Hi, I’ve always used silicone spray oil for my fork + rear shock between most rides but want to eliminate the possibility that this is getting to my disc rotors & contaminating them*. Some silicone spray cans seem to put out more of a cloud than others. Does anyone have any recommendations for one that comes as an oil, or I’ve also just seen Crankalicious Shock Treatment Lithium Fork Lube in Wiggle, anyone used that? I’d probably prefer an oil to a grease though.

*My rear rotor is either getting contaminated from the shock spray, or the chain or the caliper leaking. I’ve inspected the caliper & can’t see a leak & I’m reasonably careful when oiling the drivetrain. I don’t reckon I’m riding fast enough to overheat the disc/pads, but I’m up-sizing to a bigger rotor anyway.

Ta muckle for any advice!

PS: yay the forum has finally been upgraded, good job! I’m a long time lurker by the way. 🙂

Wickens and Soderstrom No 4

I just spray a bit onto my hand and then apply to fork/shock/dropper etc rather than spray on directly.

There’s an edit there somewhere ^^^ I’m sure someone will oblige.

My youngest will testify that it is good practice to avoid spraying Fork Juice even remotely anywhere near a wooden floor.

Shimano brakes? It’ll be the caliper. I’d be more worried about contamination of the front than the rear as it’s closer to the forks than the shock is to the rear.

https://www.shore-lines.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=278

?ive I never used it, I just use the WD-40 silicon spray can it has a directional nozzle thing.

If you want to apply something like that to the suspension I would spray it on a cloth away from the bike, then wipe it on, no chance of over spray.

I would not use an aerosol lube on the chain, too easy to overspray, I use a drip bottle.

If there is no visible caliper leak (no wet ring on back of pads?) I would remove rotor and clean, clean caliper and fit new pads.

I usually pick up one of the unasked for bits of printed dead tree shoved through my door advertising stuff and loosely fold that over the rotor while spraying.  Seems to have worked well enough at fending off any clouds of overspray.

As above, if this is a regular thing then maybe do a couple of rides with no silicone spray and then pull the pads and check for leakage on the back if the problem persists.

Also, silicone for fork and shock stanchions is the only aerosol I’d go near a bike with.

Thanks for the replies. I’ll avoid using aerosol on my bike from now on in general, that’s a good idea. Especially once I put my new rotor+pads on after they arrive.

I’ve got the WD40 one with the nozzle but still got a couple of Fenwicks cans to go through (I was hoping I could use the WD40 nozzle on them but it doesn’t fit, grr). I might even spray them into a jar & use it that way or with a cloth as suggested.

If there is a leak it’s invisible as I’ve thoroughly inspected the pistons for leaking whilst applying pressure with the lever and the pistons partially extended but there’s none appearing.

They are Shimano brakes, yes, Acera M396 ones on my 2016 Trance 3. I’ve read Shimanos can have iffy seals but my front one has been pretty good otherwise; I’ve got the same brake on the back of my hardtail without issue so far. Plus, I bought a big tub of Shimano brake fluid years ago so kind of want to stay with Shimano just to use it up! 😀

My bet is it will continue after new pads and rotors. Does it go away after a while when you ride or if it’s very wet? If it does come back try borrowing the brake from your hardtail and see if it then goes away. That would point to a calliper leak. Good news with the brakes you have is replacement calipers are cheap, especially since you have the fluid already.

I like finish line stanchion lube but it’s tricky to get hold in the UK. However, I believe it’s very similar to Wet Seal from from Gone Biking Mad.

Tiny drop of lube and let capillary action pull it around. Not at all sticky, but very very slippery. Inert so works well on brake seals as well.

Yep, I was thinking that too although I’m not sure the hose would be long enough, will need to check but it is routed internally (grr) so isn’t as simple a swap as it would be otherwise. I doubt I could just swap the calipers either as there’ll be an olive in the connector & I don’t have one spare.

I don’t think it goes away during a ride, and I think the rain just makes them squeal louder. 🙂

Cheers regarding the oil suggestions too. I think I’ll see if I can spray my cans into a jar rather than waste it, but will consider them further if that fails. I stumbled across decent sized bottles of silicone oil for treadmill rollers although I’d need to get some sort of bottle to dispense it via, any thoughts on that as a cheapskate option? 😀

triflow lubricating oil

I just lie my bike on its side and squirt. All the overspray hits the ground.

Shimano warranty is 2 years if the piston seals are leaking just send it back with proof of purchase.

I don’t think Silicone fork lube needs to be complicated.  I used to like the Juice Lubes product but then Fenwicks took over the world and it became a royal PITA to find any LBS selling anything that wasn’t theirs (which sucks).  As a result I’ve been using the Fenwicks silicone fork stuff for a while now and see no difference in this product other than it doesn’t make the room smell nice like the JL did.

BITD there was a thread about this and it was suggested that there’s a silicone spray used by UPVC installers that is sold at very much lower prices and for this application is functionally identical… Never seen any for sale though.

I got the bike around October 2015 so Shimano warranty would be up, plus I’ve no real evidence regarding leak as there no visible leak or implied due to oily deposits.