Since I don’t have time to resolve the suspected bearing failure (which may not be possible anyway) before leaving for the witer vacation, I’m stripping cleaning and re-installing the brakes.
Most of the heat is coming from here, though they may not be the underlying cause.
Passenger side doesn’t look too bad. There some black varnish-like stuff on the piston that I’d guess is derived from worn seals, but not much rust.
Last time I stripped them, about 4 years ago, I wrapped PTFE tape(along with silicon grease) around the caliper pins on the passenger side. This hasn’t displaced (wrapping only just visible in photo) so teflon-coated pins are easily achievable. However, just in case its sticky I took it off.
I’ll probably put some on the other side, and if that then sticks I’ll know not to do it again.
Since I can’t find brake grease in Taiwan (I guess Taiwanese mechanics use spit, or mineral-oil base grease which dissolves rubber) I’ve bought some in Japan and Australia, lost it and found it again, so am now a bit spoilt for choice.
You haven’t look very hard, a cursory search online finds multiple brands and types readily available. As my previous helpful replies seem to have been deleted I’ll say no more!
BTW using a vice grip tool on a brake caliper piston is a really bad idea and the very obvious issue with the bore after clean up needs to be addressed asap.
Argh! I actually responded to this a few days ago and I just saw my email that it failed to post.
I was in Nara, Japan, just a couple of blocks away from a Diahatsu shop and was asking in case you had a part number I could ask for.
Silicon grease? Yes, I get mine locally from Berner.
I use it very sparingly and a tube has lasted me a couple of years already. I remember my packaging is different from the one in this link, but it’s likely the same stuff.
Thanks. Daihatsu manuals I have say "“rubber grease”, whatever that means. I’d guess it might correspond to the red stuff.
Silicon does seem to be the most general recommendation. Your stuff is described as a paste so maybe has more body than the stuff I have (bought in a motorcycle shop in Rinko, Japan) which is pretty light and has allowed some corrosion over 4 years.
“On paper” the the Bendix should be best, which is why I bought it, but I’ve seen comment that some of these fancy ceramic greases (I think from Pertex) tend to solidify and/or swell rubber seals over time.
So that website posts to a Taiwan address, or they have a local retail outlet?
With the probable exception of those made by CPC, which only seem to be available from some filling stations, I wouldn’t trust any grease of any kind that I’ve seen for sale in Taiwan, especially the ones with obviously fake “Made in USA” or even more obviously “Made product American” labelling. (You have to laugh)
Nice place, Nara. Must go back sometime.
PS. Err…How about the captive rotor /bearing failure question above? I realise its a bit complicated and a very old undocumented car that you might not be familiar with.
I’m going to be in the UK in a couple of weeks and MIGHT be able to source some bits there. Could get standard Charade bearings but I think this part of the Skywing might be different.
