Brake Fluid

[jonamacg83]

I am looking to do a full brake fluid replacement on my Exige S2, and am in a little bit of a conundrum as to which fluid to use. I am going to be tracking the car, and am hard on the brakes whilst on track, often experiencing fade, however I really cannot justofy the 40quid a litre or so for SRF, especially as I will prob need more than a litre to fully flush the system!

Was tempted for AP600, but a couple of litres of that soon adds up.

Anyone got any good recommendations from personal experince? I find going into the Foggy Esses at Donny and finding you have no brakes somewhat disconcerting!

TIA

Jonny

[BenElliottRacing]

76 racing 600+ brake fluid. £10 per 0.5 litres.

Anglo American oil company are uk distributors.

Used in the G50, LNT staff told me they used it in the panoz at le mans.

[legaleagleboy]

If you syphon all the old stuff out of the reservoir before you start -- 1 ltr will be plenty

TBH is £50 or so for SRF such a big factor for total peace of mind when tracking? We all know how expensive this hobby can be and IMO that just seems excellent value for money!

Edited by legaleagleboy on Friday 10th October 14:00

[anonymous-user]

Motul RBF600 or, my current pet favourite as it's dirt cheap and easy to get hold of, Halfords Racing DOT4 at £15/litre if you wangle a trade card. Boiling points are near as damnit the same as the RBF.

[Mark Benson]

Just before my trip to Donny last Wednesday I had braided lines, Yellowstuff pads and Castrol Response Super DOT4 put into my S2 Exige.

Fantastic late and hard braking and not a hint of fade after 20 mins fast lapping, so I can heartily recommend that combination.

[Munter]

I heard good stuff about ATE Super Blue from a price/performance perspecitve. So I'm using that now.

From these guys. http://www.k300performance.co.uk/brake-fluid.htm

[legaleagleboy]

Castrol SRF is good for 310 degrees C (dry), Racing Blue goes to 280 C -- what temp does the Halfords DOT 4 stuff get up to?

Edited by legaleagleboy on Friday 10th October 16:24

[Mroad]

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Read my contribution a few posts down of the above topic.

I use Motul RBF600 on the road and track, no problems at all.

[Big 968 Dave]

Ive used the ATE blue stuff in my 968 track modified car. It faded .
So now i have the Castrol SRF.. Fabulous. No fade whatsoever.. Well worth it. BUT try + seek out a cheaper source . DTweeks are expensive.....

[anonymous-user]

legaleagleboy said:

Castrol SRF is good for 310 degrees C (dry), Racing Blue goes to 280 C -- what temp does the Halfords DOT 4 stuff get up to?

The bottle says 308°C/204°C dry/wet.

[DiscoColin]

I know that I risk sounding somewhat facetious here, but as someone who just this week put three complete tanks of fuel through a car for a single day on track (including ferry mileage of course) I still struggle to comprehend how the price difference between SRF and another slightly cheaper alternative (i.e. saving the price of a round at the pub) creates such extensive discussions...

Motul or ATE if you really care about the extra 15 quid or whatever every 6 months / a year (depending on how much you track), SRF otherwise...

Is there really that much more to it than that?

Edited by DiscoColin on Friday 10th October 20:43

Edited by DiscoColin on Friday 10th October 20:44

[jonamacg83]

DiscoColin said:

I know that I risk sounding somewhat facetious here, but as someone who just this week put three complete tanks of fuel through a car for a single day on track (including ferry mileage of course) I still struggle to comprehend how the price difference between SRF and another slightly cheaper alternative (i.e. saving the price of a round at the pub) creates such extensive discussions...

Motul or ATE if you really care about the extra 15 quid or whatever every 6 months / a year (depending on how much you track), SRF otherwise...

Is there really that much more to it than that?

Edited by DiscoColin on Friday 10th October 20:43

Edited by DiscoColin on Friday 10th October 20:44

Tis all well and good, but if I need more than half a litre of SRF (which I will) we are talking 100 ish minimum just on brake fluid, which becomes quite significant to my wallet, especially if something else cheaper will do just as good a job.

