I've done searchs galore and have the details. Now just need advice b4 buying. I've posted this elsewhere, but let's see what I get here.

Another question about Brake Fluid. I had decided to get the ATE Super Blue Racing (DRY 536/WET 392). Is it true that the 'Blue' is not street approved but the ATE TYP 200 (536/392) is approved? Same thing but different color? When I went to find it, the price online was ~$10 (plus ~$10 S/H). I found Valvoline SynPower DOT3&4 (http://www.valvoline.com/pages/produ...asp?product=51) (502/343) for ~$2.50/12oz (~$5.00/32oz). I'll probably go with the Valvoline considering price & availability. But then I found out Fyey Racing (http://www.freyracing.com/) is located close to me while I'm in CA (again next week). So I thought I'd stop by there and see what they got. Online they show Motul 600 Synthetic (585/421) for $12.95. I could pick that up and save shipping. Thing is that's probably per 12oz. I figure it'll take 30+ oz to bleed the brakes in the Lightning (Is that right? How much is needed?) which would be $5.00 for Valvoline vs. $36.00 for the Motul. :O Ouch! Maybe I'll go back to Valvoline. What's your advice? I don't go to track events where I'd be changing it frequently; for me maybe ever 2-3 years. However, I do have some heavy braking (open stretches of highway ) & occasional trips up/down the mountains. While I don't think I'd utilize the high boiling point, the higher WET boiling point is what attracts me. This web site gives some good info (It was referenced somewhere before). Let me know what you think. http://www.shotimes.com/SHO3brakefluid.html

I've got another thought since writing this. I could go with the Valvoline and change it every 12 mo an still come out cheaper than keeping the Motul in for 2 - 4 years. I don't know why I'm bikering of ~$30 but this seems like just an important decision as what flavor motor oil people discuss.

 

I use valvoline on the street and Motul 600 on the track. Motul is by far the best fluid I've ever tried.

 

just use motocrafts heavy duty dot3 it has a boiling point of 550F dry

the reason for this is that some of the bigger ford trucks have such big brakes they had to up the boiling point of their dot3

most racers, even ricers (in the know) use motocraft heavy duty dot3

thats only about 50 less then the super expensive type

 

Numbers dont tell the whole story. I'd heard from many of the local racers who swore by the ford fluid in their lightweight race-only cars. However, the difference between the Ford HD fluid and the Motul 600 (or even the valvoline) is night and day when you're really hammering on the brakes. I suppose it depends on the courses, but I was able to boil the ford fluid after about 5 laps on one of the long courses. The Motul never boiled. I melted out the bearing grease before the Motul got hot enough to fade on me.
Will you notice the difference in a parking-lot autocross? No. Will you notice the difference at the end of the 1/4? No.
But the right course and abusive driving makes the Ford fluid run home and cry to mommy.

Why? I dont think dry boiling point makes the slightest bit of difference. Everyone likes to quote the dry point since its a good marketing number and its easy to hit high dry numbers. In reality unless you change your fluid daily you will never see the dry numbers. Even a weekend of racing in a humid air will affect fluid's moisture absorbtion. Our stock brake systems are far from airtight and It doesnt take long for the fluid to pick up moisture. Maybe I've had such good luck with Motul because it has one of (if not the) highest wet points.

As always, this is IMHO and YMMV.

 

What is the Wet boiling point. The web site is vague.

 

Nathan has a pretty good handle on it.

The wet numbers are as valuable as the dry. Dry means new, fresh etc. As in changing it very often.

Wet is better reflective of real world numbers that you see after a couple of weeks. And don't think that simply squirting the bleeder three times each is going to flush out the system as you pour in the high temp stuff. A complete flush of a couple of bottles is more likely needed to get out all the old.

I have to put in a plug however on the Ford stuff as we used it for years at Bondurant, but then again that was nearly 15 years ago and ATE was not so strong in the market place.

The only problem with some of the high temp stuff is that it has a very short working life. In a matter of days or weeks it may well be below that of others wet boiling point and be less effective than you think.

 

Everyone has their person favorites. I've been running NEO SuperDOT 610 without boiling it, and its been good to me.

[code]
Fluid Dry BP Wet BP 3 mo. 6 mo. US $/oz
Castrol SRF 590 518 572 554 2.076
NEO Super DOT 585 421 544 503 0.983
Motul Racing 600 585 421 544 503 0.712
Wilwood Hi-temp 570 570 284 499 427 0.496
AP600 572 378 524 475 1.062
Ford HD DOT3 550 290 485 420
PFrict Z-Rated 550 284 484 417 0.492
ATE T200/SupBlue 536 392 500 464 0.295
AP550 531 261 464 396 0.648
Valvoline HPerf 513 333 468 423
Motul DOT 5.1 509 365 473 437 0.675
DOT 5 Spec 500 346 462 423
Castrol LMA 450 311 415 381 0.219
DOT 4 Spec 446 311 412 379
DOT 3 Spec 401 284 372 343
[/code]

The BP After 3-months and 6-months columns are estimates based on a page I found that says brake fluid gains about 3.5% moisture per year, which is where the wet boiling point is measured. Assuming linear degradation this column is where you'd be.

 

?????????????
I just sent Todd $1708.00 today for his big brake kit and now you say I have to change my fluid every time I go to the track and then again when I get back home. Is there a fluid I can run that is a good compromise? What comes in the truck from Ford? By the way my stock brakes SUCK. If I'm on them very hard at all while I'm turning the ABS kicks in and the pedal goes down to far. It's weird

Jerry

 

Ford HD DOT3 550 290 485 420

You may have too little fluid in the reservoir, air in the lines, moisture, weak brake lines(rubber), or an ABS problem???

Dan

 

Yeah
If you're going to be burning it up all the time, change it frequently. Go ahead and get the Speed Bleeders. Change out b4 every race with something like 'Ford HD DOT3 550'. You'll be good to go, relatively cheap for the the races.

Check out this chart from page mentioned b4.

My main question:
Is this right? Or does it come in Liter (33oz) bottles. I don't mind spending $10 over $5. Just that $36 over $5 would cover the beer $.

 

ttt