Pretty much the last thing I have to do to my car before storing for winter is flush the brake fluid. Can I upgrade to Dot 4 or can I only flush with Dot 3 as original? Any secrets about vette brake bleeding? I'll just be flushing them the classic way with someone in the car. (don't have an adapter for the pressure bleeder) Thanks guys

 

Best thing I can tell you is buy the speed bleeders that way you can do this yourself. Install them first and I bought a length of clear hose from Home Depot maybe cost me .17 cents take the bleeder valve with you to get the right size and maybe a small hose clamp so it stays on the valve.....I started RR and just pumped the pedal a few times and checked the resevoir...keeping it full....went around the car twice till all the valves ran clean.

 

I finally broke down and bought the Motul bleeder since I have a lot of cars to maintain. Works real well. I also went with the ATE Super Blue brake fluid. Easy to tell when it comes out. They also make a gold so when you flush again the change is evident by color.

 

I'll secong the speed bleeder option. During the summer, i'm bleeding my brakes several times a month for the track, and it makes it a 1 man job and takes me longer to jack up the car and take the wheels off than it does to bleed them.

It you don't want to do get the bleeders, you can still do it the normal way just like any other car. put a clear hose over the bleed valve and bleed until the clear stuff starts coming out. On 97-00 cars the bleed order is RR, LR, RF, LF. On 01-04 cars the order is RR, LF, LR, RF.

Since you are about to store the car for the winter, just buy the cheapest DOT 3 fluid and don't worry about it. The fluid starts absorbing moisture as soon as the can is open, so it's really a waste to put expensive stuff in there when you aren't going to be driving it and the cheap stuff is fine for normal light use if you do have to take it out.



Next spring however, I would recomend using a DOT 4 fluid. DOT 3, 4, and 5.1 are compatable, just don't use DOT 5. I'm assuing that you don't autoX or do any road racing, so a standard DOT 4 would be fine. No need to spend a lot of money on high end stuff. Get the highest WET boiling point you can find. The Dry boiling point only lasts for a few days at most, so unless you bleed it weekly or track it the dry point doesn't really matter. ATE SL is commonly available in Germany and I have used it with good results on the street and light track aplications.

On another note, even if you think you drive hard on the street, your brakes will not got that hot unless you are ridding the brakes. They've got plenty of time to cool.

Edit: I use ATE Superblue/Type 200 at the track (same thing, different color) and ATE SL over the winter, SL is easier for me to get. and costs a lot less.

 

I'm using Valvoline synthetic brake fluid...

 

I agree with Lancer on the brake fluid type. If you're going to store it over the winter get a cheap brake fluid since superblue is highly hydrophilic and by spring will need to be replaced. It also has a lower wet boiling point than motul. However that being said I would still suggest that you get a cheap brake fluid or the Valvoline Synthetic. That's what I run in all my street cars and I ran that on the track once when I was in a bind.
One thing that I wanted to check on though. I have always bled brakes starting from the wheel that is the furthest away from the master cylinder and working my way closer, why isn't that true on the 01-04?

 

In a C5?? I though sythetic bake fluid was not recomended for the ABS in the C5?

I think just el cheapo Dot 3 stuff and then replace with a good fluid in spring. Or why even replace it now? Just put the DOT4, Motul or Superblue in spring.

If you storing your vette for the winter, dont forget some fuel stablizer like Staybilt or something like that.

 

Are you sure that you're not confusing it with silicone brake fluid?

 

I think it was both. No synthtic or silicone brake fluids for the C5 ABS as it will not lubracate the ABS system. That is partly way I went to the Castrol SRF brake fluids. But hey, I could be wrong.

 

I've had the Valvoline in it for two years, now. Hope it's OK. I'll have to check my shop manual......

 

Well thanks for the responses guys! I'll put some regular Dot 3 fluid in before storage and then spring put some dot 4 in there. Thanks for the info!

 

Can DOT 4 be used? Manual said DOT 3 only.

 

I used valvoline 4+, it says on the bottle it can be used as a DOT 3 sub.

 

I agee with AU N EGL, don't waste your time doing anything now. When you get it out in the spring I would change it out with ATE Superblue.