Getting Brake Fluid Tested

[obes]

Hello all,

Need a little help !
Does anyone know a fast way of testing or getting brake fluid tested ?

We have a Clio cup that needs a bleed/refill. There are 2 versions of the manual, each stipulates a different fluid.....
We're having a little trouble finding out from the previous owners what they put in it !

Thanks

O.

[Racefan_uk]

Pick up phone, ring up a Clio Cup team, ask question 'Which brake fluid do you guys use, which is the best?'

Problem solved.

[obes]

ah, but depending on which version of the manual they were following they may be using different fluids.....

[SimonY]

Do you mean it may be silicone fluid in the car but you don't know? Unless you can be completely sure what it is I would flush and replace. If you know it is not silicone you can mix different grades, but of course you could lose the benefit of an expensive fluid if you mix with an unknown.

[obes]

Yes. I was hoping there might be an easy way of testing it so we haven't got to flush it all

[D_Mike]

could always do some silicon NMR...

[fergus]

contact Tim Phillips @ circuit supplies. He helped do a lot of brake development work on the Clio 197 cup cars.

If it's not silicone (which I doubt it would be), just put more high dry boiling point fluid in it. Have you just bought the car off someone else? Give them a ring and see what they used? If they can't tell you, I'd be worried about the maintenance on the car, and would do a full flush anyway. It's not a massive job, and should be done around every second race any way. I do my 182 cup after every 3rd, and it gets *way* higher brake temps than the 197 cup due to being under braked.

Are you racing the car this year? If so, Clio cup, or somewhere else?

[obes]

Thanks for the replies guys, we're endurance racing it in Britcar(PS1) this year

[fergus]

obes said:

Thanks for the replies guys, we're endurance racing it in Britcar(PS1) this year

wallets at the ready chaps!

[matt225]

Bit more info. The two versions of the manual spec a Dot5 and a Dot5.1 depending on which version of the manual you're looking at.

Car has only done a bit of light track work and not really put massive effort into anything yet, as such a quick bleed off rather than a full flush would be fine for a track day this coming weekend...... looks like I'm doing a taste test ;-)

Cheers
M

Edited by matt225 on Tuesday 19th February 18:30

[obes]

fergus said:

obes said:

Thanks for the replies guys, we're endurance racing it in Britcar(PS1) this year

wallets at the ready chaps!

[skinny]

silicon fluid (DOT5) is normally coloured purple or red or something so that you can tell what it is at a glance...

[matt225]

..... or blue. It's the completely see through stuff which really screws you though as its a bit hard to tell when its sat at the bottom of a cream tinted plastic reservoir LOL

Cheers
M