Getting ready to take my 09 Z51 MN6 to Homestead for the HPDE trak event. The car is almost 3 years old now and I want to flush the brake fluid I'm thinking about Motul 600 or ATE Super Blue (both are DOT 4). Any recommendations? Thanks.
Mike.

 

I use the ATE 200 (Amber) and have never had a problem. Use it in the clutch too.


DH

 

I have been running with ATE type 200 (not the super blue, the amber color) and don't have any complaints. Several road course days without boiling. Just swapped to Motul RBF 600 yesterday in prep for a track day this weekend. That stuff is expensive! Found it on Amazon for $15 a bottle and thought I got a great deal... didn't realize that the bottles were only 500 ml. Costs more than double the ATE.

 

I use ATE Super Blue and in the clutch too. No issues

 

both the motul and ate are great

ate blue is good if youre having it done so that you know they put the right fluid in
gold is supposed to be the same but just makes it easier to tell when the system is cleaned after having used blue

if you need to get the fluid quickly and motul ate etc arent nearby, autozone makes a dot3 heavy duty fluid and is cheap...
Minimum Dry Boiling Point (Deg): 519
Minimum Wet Boiling Point (Deg): 368

 

I have been alternating using the ATE Blue and the Gold for years in my F250 Superduty. It makes flushing easy because you can tell when the old stuff is completely flushed out.
I made a homemade pressure bleeder out of a small 1/2 gallon pump up sprayer. (may be a gallon, I forgot) I installed a small pressure gauge on the tank and a ball valve on the end of some clear hose just before it attaches to a salvage yard master cylinder cap. This setup enables you to fill the hose with brake fluid all the way to the cap while bleeding the air out of the hose. I turkey baster suck the old brake fluid out of the master cylinder and fill with new fluid then attach the sprayer cap. Pump the sprayer up to 15 ish psi and SLOWLY open the ball valve and check for leaks. Then just go to the farthest bleeder on the vehicle, open it and wait for new fluid to drain out. Move on and do this to the other three bleeders (longest brake line to shortest)
You have to pump the sprayer up a couple of times to do the whole car, but I can do a complete flush/bleed by myself in less than 20 min. You end up with a rock hard peddle in the end as well.

 

The Super Blue and Amber are the same fluid. It just helps to tell when the old is out and the new is flowing.

San

 

For a street driven car, the stock DOT 3 fluid will work fine.

For a car going to the track, a good DOT 4 will be a good investment - there's nothing worse than roaring into the brake zone and applying the brakes and having the pedal go to the floor because the fluid has boiled!!

You want to have complete confidence in your brakes, and a good fluid with a fresh flush before every event will do that.

Here's a site that has some comparison info about some good fluids:

http://www.seinesystems.com/BrakeFluids.htm


Castrol SRF is probably the best stuff out there, and even some hard corps racers may run the stuff all season with just bleeds between events, but at almost $70 per liter it's expensive.

I run Motul RBF 600 and have never had a problem even with very hot brakes from high speed braking. I have confidence in it and will stick with it. I get it for about $17 per 500 ml bottle at a local motorcycle shop.

Take a look at this very good StopTech technical bulletin about brake fluids:

http://stoptech.com/technical-suppor...rs/brake-fluid


You can read in there that brake fluid is designed to absorb water, and when it does the boiling point goes down and you're more likely to boil the fluid and run out of brakes. That's why it's important to change the fluid in a street car every couple years, and why it's good to flush in fresh fluid before every track event. The DOT 4 may even be more hygroscopic and require even more frequent flushes even with a street driven car.

I was at Daytona last weekend. There was a ZR1 in the garage next to me that was just running one day - 4 sessions on Friday.

After the first session he told me he blew the Bus Stop (the chicane on the back straight). I figured it was just due to blasting into the brake zone too fast and not slowing enough for the turn-in.

After the second session he said he blew the turn off the front straight of the tri-oval and couldn't make the turn into the infield. Again I just figured he went too deep into the brake zone.

In my Z06, coming into the Bus Stop I'm doing in excess of 160 mph, and 170-175 down the front straight, so I guess he was doing at least that in his ZR1. You need confidence in your brakes with the kind of performance our cars have - you want to know the brakes will be there when you need them!!!

After the third session he started packing up to leave early. I went over and asked why he wasn't going to run the 4th session and he said he blew the turn into the infield again. I asked what the problem was with his expensive carbon ceramic brakes and he told me the pedal was going to the floor!!!!

The problem was his FLUID!!!!

I asked him what fluid he was running and he told me he had the stock DOT 3 in there. He had the car for a year, had done about 4 track days, and still had the stuff from the factory in there!!!

So.....if you're heading to Homestead (or anybody heading to any track events) you're doing the right thing to flush in a good DOT 4.

You can also use anything labelled as DOT 4 Plus (or Super DOT 4) or DOT 5.1 - they are all pretty similar formulations to the stock DOT 3 in our cars and you can just flush them into your system (in that first link above there are a couple fluids that note they are not compatible with other fluids).

DO NOT USE A DOT 5 FLUID!!!

DOT 5 is a silicone fluid that is definitely not compatible with the stock fluid, and it's not at all suitable for use in a modern ABS brake system!!!

Bob

 

Mike, look for me out there tomorrow. I have an Orange 05 Z51. I will be with a silver M3, a Black Calloway 08 Z51 with a silver stripe in the hood, and either Green and Black Viper ACR or dark Grey Lambo (he hasn't decided what he's bringing tomorrow).

What color is your car? I will most likely be the only Orange vette on the course so I will be easy to find.

Sean

 

I use the Motul 600 RBF in my DD "07 Vet" and like it a lot. I have also heard great things about Castrol SRF, check out this thread.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...ake-fluid.html

 

BEZ06: Thanks for the info!

 

another great, cheap alternative is the Prestone Synthetic DOT4. It works great in all but the most aggressive competition situations (or heavy cars with crappy cooling), and you can usually get it at Walmart and/or Autozone.

 

In my 2013 GS, I've been using Amsoil, Synthetic DOT 4 fluid for the Brakes & the Clutch. No issues what so ever. ( http://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-produc...g-brake-fluid/ )

 

check out the wet boiling point. and yes, its $100.

 

Redline!

 

Its $54.00 on Amazon. I just did my brakes and clutch its awesome. You need two to do both.

 

european prices, you know.