I just noticed last night that the manual states swapping out brake fluid every three years regardless of mileage. I will of course do it (it's been 4 1/2 years oops), but I've never done this on a car in the past. Am I woefully ignorant about this? I know the stuff is hydrophilic, but it's a sealed system. The point here is I've owned a few cars for more than ten years, and never swapped it out, nor had issues. I'm just picking brains here.

 

I flush brake fluid after every 2 track days or so. I would flush it once a year as part of regular maintainance. Have a friend help with the brake pedal and it takes all of 10 minutes and costs $4.

 

It makes a difference if you ever get the brakes very hot as the water content will boil.. but if you don't drive down moutains or go to the track you probably won't notice anything.

 

Is there a write-up, a how-to, on brake fluid flushing/replacement? And for you track guys, what brake fluid do you use and where do you buy this stuff?

 

Link for bleeding the brakes.

http://reverendsgarage.net/index.php?conte...leed_brakes.php

I agress with cdelena, if you don't track your car or get the brakes very hot while driving, you probably will not notice the difference after the bleed.

For the track I use ATE SuperBlue, but I have also heard a lot of good things about motul fluid and if money is of no concern, Castrol SRF is probably the best stuff you can buy.

Just remember, if you are running high performance brake fluid, you will have to change the fluid more often as the high performance fluid will absorb water at a quick rate.

All the fluids can be found at the marketplace.

 

Colored fluid is a plus when your flushing the system cause it also helps to identify when your line is cleared of old fluid.

 

On a regular street car, I'd say more like every two years is reasonable.

It takes quite a bit longer than 10 minutes, because most people would count the time it takes to put the car on jack stands and pull the wheels off. Even if you have a lift, an air wrench, and a pressure bleeder system, it's still gonna take longer than 10 minutes to completely flush the fluid.

 

i had some ate super blue in my car
its still blue
i flushed it so many times
i switched back to ate super gold

its light blue now

as long as it comes out clean your good

 

If the prime reason to change out brake fluid in non-tracked cars is moisture absorption (is this right?), does anyone use, or trust, brake fluid testers? I borrowed one which claims to measure water content in the 0.5% to 5% range, which claims the current fluid is below 0.5% after being in the car for 4 years. The weird thing is that it reads higher (i.e., more water) in *brand-new* HG brake fluid than the current fill...so I'm, shall we say, skeptical.

Still, if those readings are accurate--meaning no detectable water content in the current fill--then there is no reason to change it...right? Of what wisdom am I showing my ignorance?

 

I just changed mine last week after 1 1/2 years. The old fluid looked pretty cruddy. No notable difference in braking, the braking has always been excellent, perhaps a bit firmer but that is probably all in my head.

It took about half an hour and is quite easy with a helper (what kids are for right?). Be careful not to get any on your paint--believe me, you will regret it if you do.

Tim