Dirty Howie

I seem to be going thru a lot of brake fluid. I bleed before each track day. I use Super Blue. C6Z06.

I pump the brake 16 times on each front (8 inside and 8 outside) caliper and 8 times on rears (4 inside and 4 outside)


DH

jaa1992

ATE is inexpensive enough to not worry about it.
I use Synpower on my 92, bleed 6 ish pumps per corner after each day.
Every 3 - 4 events I'll run a full quart through.
I've got some bad seals in the calipers and master so my fluid gets grey real quick.
Going to replace a lot of had parts this winter and see if I can reduce the number of bleeds I need to do.

I'd have a completely different bleed schedule if I was using SRF.

davidfarmer

you gotta pump until it's clear. If it's already clear when you start, then you don't need to bleed at all.

I use a Nitrogen pressure bleeder, so I can see every drop come through. I usually go through a complete bottle of fluid for a good bleed, but I only do it every 3-4 events (unless running somewhere like CMP)

Dirty Howie

I imagine your quite a bit harder on fluid than me.

I use a bleed bag and speed bleeders so its hard to see if its coming out clear in the plastic tubing


DH

davidfarmer

Actually a lot of novice/intermidiate drivers overbrake. Deep efficient bleeding, allowing plenty of cooling time, really isn't that hard on fluid.

Aardwolf

I only see a little darkened fluid the first pump and almost always use two pumps per caliper. Then I do a full flush of the fluid every spring.

ace996

Yep, SRF is the way to go. I switched to SRF on my prior cars after needing to flush the fluid before/after every track day with Motul. The racing brake fluids really absorb moisture quickly and boiling point goes down significantly thereafter. The reason why I switched to SRF is that it's boiling point is still quite high...518F...so flushes (16 pumps per caliper IMO would be a flush) are not needed between events, instead only 'bleeds' (a couple of pumps until fluid becomes clear again). This has significantly REDUCED my cost of brake fluid per season, even though SRF is twice the cost of Motul.

The other reason is that I feel better knowing the wet boiling point of SRF is higher...gives me a 'feel good confidence' in my fluid. On my last car, an '08 M3, I didn't even bleed the fluid between two track events...about 5 months through the winter...and my fluid still didn't boil. I wouldn't make a habit of that type of stupidity but it was nice to know the fluid was still better/as good as most new 'off the shelf' brake fluids.

Fluid comparo...

Fluid Dry BP Wet BP
Castrol SRF 590 518
NEO Super DOT 585 421
Motul Racing600 585 421
Motul DOT 5.1 509 365
ATE Type 200/ATE Super Blue 536 392
Valvoline High Perf Synpower 503 343
ATE SL 500 329
Castrol LMA 450 311
Gunk DOT 4 Brake Fluid 510 311

Nice chart here...
http://worth-it.blogspot.com/2006/01...son-chart.html

And another...
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/gro...pID=BRAKEFLUID


Be good,
TomK

fatbillybob

way too much DH! If you got a solid pedal and your bleed is prophylactic then bleed one screw 2-3 pumps to clear fluid. If you got some heat fade from tracking then pump until clean and clear from one screw and 90% of the time the second screw will be clear on the 1st pump. Verify it is so and then just do your bleeds from one screw in the future.
You really only have to bleed 2 screws on a dry caliper after a rebuild or under rare conditions or a really crappy caliper design. If you have a new master and you bleed often due to trackdays it is ok to pedal to the floor on bleeding. If you have an old master put a 2x4 under the brake pedal to limit the pedal travel when bleeding. This is because the master cylinder wears with age in the spots that the brake has traveled in over 10's of thousands of miles and corrodes in the part of the master you don't travel in. Then if you pedal to the floor your rubber piston seal gets scratched by this crap in the master and you get leaks.

Oh the only reason to use ate blue is if you change your fluid yearly to gold and alternate back and forth and that makes it easy for you. As much as you track and bleed in my many years of tracking my fluid is always clean and golden in my reservior. It is my daily driver that I need to be thinking about using the blue gold combo not the trackcar. kragen sells valvoline synthetic and it is cheap and works great and I don't fade it. Motul 600 is also readily available and it is better than the valvoline and I don't fade it either. I am working my brake pretty good. Look at the cooked white backings that use to be blue. Look at that pad taper on carbotech racepads!

hellrazr

What do you mean by this?

What are they doing that is considered overbraking and how can they improve?

rustyguns

i overbrake late at the end of a long straightaway that's how i catch up to the guys with 200 more hp than me

rustyguns

i hate to say it but i can't find anything that beats castrol. 518 wet is fantastic!!! i don't bleed between heats anymore. and i just do enough to see clear after 3 to 5 track days.

i absolutely hate the price..... it is outrageous! but dammit it works...so i use it

anyone know where you can get it cheaper than 75 bucks a liter?

AU N EGL

Too Hard and too late and slow too much for a corner.

Brake 10 feet sooner and carry bit more speed through corners.

this takes practice to learn.

speed though corners is the key, not how fast on the straights.

Aardwolf

You definitely want to go as fast as possible down the straight too.

Dirty Howie

Thanks for the input Carl

I use the ATE AMBER not BLUE

I figure the fronts need more pumps than the rear since they are bigger and get heated more.

I did not know that pumping too the floor could be detrimental. I have always done this

I can't really see when I am bleeding clear fluid. I do it myself with a bleeder bag. So whatever comes out clear mixes with the dirty stuff. And its hard to see thru the slightly opaque tubing. This is why I am asking how many pumps guys with C6Z06's are actually doing.

Its not a big deal to bleed both sides.


DH

Aardwolf

I use a clear tube, only a little bit of dark comes out when the pedal just starts to move. It looks like black powder in the fluid. I have speed bleeders on the car but usually ask a helper to run the pedal so I can see what's going on and make sure the hose doesn't pop off.

davidfarmer

LOTS of drivers also touch the brakes in places they shouldn't to "settle the nose", or just to give themselves confidence. Save the brakes for where you need them, so they can cool when you don't.

Overslowing for corners is also an issue, but that doesn't bother me personally as much as the random "touch".


I agree with someone above that the Valvoline Synthetic is very very good. Often people think they are boiling the fluid, when actually they've just overheated the pads. This isn't always the case, but if the brakes fade but come back, it's not the fluid, but the pads. I personally think that SRF is way too expensive to ever use, and if you really need it then you really need better cooling

SouthernSon

Switching back and forth from blue ATE and amber, I have found on the C5 that the right rear takes as much volume as the other three corners combined. All in all about a full pint for all corners. It works great...... I am not sure about the C6 but probably similar.

Dirty Howie

Tube has never come off. Guess I could get my daughter to pump the pedal next time .........


DH