Brake Fluid

[gsxr renegade]

Now that summer is almost upon us, i've decided to give the bike a bit of a spruce up, changing the oil/filter, and some of the other fluids.

I'm thinking about putting DOT 5 brake fluid in, instead of the normal DOT 4, becasue the brakes fade too easily when pressing on, and i can't be bothered to keep swapping to a higher rated fluid for trackdays.

My question is this, will i be ok running DOT 5 brake fluid for the year? Or is there a reason that the manufacturer uses DOT 4?

Will DOT 5 absord fluid at a higher rate or something?

[gsxr renegade]

Do you mean DOT 5 or DOT 5.1?

5.1

[gsxr renegade]

In that case you are fine to use it in exactly the same way as DOT4, it's no more hygroscopic and is compatible with seals intended for DOT4.

Cheers.

[Evilchicken0]

Is there any decerable difference between cheap and cheerful 5.1 and expensive branded 5.1 ???

[uggiebear]

Well, I'd give what's written there little or no credibility as the author cannot even understand the difference between hygroscopic - a substance that attracts H2O from it's surrounding environment - and hydroscopic - a made up word.....

hydroscopic

absorbing or attracting moisture from the air

Found on http://www.encyclo.co.uk/visitor-contrib

Navy has being using this word for om-70 (fridge oil) for years and years looking on the web Mille seems the majority go with you and a minority beleive in both, i was always told hydroscopic will attract water where hygroscopic will bond with water now what the differance is....... Im a sparky

[speedy sie]

i chang my front break fulid once a moth and a good calliper clean,clean the pads once a week ,and clean all the disk once a week aswell,in my opnion it is better to clean up your brakes more oftern than just pop on some better fuild.

[gsxr renegade]

i chang my front break fulid once a moth and a good calliper clean,clean the pads once a week ,and clean all the disk once a week aswell,in my opnion it is better to clean up your brakes more oftern than just pop on some better fuild.

I've tried that but the fade on the brakes is horrendous. It's not too bad on the road, but on track, the lever will be coming back to the bar about halfway through the session!

I'm going to try changing the fluid, and if that fails, i'll be putting a set of braided lines on to see if that makes it any better.

[speedy sie]

sounds like m/s seals going?

[trackdaybob]

How old is the bike?? If it's a couple of years old or more the 1st thing I'd be doing is junking the shite rubber lines and fitting braided ones. Obviously you'll be changing the fluid anyway at this time. IMO there's no point changing the fluid if your still going to be using the standard rubber lines.

[gsxr renegade]

It be a k8, so 2 years old. It was at it's worst last year on track. Haven't done any trackdays since then, just road miles, but i know the problem is still there.