Dot Compatible Grease

So what the hell is “Dot compatible grease”?

Shortening sram/avid brake hose and just noticed the instructions say to coat the barb, compression fitting etc with “Dot compatible grease”.

Now okay I can go buy SRAM’s special grease but I’m tired of keep on having to order something else I’m missing and making a short job take days or weeks waiting for stuff. Question is, what makes it dot compatible? I’ve got various grease in the house in the form of marine grease, generic bike grease, copperslip, fork grease, and various lube oils.

I can’t see a spec of what “Dot compatible grease” actually is or should (or shouldn’t) contain.

All that said though, I’ve shortened hoses before and think I missed that step, and seemed to be okay.

silicone grease and not needed IMHO

Red rubber grease is dot compatible but even though I have some I’ve never bothered with it on the barb. You’ll be fine without

Not needed for the barb/olive as far as I know; I’ve seen it supplied with a kit of Formula caliper seals, though.

Cool. I’ll do without then 😀

Not needed for what you’re doing but I use hunters silicon lube when changing seals.

Here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Avid-Pitstop-Dot-Assembly-Grease/dp/B002SQZ1H6

I have the above grease for greasing guide pistons, it’s red if that helps. Probably not…

https://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/Product.do?method=view&n=473&p=425233&d=124&c=4&l=2&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Base&utm_campaign=Grease&gclid=CjwKCAiApdPRBRAdEiwA84bo330m2jS9zfbnbeGSRcluLpLA50DdjCTZ9KlQCL5Kf4-JsDl_ZE0BKhoCYQQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

People sell small tubs of it for a few £ on ebay

Given up anyway. All I’ve done is knacker another brake.

I was trying to re-use an old X0 rear for a front after existing (also old) front lever jammed stuck. Shorten cable, couldn’t get away without bleed, follow the Avid instructions to the letter (except the grease 😉 ), and same as one I did few years back, dot oil starts coming out of the lever pivot area, squidgy and knackered. Assume a seal gone.

Hate bleeding brakes. Usually I can get away without needing to do them.

New brakes then. This was for a build re-using old components off another bike.

I was doing the same yesterday, except SRAM rival brakes. DOT compatible grease…got be honest I didn’t even bother googling, I just carried on and all is fine.

However I did find the manual is wrong…the barbs and olives I had needed a microscopic T8 bit whereas the manual said T10. Took me ages to find one, ended up being hidden in a security bit set I’ve got.

Just use a bit of brake fluid to lube it for assembly.
If you’re going to get pernickity, it’s not a good idea to use silicon grease near a brake system as it can do odd things to non silicon brake fluid, but I doubt it’s a real issue unless you coat everything in a thick layer!

Silicon grease it not a problem and is recommended by brake manufacturers who use DoT fluid systems. Great lumps of any grease are bad news in a hydraulic system so don’t go piling it in.

What we’re really worried about here is grease with a mineral oil content causing DoT compatible seals to fail but red rubber grease, silicon grease or finish line stanchion lube are all fine.

I’ve found Googling this, a lot of threads in various forums where someone says a bit no to silicon and then someone else will say it’s not a problem.

Hope use hunters silicone for their DoT brake systems. I’ll give them credit for knowing what they’re doing. I think it’s confusion over DoT 5 being silicon based and not to be mixed with DoT 5.1 because they’re different things.

you want a grease that is not miscible with the brake fluid or it will dissolve in it. ie silicone grease for normal dot 3/4/5.1 fluid. If you use silicone with dot 5 (silicone) fluid then they will mix.

Likewise in forks you don’t want a grease that will “dissolve” into the damper fluid and contaminate it.

But you do need a grease that is compatible with the seals.