Best Brake Fluid For Track

[lvferraripilot]

Originally Posted by fatbillybob

I'll make a blasphomus statement. It does not matter. Using any synthetic brake fluid like a valvoline synthetic brake fluid from pepboys or kragen are just fine. Maybe a motul rb. Beyond that you are wasting money. Bleed the brakes before a trackday or just a track weekend and flush the brakes once a year with new fluid. 95% of cars being tracked have aluminum brake calipers. Aluminum looses 25% of strength @400F and 50% of strength at 500F! That means brake fade from boiling fluid is your friend. It is the early warning sign that you are the limit of your brakes and when the fluid cools you get somewhat of a recovery which should be bleed out once off track. You want fluid to be the failure point because it is safe. The alternative is loosing brakes and using a wall as your brakes=bad day.

I have done little track work, but the work I have done I learned a very valuable lesson. Do not use cheap brake fluid. I was out in a Lotus Esprit tubro when my pedal went to the floor. The fluid was just changed a week prior with some regular brand (don't recall exactly what it was but it was not the super cheapo stuff). Anyway, I bleed the brakes the following day with Super Blue and ran at the track all day with no issues.

[don_xvi]

Originally Posted by Mitch Alsup

"Bang for the buck" and the implication of a "Ferrari" in the same sentance. The mind boggles.....

I've decided that I must have missed a winky smile on your message.

Or is it a crime against the snobberisti to not buy the most expensive, horsey-infused jizz for their Ferrari?

[fatbillybob]

Originally Posted by lvferraripilot

I have done little track work, but the work I have done I learned a very valuable lesson. Do not use cheap brake fluid. I was out in a Lotus Esprit tubro when my pedal went to the floor. The fluid was just changed a week prior with some regular brand (don't recall exactly what it was but it was not the super cheapo stuff). Anyway, I bleed the brakes the following day with Super Blue and ran at the track all day with no issues.

Actually, super blue and gold are not wonderful fluid but they do meet dot specs. There really is no reason to use these in track applications. The best use of blue and gold is for the diy'er brake fluid changes done yearly by those with lesser diy experience. You can see when you got new fluid. Regular Trackers bleed so often there is no need for the annual change because they always have new clean fluid in there.

[ferrari.ace]

For the track..... Castrol SRF.

[ztunelover]

motul rbf 600 and rbf660 work quite well. I would highly recommend them.

[Bill4le]

Motul RBF600 (DOT 4) brake fluid works great. I use them on Lotuses in pretty extreme conditions. That's a much lighter car and easier on brakes though...thats my $.02

[KKRace]

Just remember high temp racing fluids don't lubricate as well as the stock stuff and also tend to collect moisture. Fine for heavy track use and frequent fluid changes. Not so good for leaving in the car for thousands of miles of street use.

As far as the clutch is concerned I NEVER use high temp brake fluid. I buy the cheapest stuff I can find at Walmart for the clutch. The clutch master and slave cylinders will last a lot longer with the cheap stuff.

[Lawrence Coppari]

I've used ordinary DOT 4 Prestone brake fluid in my Porsche for the past 14 years at Road Atlanta where it can get rather warm. Car weighs 2950 lbs, has about 380 hp, and has over 100 track events on it. I never had a problem with the brakes but they are ducted and I use Hawk racing pads. The fluid is changed prior to each track event.

[Zinhead]

I use Motul RBF. It is midway between ATE and Castrol SRF in boiling temp, water retention and price. On the Lotus, I change it once a year and bleed it during pad changes and that is it.

[Brav]

I am running freshly flushed and bled Motul RBF600 this weekend at Spring Mountain on R-compound R888s on my Noble. I have had brake boil problems in the past. I will let you know how it goes on Sunday. The last 3 race shops I've been to have recommended this fluid.

[Need4Spd]

Any issues running Super Blue or Motul RBF 600 all year round as street fluid, too? Bleed before and after track events but wondered if OK to use the same fluid for the "after" bleed as well as the "before" bleed for the track.

[pad]

Originally Posted by Need4Spd

Any issues running Super Blue or Motul RBF 600 all year round as street fluid, too? Bleed before and after track events but wondered if OK to use the same fluid for the "after" bleed as well as the "before" bleed for the track.

No issues. I've been using Super Blue exclusively for years on both my 308 and Z06 on and off the track. No brake fluid issues on either car.

[JCR]

Originally Posted by don_xvi

I'm afraid to hear the answers here on Fchat, but what's the word these days on Ford fluid?
For a long time (when I was into these things) it was the ultimate bang for the buck, a great high performance brake fluid. Of course, that was 5 or more years ago, is that still the case? It was great for wet boiling point, and I'll need to do a brake fluid flush soon....

