Is modern brake fluid less hygroscopic?
Discussion
Today I changed/flushed the brake fluid on my Jaguar XE. It's been in there for at least 7 years and possibly longer (yeah yeah I know).
I regularly change the brake fluid on my other cars (one is for racing and so it gets bled every month or so) and so I was expecting the fluid coming out of the calipers to look a bit manky (on my race car, the fluid from the rear calipers always looks nasty).
To my surprise, the fluid looked absolutely fine and incredibly clean, and so I tested it for moisture content. The tester showed no moisture (or more accurately less than 1%).
This car gets used in all weathers, the brakes occasionally get worked etc etc. And so... is modern brake fluid simply less hygroscopic or is this "change fluid every 2 years" malarky just a nonsense for a normal car??
I regularly change the brake fluid on my other cars (one is for racing and so it gets bled every month or so) and so I was expecting the fluid coming out of the calipers to look a bit manky (on my race car, the fluid from the rear calipers always looks nasty).
To my surprise, the fluid looked absolutely fine and incredibly clean, and so I tested it for moisture content. The tester showed no moisture (or more accurately less than 1%).
This car gets used in all weathers, the brakes occasionally get worked etc etc. And so... is modern brake fluid simply less hygroscopic or is this "change fluid every 2 years" malarky just a nonsense for a normal car??
Perhaps it is more about trying to encourage people to have the brakes bled every so often? I suppose that "flushing the fluid so that it doesn't boil and kill you" sounds more persuasive than, "let a little air out," despite largely being the same thing.
My brakes obviously feel much better now but that's simply because I was able to bleed some trapped air out
The fluid in my race cars has also never shown any significant moisture absorption but it does tend to get manky.
My brakes obviously feel much better now but that's simply because I was able to bleed some trapped air out
The fluid in my race cars has also never shown any significant moisture absorption but it does tend to get manky.
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