Di-electric grease

I am now in possession of dielectric grease that I need to put on my antenna threads since they are rusting a little. I am pretty sure something has gone south with the repeater as earlier, I could hit it (in rain and fog and snow) from twice the distance. Now, I am apparently "barely" holding the repeater from 400 and 407. Let me see how cleaning the rust off my antenna threads and putting on that grease helps :)