 1994, but I have viewed a copy. This bulletin announces a new shim grease, part number 08887-80409.

Toyota service bulletin BR004-00, “Brake Pad Clicking Noise,” October 20, 2000, has been posted by a third party (PDF). This bulletin is the U.S. edition of bulletin CP-0015, July 2000, issued by the Overseas Service Division, Toyota Motor Corporation, and available in its original form by subscription to toyota-tech.eu. Both bulletins announce a new disc brake caliper grease, part number 08887-80609.

None of these bulletins applies to Prius cars sold by Toyota in the U.S., for which 2001 was the first model year, and for which the information in the Repair Manual series (more info), and in later bulletins and training materials, takes precedence. The bulletin numbers, by the way, are in older formats, used in the U.S. until the T-SB-xxxx-xx format was introduced in 2008.

As for the image posted elsewhere, in its original context on honda-tech.com, it was described as coming from an (Acura) “Integra shop manual.” I haven’t verified this, but the style is consistent with Honda publications.

 

Hmm, my mistake, there have now been two different BITOG threads mentioned here, and the one I was thinking of, which contains a JPEG image of dubious provenance, was this one.

That one really does look to me as if it started out as a Toyota illustration, but with added graffiti. The post says the "information is based on" BR004-00 and BR94-004.

In #28 jburg was linking to a different BITOG thread and I was a little trigger-happy because the graffitied one had been mentioned again so recently.

The one jburg linked to is less objectionable; the original poster there correctly identifies the glycol -01206 red grease as the specified grease for pistons and sliders, and goes on to say he personally has been substituting 3M silicone on the sliders and happens to "believe it is perfectly acceptable".

I've got no quibbles with anybody who wants to say something that way. If the same guy went to put on his God voice and say "ignore Toyota's clear recommendation, this other stuff is what you should use", well, in that case, I would be expecting to see sources and a supporting argument (something beyond "I'm using my God voice and I say so").

 

Like many illustrations in Toyota publications, that one has a number in the lower-right corner (C126449E02), so we can find other copies of it, such as this one (PDF) posted unofficially. The reassembly instructions (PDF) in the same directory mention “lithium soap base glycol grease” in many steps, and “disc brake grease” only in step 12(a)(1). That copy doesn’t identify the model or document number, but it appears to be a Repair Manual for ACA30 series RAV4 vehicles (model years 2005–2012).

More to the point of this thread, the Repair Manual series for all generations of Prius cars sold in the U.S., from 2001 to 2021, has consistently specified “lithium soap base glycol grease” and “disc brake grease” in different steps of the brake reassembly and installation procedures. If any one grease were suitable for the entire operation, or if there were an error in describing the greases, I can’t help but think Toyota would have made a change at some time over the intervening two decades.

Japanese editions of the Repair Manual refer to the “lithium soap base glycol grease” as 「トヨタ純正ラバーグリース」 (Toyota Genuine Rubber Grease), for which the safety data sheet (PDF, in Japanese) was prepared by Cosmo Oil Lubricants Co., Ltd., presumably Toyota’s supplier, at least in Japan.

 

Silicone can't be used to lube a piston/piston seal. Why has no one bothered to mention this? Also, the Toyota grease is low density and will not bleed or run. It is less tacky than silicone and easier to clean up. It is better in every way.