Edit: Hmm, was it actually that it had a good dry boiling point, so it was good for racers who flushed regularly? That's what I'm getting from the first few google hits.

The Ford HD DOT 3 brake fluid PN C6AZ-19542-AB that came in the metal can has been NLA for several years. It been superseded a different PN that comes in plastic bottles.

Here is the interesting background on that Ford fluid.

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp...fluid_1a.shtml
It "was developed in the early 1960’s to cure the problem caused by Lincoln Continental drivers boiling the fluid by habitually resting their left feet on the brake pedal."

[catch]

Sorry if I am being redundant; I have not read through the entire thread.
My input is that if you're going to be changing out the fluid often use ATE Superblue as the dry boiling point is 536F, which is decent.. However, like the other brands similar to these fluids once the fluid is wet the boiling point is much worse @ 388F. Once you take the fluid and start using it, the fluid collects moisture and starts degrading into the latter.

If you are a bit more 'lazy', I'd get the more expensive Castrol SRF. The dry boiling point is 590F & Wet Boiling Point 518F.. So whether its wet or dry it will still be fairly resistant to boiling.

So change every track day or two: ATE SuperBlue (Very good when dry, cost effective for changing often.)

Change twice a year: Castrol SRF - Wet & dry boiling points are similarly high so it will resist boiling even after it's 'old'.

Cheers, hope that helps

[sidewaz]

I used to use Super Blue and did the switch with Gold and it didn't work that well. The SB difuses into the gold or vice versa and it is hard to tell when to quit bleeding. Also be aware that the SB stains the nice white plastic resivoirs dark blue forever. I now use Motul RBF600 in my Spec Racer Ford as well as my Mini Cooper S and BMW M5 which see some track use at Sebring from time to time. I've never had fluid boil even on the hottest days and the M5 weighs in at 4000 lbs and I'm running with the fast guys in PCA events.

Robin

[macrylinda]

Originally Posted by Dr Tommy Cosgrove

Super Blue is excellent. It also comes in a gold/yellow whatever color. That is nice because you can see when you have thoroughly bled the lines when the new color starts coming out.

I've used ATE Super Blue/200 Amber in everything from old Jaguars to the 308 GTS to my racing Corvette Z06s, and it works great. I've never experienced a fluid boiling condition with Super Blue/200 fluid.

If you do have a concern about fluid boiling, consider Castrol SRF. It is a lot more expensive, but it is probably the best racing brake fluid you can buy. I know several guys who use it in high end track cars and say it is great and never have a brake failure attributable to boiling fluid. I bleed my brakes before each track event. Folks who use SRF say it lasts a lot longer and they don't feel the need to bleed as often.

IMHO, for track day events, Super Blue is fine. It is reasonably priced, has among the best performance specs out there for racing fluid, and at its price you don't even think twice about bleeding often. If you keep fresh fluid in the car, any of the race-rated fluids will work great, and the Super Blue is good stuff.

p.s. I've also used Wilwood 600 fluid, and that is good stuff also.

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[KKRace]

I'll repeat what I said before, don't use the racing fluids for everyday driving. The have very high boiling points but do not lubricate as well and components will wear faster. The also absorb moisture like crazy and tend to rust steel lines etc.

I used the Ford brake fluid for years in my Formula 2000 cars and never had a problem. You can leave that in for everyday use.

[Need4Spd]

Originally Posted by KKRace

I'll repeat what I said before, don't use the racing fluids for everyday driving. The have very high boiling points but do not lubricate as well and components will wear faster. The also absorb moisture like crazy and tend to rust steel lines etc.

I used the Ford brake fluid for years in my Formula 2000 cars and never had a problem. You can leave that in for everyday use.

Does that apply to Super Blue or Motul RBF 600, too? I'm thinking Ford fluid is the way to go.

[KKRace]

Originally Posted by Need4Spd

Does that apply to Super Blue or Motul RBF 600, too? I'm thinking Ford fluid is the way to go.

I would say yes for the 600 but I'm not positive about the Super Blue. I think it is more tolerent for street use? I use the 600 on our racecars now and it's great stuff but I also bleed it every weekend and don't expect the calipers to go 50K between rebuilds. Just becuase something is used on a racecar doesn't mean it will hold up to street use. If your bleeding it a few times a year and not putting a lot of miles on you can probably use the high temp stuff but it you are only bleeding it once a year and drive 5 or 10K miles I'd use something else.

[ARTNNYC]

Motul 600 no doubt about it. I tried them ALL in my Rolex GT Porsche and we had the best results from Motul.