Brake Fluids

[TENSE]

im planning to service my brake fluids soon and i was looking at motul rbf600 (dot4) brake fluid , is this any good?

i asked a mechanic and he recommended i go for dot 5.1 from the motul range

http://www.motul.com.au/product_line_up/fo...s/others05.html

not sure on what brake pads and such the car currently has as it was recently purchased only

car is a 1993 R32GTR

car would mainly be driving on the street and the odd spirited run

[gslrallysport]

The fluid we use and recommend is the TRW GP600 brake fluid:

TRW GP600 Dot 4 Racing Brake Fluid

Dry - Min 310

Wet - Min 204

That's about the best out there short of Castrol SRF, or GS610. But significantly cheaper than either of them at $65 for a 1L bottle.

For comparison, some other popular brands:

Motul Dot 5.1

270 dry

185 wet

Castrol Response Super Dot 4

286 dry

184 wet

[some_cs_student]

For a street car DOT4 should be fine, but RBF600 is also good, commonly used on the track by some members here for light track work (search!)

[ssxRicho]

on that, if I'm putting motul rbf600 or 5.1 in do i need to flush the old fluid out with something else? no idea what is in there atm.

[Moodles2]

Do a proper flush (out of the lines and abs unit) before putting RBF600 or 5.1 in or it defeats the purpose of putting them in, most likely just have standard DOT4 in there currently.

[some_cs_student]

Do a proper flush (out of the lines and abs unit) before putting RBF600 or 5.1 in or it defeats the purpose of putting them in, most likely just have standard DOT4 in there currently.

Flush it well when switching to RBF600 or 5.1 to 4.0 or vice-versa, there are known issues that some brake fluids aren't supposed to be mixed together...

[ssxRicho]

yeh that is what i though, but what does a 'good flush' mean. a whole bottle through?!? that seems a bit excessive.

[bnr#@]

Not sure a single 500ml bottle will cover you if you want to do a proper flush, get two atleast

[ssxRicho]

flush the system out with a couple of bottles? then put a bottle and a bit in there?

[gslrallysport]

The beauty of the TRW GP600 I talked about above (apart from having better performance than the Motul and generally being cheaper anyway) is that it's Dot 4 compatible. So rather than use the expensive stuff to flush it the system out, you can just grab any $7 bottle of Dot4 from the servo, use that to flush the system out, gravity drain, then top up with the good stuff.

The problem with the Motul gear is that generally it's not Dot 4 compatible, and you cannot afford to have any of the old fluid left over...

[djr81]

The beauty of the TRW GP600 I talked about above (apart from having better performance than the Motul and generally being cheaper anyway) is that it's Dot 4 compatible. So rather than use the expensive stuff to flush it the system out, you can just grab any $7 bottle of Dot4 from the servo, use that to flush the system out, gravity drain, then top up with the good stuff.

The problem with the Motul gear is that generally it's not Dot 4 compatible, and you cannot afford to have any of the old fluid left over...

Look, with all due respect Motul RBF 600 and/or 660 IS A DOT 4 FLUID.

It is therefore compatible with other dot 4 fluids.

There is no good reason to use dot 5.1 fluids, Motul or otherwise. The dot 4-600 range perform better, ie have a higher boiling point. The hint is that the 600 (or 660) term in the title is a reference to its boiling point in degrees fahrenheit.

The reference is here:

http://www.motul.com.au/product_line_up/fo...s/others04.html

http://www.motul.com.au/product_line_up/fo...s/others03.html

Fresh fluid (of almost any description) is as good as tired RBF600 fluid. You lose approx 100 degrees celcius out of the boiling point when the fluid is old & wet.

Edited May 12, 2009 by djr81

[siksII]

I have found the Castrol Response Super Dot 4 great for street duties, at around $10 a bottle its cheap and will not boil easily.

Used the same stuff on the track and as a new (ie. slower) track driver its sufficient, but its not very hard to overheat it.

Bought some Penrite Sin which is rated to 310deg Celsius dry boiling temp, its $20 from Repco so I thought I would try it at the next track day instead of the Motul stuff at $25-30 per bottle.

Anyone had experience with the Penrite fluid?

[Z1LLA]

I have found the Castrol Response Super Dot 4 great for street duties, at around $10 a bottle its cheap and will not boil easily.

Used the same stuff on the track and as a new (ie. slower) track driver its sufficient, but its not very hard to overheat it.

Bought some Penrite Sin which is rated to 310deg Celsius dry boiling temp, its $20 from Repco so I thought I would try it at the next track day instead of the Motul stuff at $25-30 per bottle.

Anyone had experience with the Penrite fluid?

I've used the Penrite Sin fluid in my GT-R, found it to be good.

[ssxRicho]

yeh i saw that down a ABS when i grabbed my pads.

my only concern is that (not knowing) the current fluid in there could be silicone based. This will be the first flush since bought that car earlier in the year.

edit: that current stuff in there atm wont be that great. as the brakes only last 3 laps.

The beauty of the TRW GP600 I talked about above (apart from having better performance than the Motul and generally being cheaper anyway) is that it's Dot 4 compatible. So rather than use the expensive stuff to flush it the system out, you can just grab any $7 bottle of Dot4 from the servo, use that to flush the system out, gravity drain, then top up with the good stuff.

The problem with the Motul gear is that generally it's not Dot 4 compatible, and you cannot afford to have any of the old fluid left over...

[siksII]

I've used the Penrite Sin fluid in my GT-R, found it to be good.

Thanks, what are you comparing with, i.e have you found it the same as rbf600 etc?

[gslrallysport]

Look, with all due respect Motul RBF 600 and/or 660 IS A DOT 4 FLUID.

My apologies. I was under the impression that the Motul stuff, like Castrol SRF was silicon based... Sorry.

[badhairdave]

Thanks, what are you comparing with, i.e have you found it the same as rbf600 etc?

I've used both. I didn't notice any difference.

The sin is cheaper and my local repco has it. win win. Not knocking the motul product as i have used it for a couple of years with no issue, just don't feel like a half hour trip just to get some any more.

As mentioned above, both are dot 4 compatible so none of the issues of switching to a dot 5, just bleed it through.

[siksII]

Thanks for the reply. As of last night I have the fluid in my car and am using it this weekend Will post up how it performed afterwards.

I've used both. I didn't notice any difference.

The sin is cheaper and my local repco has it. win win. Not knocking the motul product as i have used it for a couple of years with no issue, just don't feel like a half hour trip just to get some any more.

As mentioned above, both are dot 4 compatible so none of the issues of switching to a dot 5, just bleed it through.

[siksII]

Update:

Used Penrite Sin with DS2500 pads at Wakefield, fluid did not overheat at all during my 4 sessions.

Previously have only used Castrol Super Dot 4 (silver bottle) at the track, that would hold up ok but would overheat a bit (never overheated it on the street) keeping in mind I flush or bleed it before and after any hard use so its always fresh.