V-brakes seizing - what sort of grease to use on mount point?
 

My brakes are constantly seizing up and I 've narrowed the problem down
to the mounting point sticking. I'm planning to remove the brake, apply some
light sandpaper to the mount and then some grease.

Is there a particular type of grease I should use for this? e.g. lithium,
copper,
regular automotive grease?

Many thanks,

Fiona

Fiona Reid wrote:

My brakes are constantly seizing up snip

With most V-brakes, greasing the mount point doesn't help. When you
remove the brake, you might find that the brake arms pivot not on the
frame, but on a built-in sleeve. If it's hard to actuate the brake
while it's on the bike, but the brake easily pulls off the frame once
you remove the bolts, you have the built-in sleeves. You can pound the
sleeves out and regrease them if you're creative, but it's a pain.
If your brakes truly pivot on the mount point, use whatever grease you
got. It's all the same for these purposes.

-Vee

"Vee" wrote in message
oups.com...
Fiona Reid wrote:

My brakes are constantly seizing up snip

With most V-brakes, greasing the mount point doesn't help. When you
remove the brake, you might find that the brake arms pivot not on the
frame, but on a built-in sleeve. If it's hard to actuate the brake
while it's on the bike, but the brake easily pulls off the frame once
you remove the bolts, you have the built-in sleeves. You can pound the
sleeves out and regrease them if you're creative, but it's a pain.
If your brakes truly pivot on the mount point, use whatever grease you
got. It's all the same for these purposes.

Yes, and I have found that taking the caliper arm and rotating the long
spring arm around back and forth usually loosens up the junk between the
bushing and the caliper arm. Rotating while immersed in water, or even
better, a degreaser, usually works the best, and when it rotates smoothly,
blow it out with compressed air.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Fiona Reid wrote:
My brakes are constantly seizing up and I 've narrowed the problem
down
to the mounting point sticking. I'm planning to remove the brake,
apply some
light sandpaper to the mount and then some grease.

Is there a particular type of grease I should use for this? e.g.
lithium,
copper,
regular automotive grease?


As others have said, examine the brakes closely and make sure that the
brake isn't sticking on a bushing.

My Dia-Compe 986 cantilevers are like this. Every year or two, I need
to remove them, press out the bushing (it's a close fit), clean, and
grease them. With this, they work like new despite being 15 years old.
I use white lithium grease.

Jeff

Fiona Reid wrote:

My brakes are constantly seizing up and I 've narrowed the problem down
to the mounting point sticking. I'm planning to remove the brake, apply some
light sandpaper to the mount and then some grease.

Is there a particular type of grease I should use for this? e.g. lithium,
copper,
regular automotive grease?

Something with very good water resistance. Rust and seizing are the
main problems, not lubrication. Park Polylube grease is cheap, very
sticky and water seems to bounce off it.