Judging Brake Fluid ?

[Peter M.]

Is the color or brake Fluid or clutch fluid judged in terms of its color ?

[Michael W.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

Nope. 78910

[Duke W.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

If we did most would probably get condition points deduction. If you can't see the bottom of the reservoir, it needs to be emptied, any sludge at the bottom removed and then a thorough system flush with fresh brake fluid.

If you don't do this every few years, you'll be rebuilding hydraulic components in the future.

Duke

[Stephen B.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

Duke
I couldn't agree with you more if your using conventional brake fluid. I put silicone fluid in my one owner 66 back in 1975 after replacing all the calipers with stainless steel sleeved ones. In about 2003 or 4 I did a chassis restoration on this car and completely evacuated the system and blew out the lines. The fluid was as clean as the day I put it in.To that point I had a hard pedal with no problems. I built a 1929 hiboy roadster in 1981 and used silicon fluid.It's still in there serving me well. There's no residue in the master cylinder and my brakes are perfect.
Stephen Barrett 59,66,71,73

[Peter M.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

Duke
I couldn't agree with you more if your using conventional brake fluid. I put silicone fluid in my one owner 66 back in 1975 after replacing all the calipers with stainless steel sleeved ones. In about 2003 or 4 I did a chassis restoration on this car and completely evacuated the system and blew out the lines. The fluid was as clean as the day I put it in.To that point I had a hard pedal with no problems. I built a 1929 hiboy roadster in 1981 and used silicon fluid.It's still in there serving me well. There's no residue in the master cylinder and my brakes are perfect.
Stephen Barrett 59,66,71,73

Thanks, Steve, that's good to know. I'd like to convert to Dot 5 synthetic, but as I am not rebuilding the entire system, I am going to just up it to Dot 4 high performance fluid, which is blue. As I am planning to continue with my McClellan campaign, I don't want to lose points due to blue brake fluid.

[Stephen B.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

Peter
One thing I forgot to mention was that you NEVER use silicone in an ABS system. It will foam if the system is activated in an emergency stop.
Stephen Barrett 59,66,71,73

[Michael W.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

Thanks, Steve, that's good to know. I'd like to convert to Dot 5 synthetic, but as I am not rebuilding the entire system, I am going to just up it to Dot 4 high performance fluid, which is blue. As I am planning to continue with my McClellan campaign, I don't want to lose points due to blue brake fluid.

There's no real advantage to using DOT4 in a car built for DOT3.

[Joe L.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

Is the color or brake Fluid or clutch fluid judged in terms of its color ?

Peter-----


All of the DOT 5 silicone fluid that I have seen has been deep purple in color. However, the purple coloration is due to a dye and the dye changes coloration to yellow after being in service for several months. Normal DOT-3 glycol ester brake fluid is usually a very pale yellow color and the yellow color that DOT 5 takes on is somewhat a darker yellow. I don't think that anyone would generally notice the difference, though.

[Peter M.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

Peter
One thing I forgot to mention was that you NEVER use silicone in an ABS system. It will foam if the system is activated in an emergency stop.
Stephen Barrett 59,66,71,73

Thanks, Steve. Yes, I do know that Dot 5 synthetic fluid is not compatible with ABS systems. Thanks for the reminder.

[Peter M.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

There's no real advantage to using DOT4 in a car built for DOT3.

Dot 3 fluid has a wet boiling point of 284 degrees. Dot 4 racing fluid has a wet boiling point of over 500 degrees. What's more, Dot 4 is a little less water absorbant than Dot 3. But you are right, for all the intents and purposes of dailing driving, they are pretty much the same. For me, I'm going to over-engineer and go with Dot 4.

[Peter M.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

Hi Peter. Don't do "blue" until your done with your campaign.

You know I'm a lowly C4 Mechanical and Chassis Judge. The master cyl is under chassis. Michael is right. We generally don't deduct condition for brake fluid color. But from time to time I have discussed with my partner if he's OK with the color when it is very dark. To be true to the Standard, it should be clear, or possibly light amber. But not brown or dark. And definitely not blue.

If this lowly Judge saw blue, especially during Flight Judging at Nationals, It would receive an originality deduction. And I'll stick my neck out and say I'm just about positive my Team Leaders would support me on the call. I know calls like this that make judges look like p ricks. But it's not supposed to be blue, dammitt.

This is what I did when I took my car through: I flushed my brake fluid as it was 25 years old, and desperately needed to be exchanged. But prior to it's final McClellan judging, I sucked out the reservoirs. Wiped them down carefully, and refilled them with fresh. It looked great. There were no deductions even with the dark fluid, but attention to detail adds to the presentation. Judges notice this stuff, even if they don't take a deduction for it. At least this one does.

Regards,
Dave P.

Dave - I wish I would have heard from you earlier this evening as I just ordered two liters of the blue Dot 4 stuff. I'll try to call them in the morning and switch it to the Ate gold Dot 4.

Frankly, I was thinking about YOU, Dave, when I wrote this post. Blue fluid is not OEM and in fact it is even illegal in Florida. The purpose of the blue coloring is that it makes it easier to discern when you have all the old fluid out when you are bleeding the brakes. None the less, my car is only a 97.1 point car and I can't afford to lose ANY points that I already have when I get back to the Nationals. Sooooooooo, I'll switch to the gold stuff.

Thanks for responding to this post.

[Michael W.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

Peter,

I didn't even think of transparent reservoirs when I answered your question. I'll keep my nose out of C4 posts from now on. Sorry for the misinformation.

You may wish to read this page both for a caution about staining the reservoirs and for the actual wet boiling point of this product.

http://www.beastpower.com/p/bmw/ate-typ200/super/ATE-SB-BRAKE-FL

[Duke W.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

DOT 4 fluids are commonly available at auto parts stores - Castrol LMA, and Valvoline has a DOT 4 that they call "synthetic". They are both a conventional pale amber color and look almost clear in a non-transparent reservoir.

Don't be fooled by the word "synthetic". ALL brake fluids are synthetic since they don't occur in nature, but are synthesized via petrochemical processes.

DOT 4 is DOT 4. They are all basically the same. The spec is controlled by the US DOT, so brand name is not important. I use DOT 4 in all my vehicles - whatever brand I can find at my local auto parts stores when I need it.

Flushing a quart through most brake systems will result in a thorough fluid change.

Duke

[Peter M.]

Re: Judging Brake Fluid ?

Peter,

I didn't even think of transparent reservoirs when I answered your question. I'll keep my nose out of C4 posts from now on. Sorry for the misinformation.

You may wish to read this page both for a caution about staining the reservoirs and for the actual wet boiling point of this product.

http://www.beastpower.com/p/bmw/ate-...TE-SB-BRAKE-FL

Mike - looks like the actual wet boiling point is 400 degrees not 500 degrees; my error. Also, thanks for the tip on the blue staining. I did not know this, thanks