dot 5 silicone brake fluid?
 

my friends neibor, who has been building race motors for all of his life, said i should try putting dot 5 in my car. what are the pros/cons. can it evan be used in our cars?

It can be used, if you empty your entire system, flush it with alcohol to remove all the dot3, then fill and bleed. It's not worth it for a street car, it won't change anything you would actually notice. They don't mix, so you can't just add some. He may have been building engines his whole life, but that is a dumb suggestion for brakes.

Jesus f*cking chr!st
 

I really gotta stop coming here but I cant let stuff like this slide....

do not put DOT5 in your Cobalt ever for any reason

i dident say i was going too. i was just asking if anyone ever did and what the pros/cons are

google has all the answers...

Just put in a good Dot4

Maven FTW

Here: http://www.afcoracing.com/tech_pages/fluid.shtml

OK!! I think I got the message. But NOT the ANSWER to MY question. What is the stock brake fluid as spec'd for the SS's Brembo brakes? And what would the upgrade for that fluid be? I'm looking at Brembo EVO 500 and LCF 600 products. There's a huge difference in dry boil temp but which one would be suggested for an occassional track day?

Thanks.

I think!

ATE Typ200 or Superblue is what i use and recommend to everyone. I dont recommend LCF or AP products because they are corrosive to magnesium. ATE is also half the price.

I've used superblue before... never had any issues with it before.

So according to what I'm reading, ATE Typ200 and Superblue are the same fluid, just not color coordinated, are totally compatible with each other AND with the stock AC Delco fill, meaning a thouough alcohol flush of the system is not 100% necesasary? Sounds like there's a vacuum fluid changer in my future before heading to Miami/Homestead.

After further consideration a PRESSURE bleeder is in my future.

i used dot 4 on my mine...

sweet i can get ATE over here, thanks for the info once again maven

Correct. many other higher end fluids dont like to be mixed and require a flush with denatured alcohol before a switch. Like I mentioned before several of these fluids including Brembos and Ap Racings top offerings are corrosive to magnesium and some alloys....I just avoid them totally to keep any issues from occuring.

ATE Typ200 is golden colored, "regular" DOT4 color. Superblue is exact same fluid just dyed blue, so that you can switch back and forth between fluids at each brake flush and because of color change youll know when you got the old fluid out.....Superblue is not strictly street legal because of the color (DOT3/4 fluids have to be yellow/gold/amber) and you MAY get shit it the inspection station if your guys are serious. I have the Typ200 in my car right now. Stick with the Typ200 if your concerned about warranty coverage or inspection, otherwise feel free to use Superblue if you want.

Superblue hold up pretty well to track days?

...and -35* winter weather?

Its good stuff..... Otherwise i wouldnt have been pushing it for as long as I have......

HOWEVER, with as cold as you see for long periods of time you MIGHT want to conside ATE SL6......its thinner, and will work better in the damn cold winters you have.

Depends on how hard you are on the brakes @ the track. Superblue will boil if you're on track pads, and you're running hard. I'm running Endless, which is not corrosive, in fact it comes as factory fill on some Porsches now, and it's the exact fluid being used by some pro race teams. Regardless, you must flush the brakes every year at a minimum to keep the anti-corrosive properties up, and to get rid of the water in the system.

When it comes to brakes, I'm paranoid. I've been victim to a complete and total brake failure on track before (line separated from crimp on a factory Evo 8 front brake line). That was the end of that car.

Also, my 1997 Dodge Ram 2500HD managed to rust through some brake lines while I was parking it. Thank god it happened at like 3 mph. This was probably a combination of me not hosing off the underside after winter, and not changing the brake fluid often enough.

endless s4 is good stuff.....but MUCh harder to come by than ATE, over twice the price, and only has a BP of about 20degrees higher.....not worth it in my opinion

Similar but different episode with 6500 gallons of #4 oil (75,000 + #) on Rt 6 in PA. Brakes said goodby at the bottom of a fairly long, steep hill. What's a Jake brake?? Talk about watching your life pass before your eyes? Thank God it was 3 AM and the bars were closed.

Thanks for all the good brake fluid info. But I really don't understand why Brembo would market a brake fluid that would eat their calipers. Strange!

Maven, I'm not running the Endless S4 fluid ;) I know some people don't think it's worth forking out for better brake fluid, but I'm paranoid. If it's good enough for Porsche road going cars, and F1 in the exact same form, it's tops on my list.

Buellfooll: It's not so much that it eats calipers or lines, it's that some brake fluids geared for track cars exclude the corrosion inhibitors required to pass DOT specifications, which means you'll have to bleed and/or flush your brakes that much more often to keep them from rusting. Since it's DOT, the rule is probably published as a DOT FMV law somewhere.

Well crap. I take that back. LCF really is corrosive to magnesium. I'll go with your question of "WTF Brembo?"

OK! Now I've got a good education on brake fluid. Who knew it would be so difficult to decide between them. Somebody want to step up now and tell me where I can find a pressure bleeder adaptor for our SS? Actually the whole pressure bleeder kit. I have a vacuum bleeder from years ago and have never much luck with it. I've been searching on line but can't find any applications for the 08 & up SS's. Tried to find just a replacement MC cap to possibly make my own. NOBODY offers a cap for our car short of buying a complete MC. FROM GM!. I'm beginning to feel neglected. Any helpers?

Okay...so you use the Rf650. definitely really good stuff but I think I would still go with Prospeed 683 or good ol' Castrol SRF if I were to switch and run that expensive a fluid on the street. Ive heard about Endless saying it stays dryer longer than SRF and such, so you need to flush less often.....but SRF has a so much higher wet BP that its not reallt even an issue. Nothing else that even comes close to SRFs wet BP.....

And honestly if your flushing more than once a year and driving anywhere remotely legally on the street ATE will be more than most people ever need. Since very few people have pads that can tolerate the heat theyd need to be able to for any length of time long enough to boil ATE


Whatever you use make it a DOT4 and flush/bleed it often and youll be safer and happier than 99% of the people on the road.

Master cylinder cap PN: 22688449 ~$25

Thanks Maven. I've got an inquiry in to Motive Products about an adaptor. They replied with a question, I answered it and they haven't gotten back to me. Home brew may be my best alternative seeing as how, so far, I have no other alternatives. UNLESS you have another secret answer.

I think we're pretty much in full agreement. I only run the Endless fluid because I have Cobalt XR1s that I pop in for track events. ATE would fry after a few short laps. SRF used to be the gold standard, but I'm not so sure anymore. Endless rf650 is cheaper by a little bit too.

I put Valvoline synthetic from Pepboys for all my street cars. That and Castrol LMA are good choices for vehicles that never see the track.

Yeah the RF650 is definitely good stuff, and may eventually put SRF in 2nd place, but ive been watching that Prospeed 683 stuff with some serious interest....its BIG money though.

LMA is kinda the stuff I usually keep around for just in case events, but I prefer to put ATE in everything given the choice.....and at $11/liter its sooooo worth the tiny premium over all the parts store crap.


XR1s eh... Serious pad is serious :lol: I run XP8s when I get bored LOL, HP+ or HPS on the street(whatever is handy)