I suppose I could ask 'is using SRF overkill given my car and how hard I am on the brakes, if so, what is teh best alternative?'!!

[DiscoColin]

jonamacg83 said:

I suppose I could ask 'is using SRF overkill given my car and how hard I am on the brakes, if so, what is teh best alternative?'!!

It probably is overkill on a lighter car, but after the initial bleed/flush it will certainly only be 1 litre per refresh going forward. Under the circumstances I would say to go for the ATE Superblue or Motul RBF600 recommended by other posters above - my other point is that every time the question comes up these two are always the most regularly recommended solutions and the difference between those and SRF is only likely to be experienced by a serious problem child according to what I have been told by people who know decidedly more about this stuff than I.

[Elderly]

Dry Boiling Points In Order Degrees C

Dry Wet
321 216 Neo-Synthetic Super DOT 610
312 216 Motul RBF600
310 270 Castrol SRF
310 210 AP Racing 600
286 184 Castrol Response, Super Dot 4
280 200 ATE Superblue/TYP200
275 150 AP Racing 551
265 185 Motul 5.1
261 173 Valvoline SynPower
230 155 DOT4 Specification




Wet Boiling Points In Order Degrees C

Wet Dry
270 310 Castrol SRF
216 321 Neo-Synthetic Super DOT 610
216 312 Motul RBF600
210 310 AP Racing 600
200 280 ATE Superblue/TYP200
185 265 Motul 5.1
184 286 Castrol Response, Super Dot 4
173 261 Valvoline SynPower
155 230 DOT4 Specification
150 275 AP Racing 551

[anonymous-user]

That's *really* interesting Elderly. I'd actually, erroneously it seems, assumed that the SRF having such a high dry boiling point would have a conversely low wet boiling point as it would be more hygroscopic and would therefore need more frequent changes. With wet performance better than a lot of fluids dry, the SRF looks like it would happily last a season. I'll definitely be shelling out on the track car next year then.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 12th October 15:09

[RLK500]

I always wince when I have to bleed the brakes, SRF is expensive. However, when I sit down and think about issues I have had with boiling fluid and realise that I never have had any issues, ever, it's soon clear why I weigh out for SRF.

[Brummmie]

Carbone Lorraine is ace fluid, 325C boiling £15 per 500ml.

[Toady1]

halfords stuff was rubbish in my vxt on track! went for castrol srf and was much better! the main prob though is lack of any proper brake ducts for cooling!

[will_968]

jonamacg83 said:

DiscoColin said:

I know that I risk sounding somewhat facetious here, but as someone who just this week put three complete tanks of fuel through a car for a single day on track (including ferry mileage of course) I still struggle to comprehend how the price difference between SRF and another slightly cheaper alternative (i.e. saving the price of a round at the pub) creates such extensive discussions...

Motul or ATE if you really care about the extra 15 quid or whatever every 6 months / a year (depending on how much you track), SRF otherwise...

Is there really that much more to it than that?

Tis all well and good, but if I need more than half a litre of SRF (which I will) we are talking 100 ish minimum just on brake fluid, which becomes quite significant to my wallet, especially if something else cheaper will do just as good a job.

I suppose I could ask 'is using SRF overkill given my car and how hard I am on the brakes, if so, what is teh best alternative?'!!

Nope - the SRF comes in 1 liter bottles. And it's about £40 a liter from ebay.

1 liter is enough for a full change - make sure you syphon off most of the old fluid from the reservoir first though to minimize how much SRF you pump out of the calipers.

Because of the high wet boiling point of the SRF, you don't need to change it as often as other fluids, making it cheaper in the long run.

I really don't think you can seriously do any track days if you're skimping on the last £20. Track days get VERY expensive in wear and tear items. The price difference in SRF and other fluids is in the noise.

[BrianJ]

Agree with last post - use SRF, renew once a year, enjoy all your trackdays with no worries!