Originally Posted by sdowney717
Never noticed a plastic part on a car fail when greased.
Originally Posted by Boomer
Always silicone grease. Regular grease contains oil and over time can cause plastic to swell or soften, neither of which is conducive to longevity of the part or your driving pleasure.
I noticed the same gatekeeping on the weatherstrip lubrication thread. Multiple posters made it seem like anything but silicone would ruin them instantly, other people used anything under the sun including antifreeze without any issues.
There are many types of plastics with varying degrees of solvent resistance. I myself lubed the plastic shift mechanism in my MK4 Golf with white grease when I changed a bushing, and it worked perfectly for as long as I had it.
"Real" (not Sil-Glyde) silicone grease is also very expensive. I paid like $50 CAD for a jar of 3M from Amazon.