Brake Fluid

[Scott in Houston]

How important is the brand?

I am thinking of flushing my brake fluid. My pads are fine, so they don't need changing, but wondered if there is a specific brand that is better than others or does it matter?

Scott in Houston

PS..... CONGRATS Loren. The board is awesome!

[Mike in CA]

I've used ATE Super Racing fluid. It comes in blue and gold colors which make it easier to tell when you've flushed out all the old fluid on alternate changes.

Motive Products

[Loren]

As long as it is DOT 4 (not DOT 3 or synthetic DOT 5) it should be okay. Porsche does not recommend synthetic brake fluids (I do not know why).

I change back and forth with ATE Gold (Type200) and ATE Super Blue. This is great for street and pretty good for light track useage. Both have a high dry boiling point (536 degrees) and a high wet boiling point (392 degrees), but without being excessively hygroscopic (these fluids do not readily absorb moisture like most high performance fluids).

They are the same fluid with the same properties one is yellowish gold and the other is blue. This allows easy viewing when bleeding to see when the new fluid is through the system. The are other higher temp fluids that are available... but for the most part if you are changing every 3-4 DE's then you should be okay. About $12 liter and you will need about 1 liter per change.

Other good fluids are:

Castrol SRF Brake Fluid (dry boiling point is at 590 degrees, wet boiling point of 518 degrees) -- Do not mix with any other fluids. You must do a complete flush with this fluid. About $65 liter :eek:

Motul 600 (dry boiling point 585 degrees and a wet boiling point 421 degrees) -- Synthetic. Do not mix with any other fluids. You must do a complete flush with this fluid. About $12 liter

AP-600 (dry boiling point 590 degrees, wet boiling point 410 degrees) -- Do not mix with any other fluids. You must do a complete flush with this fluid. About $18 liter

[dj996]

How important is the brand?

I am thinking of flushing my brake fluid.  My pads are fine, so they don't need  changing, but wondered if there is a specific brand that is better than others or does it matter?

Scott in Houston

PS.....  CONGRATS Loren.  The board is awesome!

Hey you finally made it over here!:)

I just bought new pads and fluid and a new Motive powerbleeder....I want to upgrade my brakes before the next track day. Maybe we should have a brake party...:)

[David (Va)]

Castrol's thinking is that it is so non-hygroscopic, that you don't need to change it after every few events/races. So in the long-run the high price evens out.

Anyone know how much fluid a full flush takes?

[David (Va)]

To answer my own question 0.67 qts.