Wested

I know the brain trust says you don't grease carbon seat posts; supposedly the grease erodes the resin—got it. I'm talking the steerer tube. No point in greasing it, I know, but this infernal clicking noise developed at the stem top cap when I'm climbing out of the saddle, torquing it only makes the problem slightly less noticeable. I smeared a tiny bit of teflon grease around the top cap and placed it back into the steerer tube and torqued.

Clicking noise is gone, but is the teflon grease destroying the steerer tube?

Pendergast

I don't know how damaging regular grease is to carbon, but there is special grease for use with carbon. White Lightning Crystal Grease is one. I think Park Tool has something similar. A bike shop would probably have some around even if they didn't have it for sale. They'd probably give you a dab of it.

Googled the Park version. It's PolyLube 1000.

Dan333SP

I've slathered my headset bearings in white lightning lithium grease to prevent clicks without any carbon issues. My steerer is aluminum but the grease is sitting on the integrated bearing cups molded into the carbon head tube and hasn't caused any visible issues. Guess I'm weeks away from an asplosion.

milkbaby

I think the only reason people say not to use grease on carbon seatposts is because you want the seatpost to stay at a fixed position instead of moving, and the grease will only make it more likely to move. Use carbon grip paste on your seatpost instead.

You're sure your headset preload was set correctly?

Wested

Click returned, but I realized I could simply ride with the top cap much looser. That solved the problem. I preloaded the headset with the stem bolts loose, but once they're tightened it really doesn't matter how tight the cap is. To be safe, I'm going to remove all the grease.