The Autozone brand "Super Heavy Duty" brake fluid has excellent #'s:

Dry Boiling Point -- 519
Wet Boiling Point -- 368

Also, it's synthetic and is made by Wells Manuf. Can anyone give any info about this stuff?

 

A proverbial question if the Vette was a tall lanky blonde promising great fun in a short while would you buy her a well drink or the top of the bar best to offer? Wells is the house brand and fit and finish leaves a bunch to be desired on simple stuff. If your Vette is Auto-zone grade sort of car perfect if a sports car the answer comes easy. Saving 5 or 10 bucks on something that can save your life just seems too simple. But in the end you pick it is all aboubt numbers in the end.
Dave

 

It sounds like a generic DOT3 fluid packaged for AZ. Couldn't find anything about "Wells Manufacturing" for fluids doing a quick Google search other than that company making vehicle electronics parts.

With those temp numbers, it would fall into the medium to high end of the DOT3 range. The wet number is at the high end of DOT3 fluids, but the dry number seems pretty weak. Certainly OK for general street use, but that fluid would not stand up to HPDE or track day events where heavy braking is needed.

For a good DOT3 fluid, look at Valvoline, Castrol LMA or even the Ford Motorsports HD fluid. At the DOT4 level, look at ATE Super Blue or TYP200 (same fluid, different colors).

 

ttt

 

How do you use your car?

Cheap *** no name branded fluid that you change every year is gonna work better than expensive fluid that is neglected for decades at a time.

When I bought my car it was 10 years old. I never even gave the brake fluid a thought. That is until the pedal fell to the floor one day after about my 15th back to back pass at the drag strip. Of course it didn't fail in the staging lanes, no it failed after I crossed the traps at 100+mph.

I promptly changed my fluid with the best I could find and had no more problems.

10 years later I really can't even remember the last time I raced my car, or changed brake fluid. It's still OK for street use but I if I was going to head out to the track I'd be flushing it first.

 

Hell, I use it and my brakes get a heavy duty workout autoxing. I do change it out a few times a season but I do that no matter what brand I use.

 

I don't think auto x really qualifies as a "heavy duty workout". I've done MANY years of auto x'ing and even my 3rd gen F-body's brakes were sufficient for auto x.
*Speeds are (relatively) low -fastest *I* ever went at an event was ~80 mph.
*Sessions are extremely short -<2 minutes and genrally closer to 1 minute.

Compared to real track action where you're out there for 20 minutes, slowing from speeds over 100 many times in a row...


I wish poster number 2 would comment in greater detail. If the Autozone product has the dry and wet ratings that it does, what's the problem? specifically. No blonde analogies please. Science, thank you.

 

Apparently you do not have courses like ours, I go through pads pretty quick. The brakes are constantly being slammed and don't have time to rest. Been on the track a few times and at least they had some time to cool. Had fade autoxing but not on the track, go figure.

 

For the 92 that sees a lot of track time and frequent flushes I use the Valvoline Syntec
ATE type 300 or Blue works as well. I could never get the gold to fully change color, wound up being a light blue
Also used Motul RBF
Any of the above are good for a system that sees a lot of brake use and frequent flushes.

On the wife's 04 I use the valvoline and change it every two years. Only because I've seen what the fluid looks like after a couple years.
Shoot the Tahoe is two years old and just got a fluid flush!

If you want the best use SRF, when I go to big brakes I'll be changing to it.

 

Clean, new brake fluid of any brand is better than old fluid of any brand.

I bleed 1 qt. every other year thru the system. I drain and fill the masters for both the clutch and brakes twice a year on the Off years. My fluid stays clear or a very light amber.

For track use I would use a better fluid and pads than autozone stuff. For street and probably auto-x clean DOT3 should be fine. I've never had an issue.

 

I can boil that Autozone stuff in 2-3 hard laps at Blackhawk ,Valvoline is a bit better
I have been using ATE super blue ,Motul is even better but $$$$
I did use some Wildwood 600 also , decent results .
If its a DD the Vallvoline is enough

 

I used to use Valvoline Syntec but it didnt work so well on track. I have since moved to AMSOIL DOT4 Synthetic Racing fluid:

http://kahunamotorsports.com/bf4-product-page.html


It has a Dry boiling point of 580 deg F and Wet boiling point of 410 deg F.

For the street minded car that sees some track/autocross use I would recommend the DOT 3 AMSOIL Fluid:

http://kahunamotorsports.com/bf3-product-page.html


Its dry boiling point is 525 deg F, and wet of 313 deg F.

It is more important to pay attention to the wet boiling point since as soon as you open the bottle the fluid begins absorbing moisture from the air.

 

Autozone and every other house brand is just that it is whatever they get a deal on for the current batch that meets their minimum requirements so a lowest bidder situation. Do you want to use the lowest bidder choice for your brakes? Name brands have a vested interest in long term success as their name rides on it and it is the only business they are in for the most part. I am not a wizard on brake fluid but smart enough to know there have to be a lot more specs than 2 boiling points. I have a small machine shop with some rather diverse types of machines and just buying lube oil for them will make your hair hurt at times. There are dozens of choices that read 95% the same but one is much more suitable for one machine or another and the only way to really sort it out is make the call to a name brand company with a tech department tell them what you have and the OEM spec for an oil that is probably no longer sold and get a reccomendation based on engineering and all the specs few read. Haveing a wet boiling point of 350 for example does it list the change over time or how many times can you go to 349 and not have the spec change the rate of water absorbtion long term stability or ability to lube o-rings and seals. I am willing to bet there is a page full of specs for brake fluid and focusing on two entries and a house brand is silly engineering. I would rather have a fluid with 10 degree lower boiling point with a stated life expectancy known water absorbtion rates known seal compatibity long term from a company with a vested interest in brake fluid. Wells and others brands a myriad of things as the Autozone house brand and no doubt owned by Autozone as I have not seen their parts at all the parts stores. If you buy Mobil Castrol etc they are sold by multiple stores so a vested interest to keep quality up there is no Castrol store that I am aware of. I hope this makes the point and while not scientific per se there are motivation issues just as important as the numbers initially offered.
Dave

 

I found this discussion interesting so I did some research -- Found this:

+++++++++++++
http://www.hendonpub.com/resources/a...aspx?ID=208182
+++++++++++++

Picked up a few tips and found out some info I never considered.

TDCVA

PS I've had hoses rupture and not on a dual master cylinder car! Pucker Factor 100%

 

Interesting read thanks for the link. As I suspected the boiling point numbers just the beginning of the story.
Dave

 

In general the regular grades of DOT3 will absorb more water and still meet some boiling point criteria whereas the higher performance fluids will have a higher boiling point, but should be flushed more regularly.

I think flushing your system every 2 years with $6 parts store fluid will put you way ahead of running old fluid of any type. Street pads = street fluid, but you might go DOT4 with better pads or if your car came with the better fluid stock (like C6's with the semi met Z51 and better brakes).

 

My Opinion:

If your on a race course, 36 laps per session, twice a year, threshold braking from 120+ MPH....I change my brake fluid once a year. Otherwise, why waste you money.....Non racing.....change the fluid when you change your brakes....

I use the best, ATE Super Blue.

dcamick

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/foru...s-or-more.html