Re: brake fluid

[Richard Welty <rwelty@domain.elided>]

At 10:22 AM 7/8/99 -0400, Denis, Jean wrote:
>There is may be a more commonly available substitute for blue ATE brake
>fluid. Ford dealers can get their, also blue, heavy-duty brake fluid and, by
>all reports, this is truly excellent stuff. I, for one, would not be
>surprised if it is ATE-made or at least ATE-spec because, after all, Ford is
>no stranger to Alfred Teves GmbH. As a comparison with other fluids, I
>personally have not enjoyed using Castrol LMA and plan to go to my FLFD
>(friendly local Ford dealer) at lunch today to get some of their fluid!

ford heavy duty is a traditional racer's trick, going back for many decades.

it is a DOT3 (not DOT4) fluid with an excellent dry boiling point and a
somewhat less respectable wet boiling point.

depending on what your usage is, it may be a good match to your situation.
i'd recommend regular fluid changes (once a year), but then i'd do that for
most any fluid anyway.

a lot depends on the usage. the forced retirement of asbestos as a pad
material has substantially changed the requirements on brake fluids, as
asbestos served as an excellent insulator between the rotor surface and the
caliper. a lot of the carbon pads include ceramic insulators in their
design as an attempt to address this problem. i'm considering going to such
a pad when i return my alfetta to service as an SCCA IT car, as i've had
trouble keeping fluid cool enough at Watkins Glen -- and i've been using
Motul Synthetic Racing in the car, which has an outrageous dry boiling point.

richard

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