[SEL] OT. Brake fluids

[curt at rustyiron.com]

Arnie,
Many many years ago when I was doing the frame off restoration on the 1960
MGA I used the silicone brake fluid. The driving force was the fact that
silicone brake fluid will not harm paint finishes. The way the brake
reservoir is on an MGA, means that any drips or spills will fall onto a
painted shelf which is part of the firewall assy. This part always has
peeling paint on an MGA and looks terrible and rusty. The silicone brake
fluid would eliminate this concern for this show car I was preparing.

Truthfully it was horrible fluid. Rob spoke of compressibility.....call it
what you want, but no matter how much you bled the brakes they were always
spongy feeling. To top that off silicone brake fluid does not have near
the lubricity of regular brake fluid. When you were bleeding you could
feel a stick/slip/stick/slip as the seals traveled down the bore of the
master cylinder of both the brake and clutch systems.

I have never used the damned stuff since and now use regular old brake fluid.
Curt

> Hi Rob,
>
> Could you elaborate on this "compressible liquid" of which you speak?
>
> See ya,  Arnie
>
> On Mon, May 18, 2009 6:14 pm, Rob Skinner wrote:
>>
>> DOT 5.0 is silicone based, and you can not mix it with the others.
>> 5.1 is several times more compressible than glycol based fluids and
>> can allow a spongy feel.
>
>
>
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