Clutch and Brake Fluids?????

[cerber450]

Hi all

Thought I'd post some interesting info I got from AP racing (for me anyhoos)

AP recon that using their own brand of fluids especially their top one may be the reason some of our seals are failing a bit more often! AP also advised that where the clutches and some of the new larger brakes are concerned we should have the seals replace at our service intervals anyways as there meant for extreme fast road/competition use only. Also their fluids have a boiling point between 300 to 320 deg.

With this said I've now been using Castrol SRF which Castrol Techies have assured me is far more gentle on rubber seals than most other brands (Ap incuded)! I have already noticed after sitting in traffic for a prelonged period that my clutch pedal pressure remains exactly the same where as before sometimes it felt a bit funny. Brake wise I don't know as yet but I do need to change my master cylinder now so I'll be using the SRF in the brakes from now on. The SRF boiling point is over 500 deg


I know that the AP stuff is around £8 per 500ml and the SRF usually is around £40 per litre. HOWEVER!!!!! I've been buying SRF from a man on Ebay and he's selling the bottles at £20 per litre which is only a few quid more than the AP and maybe more worth while in the long run.



I just thought I'd share my discussions with you all to see if anyone else had came across any other brands that offer the same or better boiling point and maybe a bit kinder to the seals.



Craig.

[davidn]

I've seen that stuff before Craig and you've got me wondering now. I like the sound of it being kinder on the seals especially the clutch hydraulics and I have noticed a change in the pedal when the fluid gets hot aswell. Did you change the fluid yourself and do you just pump it through the bleed valve? - I've never had to worry about it as it's managed to drain itself a few times already.
Cheers
David

[cerber450]

The clutch was easy to do both of us managed it in a few minutes as theres not much in the system. I guess the brakes are going to be a bit longer!

Craig.

[trackcar]

It's been long known that the std tvr clutch seals are poo, that's why i do uprated versions which are also cheaper than the tvr std offerings lol! .. Don't have much trouble with the std AP caliper seals though, but likewise i also do uprated versions of those for people who want peace of mind. In combination with comma dot 5.1 fluid I've never had any troubles with slave cylinders or calipers since using these combinations of parts

[dean_ratpac]

trackcar said:

It's been long known that the std tvr clutch seals are poo, that's why i do uprated versions which are also cheaper than the tvr std offerings lol!

Thanks for sending mine so quickly btw, they went in to today.

Dean

[350matt]

Whats the e-bay link?

Matt

[jesfirth]

Having been well into the track day scene before I started sprinting i inevitably ended up with brake failure at a number of tracks. Over a 3 year period I develpoed the brakes. The final cure along with ducts pads etc was to use Castrol SRF 600 and change it every few events. In my experience it just does not boil and I have been known to push it a bit. Its very expensive but excellent and worth every penny