mbonanni1856

I need help. I went to the track a few weeks back and my stock DOT 3 fluid boiled producing a soft pedal while I was on the track. It went back to normal once the fluid cooled off but it cut my day at the track short. I replaced it with a silicon based DOT 5 fluid with a 550 degree boiling point and now everybody is saying that silicon fluids are not good at all for your car or your braking. I have also noticed a softer pedal with the DOT 5 in there. Any suggestions on a good safe brake fluid that wont boil too easily?

stumpmj

iTrader: (1)

Motul 600 is a great brake fluid that's compatible with the stock brake system. Valvoline Synpro is almost as good for 75% less money and you can get it at autozone. DOT 5 fluid is extremely bad for a brake system not designed for it. No I don't remember the exact consequenses of using it but you'll wat to get it out of your system as quickly as possible.

nuff

what silicon brake fluid is going to do is destroy all of the seals and all the rubber components in the brake system. Which would mean that you might have ruined the ABS and EBD subsystems also the seals in calipers etc. It definitely wouldn't be cheap to fix it.

Vlad

ATE Racing blue. Extremely cheap and good for all applications but very serious track racers.

Michael-Dallas

I'm doing what a few of my p-car buddies are doing: Castrol SRF, but flushing it once/year.

Michael.

ezee

I'm using Wilwood 570, about $5 per 12oz container. It's one of the few high-temp DOT 3 fluids I've found, most of the others you'll find are DOT 4. I wanted DOT 3 because that is the spec brake fluid for the Z.

daveh

iTrader: (9)

I've used motol rbf600 and superblue with good results. I've used the motul 5.1 and boiled it pretty quickly.
Get the DOT5 stuff out of there IMMEDIATELY!

EnthuZ

iTrader: (2)

I've used motol RBF600 for 2 years, & about 18 track days with excellent results. Never did boil it, BUT, I bleed after/before every track event! It turns darker when used hard.....so I just bleed off the darker fluid.

Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

There are tons of good fluid out there....in a street car driven to the occassional track day, my feeling is no one is better than another. We use the ATE Super Blue in our cars and have ben for years. Even using it in the Speed Cup car and our ITS car, all without a problem.

All the fluids mentioned here..SRF, Motul, ATE, Valvoline are all really good and totally OEM compatible (all DOT 3 and 4 fluids can be mixed with each other and all are appropriate for the Z). There are some differences in boiling temps and cost

Adam

westpak

iTrader: (19)

ATE Super Blue is great.

daveh

iTrader: (9)

I bleed after every event also. Speedbleeders make the job very easy.

racin

iTrader: (1)

You've got to bleed the brakes before each event to insure best performance. We use Motul RBF600 because we have found it's extra few degrees of boil resistance to be necessary in our application.

As for the silicone brake fluid, get it out, and FLUSH the system with cheap fluid for a bit to make sure it gets worked out. You will need to empty and clean the reservoir, refill with cheap fluid, and bleed a while. Then, drive the car and activate the ABS a few times, and flush the system out with prolonged bleed. You may need to do the ABS activation again, and then use your quality fluid to do the final flush/fill. DOT 4 is completely compatible with the Z.

Sorry you have so much work ahead of you.

nuff

I've forgot to mention that you can use DOT 3, 4 and 5.1 in 350z but NOT DOT 5.

mbonanni1856

Ok so here is what happened. The dealer installed the DOT 5 for me and I got my car back and the pedal was really soft. And instead of telling me that the DOT 5 was bad for my system, they told me it was fine and it felt like every other Z they have driven. So I took it to a brake shop and he said that all of the rubber in the brake system needs to be replaced. The dealer does not want to cover it under warranty. Please do not post about weather it should or shouldn't be covered because after a brief talk with my lawyer we came to the conclusion that the dealer is at fault more than myself. Anyways, what I need is something from Nissan saying that DOT 5 will ruin the system. Does anybody know where I can find this info?

Stack

Yet another reason to stay away from dealers for work on your car. Find a reputable shop in your area that handles nice cars, preferably one that's into motorsports. Sure, you'll pay a premium for their services, but in the long run, they'll generally know things like not to use DOT 5 in newer cars.

Sorry about your predicament, but I think you're doing the right thing - good luck. Oh yeah... I'll give my vote to Motul RBF600 as well.

Stacy King
North Carolina

ADMAN

iTrader: (9)

350Z Owner's Manual and/or Nissan Service Manual.



So, which dealership here in Vegas did the work? Lemme guess, was it Planet Nissan???

J Ritt

iTrader: (4)

http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/brakefluid1a.htm


Boilling points of various fluids:
http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/...comparison.htm


I'd recommend Motul RBF600.

ADMAN

iTrader: (9)

I'd recommend you send me those FREE brakes you promised Karim at Buttonwillow...

BigRich

Motul600 is the way to go...SRF if you wanna spend the $$$

Michael-Dallas

Rich, being as lazy as you are, I'm surprised you haven't jumped on the SRF bandwagon w/ Brad and I...

Michael.