RE: [ST] Brake fluid

[Brad Turner <bturner@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mike,

I hope you mean "DOT 5.1" not "DOT 5". DOT 3,4 and 5.1 are gylcol based
fluids whereas DOT 5 is a silicone based fluid and is does not mix with the
glycol based fluids. Not only are the fluids chemically incompatible but
sometime the seals used in the brake system (master cylinder and calipers )
are not compatible and can be attacked by the silicone based fluids. You can
convert a brake system to DOT 5 if you make sure the seals are compatible
with silicone fluid then and disassemble everything and clean out the glycol
fluid and reassemble using silicone fluid.

All-in-all a royal pain in the ass IMO. I think you'd be better off keeping
the stock system as is and just bleeding it more frequently. My favorite
gylcol based fluids for my street bikes is the Motul 5.1 fluid it has a
really good boiling point (185°c/365°F) and bleeds nicely. Also something
that makes bleeding brakes trivial is the installation of speedbleeder
valves on the calipers (http://www.speedbleeder.com/).

later,
- -brad-
- -----Original Message-----
From: Mike Bostock
To: Sprint Mailing List
Sent: 11/23/2002 10:04 AM
Subject: [ST] Brake fluid

The owner's manual specifies DOT 4 brake/hydraulic fluid

Is there any reason why I shouldn't use DOT 5 (Higher boiling point,
better
compression etc)?

- -- 
Mike Bostock
http://www.toothfairy.co.uk/
Wales & SW ST Riders
http://www.sprint-st.org/

'99 Red ST

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