What Brake Fluid to Use

[BillyBenbo]

Gents, This may be a little bit of an easy question as i think i know the answer...

Is the brake fluid in the 172 Cup DOT4?

Any recommendations for any type of brake fluid as i am changing it this weekend.

Thanks
Ben

 

[fraserd007]

yep and ate blue is good stuff if you can get hold of it

 

[Henry]

^£13/litre from EuroCarParts (although they may have to order it in) - it's apparently OE in a lot of Porsche

 

[Ali]

Any old s**t. Dot 4.1 Halfords is fine! Castrol stuff is supposed to be better but i never noticed.

 

[RichCup]

Super response dot 4.

 

[Rossy197]

Oops... Just replaced my discs and pads all round this morning and i bought some brake fluid too, Was gonna buy some dot 4 but the guy in Euro car parts said 5.1 will be better so i bought that, Haven't put it in yet as raining so i hope what i bought is ok ? Anyone know if 5.1 is ok ? Sorry to hijack your thread pal

By the way rear brakes are a c*nt to do ! my hands are ripped to bits !! Damn 5 years of crap made sure them calipers were tough

 

[BioHzrd]

Dont mix Fluids !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Rossy197]

Dont mix Fluids !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Im not gonna mix it mate, Was gonna flush and bleed the brakes first just wanted to know if 5.1 was any good ?? If not i'll still flush em and buy some 4.1 instead, Funny though coz i asked renault out of interest and they said use 4.5 or higher on 182's.. Something to do with the ESP ??

 

[ben_r1]

5.1 will be fine, but they say use dot4 low viscosity for the ESP and ABS works quicker. Dunno how true that is.

AP 5.1 is a good all round fluid

 

[Rossy197]

Ta ben saves me having to buy more fluid then, Got 2 litres of the stuff to flush out the old.. Maybe should have gone 4.1 but its done now, Now for the rain to stop so i can finish the brakes.. Took 3 hours lol to change all 4 discs and pads, Drivers side rear was a right pain !

 

[ben_r1]

Better than getting a garage to do it for £100, firm effort if you ask me :approve:

 

[Rossy197]

Gotta learn some how i suppose, Garage near me wanted £150 to do all 4 brakes but obviously i had to supply parts, didnt wanna pay that so gave it a bash and succeeded, Not hard to do at all supprisingly... Thanks again for the reassurance ben top notch fella

 

[caister]

Dot 4 lasts two years, Dot 5.1 lasts one year as it absorbs water quicker. Castrol Super Response Dot 4 for me. Its used by BMW in there M cars so its got to be good enough for a clio!!

 

[Stava]

Is one litre enough to do a fluid change or do i need more?

 

[ben_r1]

I've always got 1500ml to be safe, flush it out all the more to be double safe its all fresh and uncontaminated

 

[c__w]

There's no such thing as DOT4.1 unless I've missed something?

DOT 5.1 is the one to go for, it does not absorb water any more than DOT4, it is just a higher spec fluid (higher boiling point). Castrol Response and Super DOT 4 is not better than any old DOT 5.1 (Eg Comma etc), I've tried them all on track and any variant of DOT4 gave me a spongey feel afterwards; with DOT5.1 I have never had any problems so it's back to a year/2yearly brake fluid change.

Dry boiling point Wet boiling point
DOT 3 205°C (401°F) 140°C (284°F)
DOT 4 230°C (446°F) 155°C (311°F)
DOT 5.1 270°C (518°F) 191°C (375°F)


DOT5.1 is the next step up in spec over DOT 4. The ".1" part of the fluid was added due to DOT 5 already being released but that is not often available and car manufacturers never took to it as it's a completely different type of fluid that is not without problems for brake systems (silicone-based, unlike all other DOT 3/4/5.1 fluids).

The next step up from 5.1 is stuff like MOTUL and the ultimate is Castrol SRF @ £40/ltr.

 

[Stava]

nice one, i bought ap racing dot 5.1. fluid change this weekend, pre trackday. cheers

 

[joeclio01]

Hi guys , I have one question ,I replace my brake fluid I used dot 4 ATE type 200 but after that the cluster shows the ESP ,ABS lights come on ,I already check my breaks are OK but I dont know what can I do.

 

[gambit]

Plug it into a Renault clip and check diagnostics for codes first

 

[Flob]

DOT 5.1 - and yes you can mix this with DOT 4 just fine, the two are totally compatible.

I used Fuchs dot 5.1 from eBay - £16 for 2 liters, less if you buy more.

 

[Flob]

PS for any future searches, DOT 5 is NOT compatible. Use DOT4 or DOT 5.1 non silicon based brake fluid.

 

[joeclio01]

Plug it into a Renault clip and check diagnostics for codes first

Thank you ,the issue has been resolved

 

[imprezaworks]

Which was....