Project

I spoke with a racing mechanic and he advised me to try the Castrol SRF brake fluid. He mentioned that while most people just flush the main brake reservior, he also advised me to take it to the dealer and have them flush the ABS brake fluid as well. I have two questions:

1. How much brake fluid do I need (It's $60/liter)

2. How much will Honda charge to flush both systems?

Thanks!

3312DC

Ill give you some advice...
buy the 12 dollar ATE superblue and a pressure bleeder from gofastlabs and save your self some money.

you only need one liter

Bassem

If the car isn't a track only car and you will flush the system before every event, use something else like the ATE or Motul fluids. From what I know the SRF fluid is extremely hygroscopic, moreso thatn all other fluids.

1 liter is also good guidance, you should have 250ml or so left over.

Cycling the ABS is nice to do, but not necessary. Every once in a while its should be done if you have a picky personality. You need to realize the fluid in the calipers doesn't really move back into the system, so even if you cycle some "dirty" ABS fluid into the fresh fluid, it doesn't reach the caliper and so doesn't affect the fluid performance.

Bassem

Orthonormal

I thought the whole point of Castrol SRF was to pay a higher price in exchange for less frequent changes.

Asura

I also thought the SRF was less hygroscopic hence the hefty premium.

Motul RBF or AP fluid feels better, but needs more frequent service.

I alternate with ATE Blue and Gold. You can visually see when the line is fully flushed.

Personally I prefer the vacuum bleeders eg. MityVac. I have the Motive pressure bleeder, but I think it is tough on the master cylinder seal.

Bassem

I was always told it is because it has the highest wet and dry boiling temps, but doing a quick search online shows that it you guys are right...it is less hygroscopic. It still is recommended to be flushed before every event though based on what I read at perfromance friction's website.

If that's the case, you might as well use Motul RBF which is really close in terms of dry boiling point (590 vs 610).....or some other good fluid. Which is I guess is what everyone is saying.

Bassem

twohoos

I use Castrol SRF and never ever bleed or flush (except every 18 mos as recommended on the bottle), and have never ever had fluid fade.

In 18 months, if you go to the track say 18 times, how may $12 bottles of ATE/Motul will you go through? And how many hours of bleeding and flushing? To me it's worth the expense to avoid bothering with fluid maintenance.

Voodoo_S2K

Well, I know of a Honda Challenge race car that has gone 2 seasons or ~32 race days on the same Motul fluid.

rlaifatt

Where does this recommendation or belief comes from that says you should change your fluid every event? I can't imagine why that would be necessary, though I haven't researched.

I use Motul and bleed my brakes (4-5 pumps per corner) before every event (though the odd time I don't do this it makes no difference). I have never changed my entire fluid in years except when I first went from OEM to Motul. I've never had fade due to fluid (and I don't have ducts). My thoughts for bleeding a bit before every event is that over time I am replacing the fluid gradually, and it replaces the fluid each time in the calipers where it experienced the most heat. John, I use only a couple of 0.5 liter bottles of Motul per year, at $13/bottle.

cthree

I bleed my ATF superblue once a year maybe and also have never had ANY problems with it. I don't alternate colors because as great as the idea sounds the blue dye stains everything it touches and thus I can't see any color change at all. The blue fluid turns the gold fluid blue.

Point is $60/can for brake fluid is crazy and so is bleeding them before every event. The term anally retentive comes to mind.