Brake Fluid Recommendations Anyone ?

[Herb]

Im looking for recomendations for a good brake fluid and a source near Guelph, Kitchener, Hamilton or possible Toronto.

I boiled the stuff I was using last weekend, before that pads and rotors were starting to fade much and the pads are not a real race compound, thought they seem to work well when the fluid holds up;. I thinking I may have gotten a bad batch of fluid when i changed it in the spring.

Thanks

Herb

[ctenche]

Head on over to your local Canadian Tire and pick up a bottle of Ford Spec or Ford Heavy Duty 550º F DOT 3 brake fluid.

It's cheap at about $4 a bottle and has a very decent dry boiling temperature. The wet temp is a bit low at about 290º F but that's okay because at that price you can change the fluid often enough.

Beyond that, you can look for some ATE SuperBlue fluid or Motul but you're now looking at double or triple the price for pretty much the same fluid but with a slightly higher wet boiling temp.

[Shaman]

I have to say though, Motul is peace of mind. It's got a pretty high wet boiling point.

Or maybe I'm being brainwashed by the bottle specs. ;)

[Bubblecar]

I use the Canadian Tire DOT 3. Robb Smith turned me on to it last year and yes it's about one-third the cost of Motul.

Now, my brakes are as big and get as hot as anyones - and it works great.

:D

[rainman]

I tried Motul a couple years ago and although the boiling points on it are high, I was disappointed for a couple reasons:

- Very expensive when compared to CT Ford spec fluid (3x the price)

- I found that Motul fluid is VERY hygroscopic, meaning that it absorbed humidity from the air a lot more easily than the Ford spec stuff.

My thinking is that brake fluid should be bled from the system often, like after every Solo weekend. The longer you leave it in your brake lines, the greater potential for poor performing brakes.

[Herb]

I must have water in mine as I have ct ford spec fluid in and my petal was getting soft after 2 laps last weekend. Brakes still worked, just spongy.

Maybe they need bleeding. I think i'll refill it with some better fluid this time though .

[Shaman]

I hate to say it, but even the best brake fluid has failed me. :D

[Rob McAuley]

What system do you use? Canadian Tire has one for $80. Looks like it has a squeeze handle so you can pressurize the fluid in the master cylinder and do the work on your own (without having someone hanging around to press on the brake pedal).

How well do they work? Any other recommendations?

[Herb]

I have speed bleeders, one way bleeders.(made by russell i think) There is a one way valve in the in the bleeder so in theory you just open the bleeder and pump the brakes. In practice there is often leakage around the threads of the bleeder and caliper.. The bleeders have to be taken out and rewrapped with telflon tape about 4 or 5 times you bleed the brakes. The speed bleeder are fine for bleeding , but it takes a while to pump most of the fluid out and you never really get it all

A vacum bleeder I think would be the ideal solution. I remeber looking at the CT model and thinking it looked pretty cheaply made for the money. More robust can be had but they cost a lot more like 150-200 canadian,but a peopl say they are worth it.

If heard stories of bleeding the brakes and changing fluid by preasurizing the resevoir with air , this requires EXTREME caution and i think is best left to the brave as i dont think that plastic will take that preasue


Im off tomorrow so I will be looking into brake fluid and bleeders some more.

[rainman]

Herb,

Like Shaman alluded to, even really expensive brake fluid can easily fail. You really do have to be quite diligent about bleeding your brakes.

Regarding the speedbleeders, I have them too but I've found that you really can minimize/stop the leaking around the threads if you just crack them loose rather than opening them wide. Hope that helps.

[Herb]

Well, you guys convinced me to try CT ford 550 spec fluid again. I think part of my probelm was the pad material was worn done to about 1/16 of inch, therefore not insulating the caliper as much as new pads would.

BTW I modified an old basketball pump to be a vacum pump. Using this and jar with some fitting soldered in the top I now have a vacum bleeder that works quite well. I think it produces a greater volume of vacum then the $80 unit from
CT could.

Total cost , since I already had the pump was about 5 dollars of fitting and tubing. Guess now a need a new basketball pump.


:)

[Rob McAuley]

People talking about presure bleeders:

http://www.gis.nsw.gov.au/staff/rnott/bmw/BMWText/technical/PressureBleedingTools.html

...including a home-made one:

http://www.apexcone.com/Bleeder/bleeder.html

[bvanderhaar]

I’m going to be running a stock Mazda 6s this year and after reading some posts here I think I should change out my break fluid for some higher temp, Ford spec dot 3 is what I think I will go with b/c I'm a cheap Dutchman. I took a look at my cars manual and it appears that the fluid in my break cylinder is also used for my clutch. Does anyone know how if a different fluid will harm the clutch? Also beading the breaks is easy but I have never had to bleed fluid from a clutch, if any one knows how this is done could you please fill me in. I’m also thinking about changing my pads to hawk hp+10 after I see how the stock pads hold up at the DDT school. Anyone know where I can buy them close to kitchener/waterloo? I found some in Hamilton but I don’t want to drive an hour to get them.
Any other advise for basic car set up would be great, keep in mind this is my daily driver.
See you all soon at the DDT school.
Thanks.

[thekid]

I can probably get you HT-10's and if arrangements were made prior could bring the pads to the school at the DDT. I'm not in K/W though.

[yellowhotshoe]

Ditto the Ford Heavy Duty. I haven't tried the CT stuff, only the Ford brand itself. Its cheap enough that I bleed my brakes once a month and it still leaves enough $$$ for gas ($1.16 / L yesterday :eek: )

[slai]

The bleeders have to be taken out and rewrapped with telflon tape about 4 or 5 times you bleed the brakes.

Here's an alternative to teflon tape - http://speedbleeder.zoovy.com/product/THREADSEALANT

[speedmerchant]

As far as bleeders go, I've tried most of them and there is only one REAL bleeder. It's called the Motive Power Bleeder. Quite simply it will be the best bleeder you will ever buy. End of Story. And not much more expensive than the Canadian Tire one. The CT one will last you about a year if you use it regularly, it's crappy for the long term.

Trust me on this one guys!

http://www.motiveproducts.com/

[John Powell]

bvanderhaar: A hydraulic clutch is the same type of system as used for the brakes, so the same fluid will work in 99% of such systems. I say that as there's always an oddball out there somewhere, but I doubt if your car is one. To bleed the clutch there will be a bleeder screw on the slave cylinder and it's bled the same way as brakes. Be aware, though, that there may be other bleeding points in the system, so follow the line all the way from the clutch master cylinder to the slave cylinder to see if there's other bleeders or lines. My '93 Altima has a "tee" in the system with a line leading away to the fender and along under the battery, with a fitting and a bleeder screw at the end. I was told that this extra line is to reduce "hammering" in the system, and must be bled out before the slave cylinder. Once you've checked out the layout of your system, the actual bleeding is pretty well straight forward.

[kickster]

ATE Superblue works great. If you need any I always keep them in stock.


Ford Heavy Duty DOT 3 Dry 550 Wet 290
ATE Super Blue Racing Dry 536 Wet 392

ATE SB has higher Wet boiling point and absorbs moisture very slowly. This is the reason BMW insist on using ATE SB. You can leave it in for at least one year. If you are a serious racer then you may have to flush it once or twice during the seaon.





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