Best Brake Fluid For Track

I'm not familiar with any DOT 3, DOT 4 or racing brake fluids that are corrosive or injurious to any components present on the 430. I think you'll find that everyone has their favorite (I used ATE Super Blue, AP550 and AP600 as well as Castrol SRF for years) but the most important aspect of care is frequent changes of these glycol-based, hygroscopic fluids.

I sold hundreds of liters of Super Blue for track use of street-driven cars when I ran my shop without complaint. Some folks would swap with ATE 200 to make sure they'd flushed the lines completely at the change. I never did that on my own cars. Good luck!

 

DOT polyglycol fluids are corrosive to lots of things--only Glycol fluids are to be used in brake systems. DOT 3, DOT 4 and DOT 5.1 are useable, and intermixable (but why would you want to do that). The infamous DOT 5 is a silicone fluid, used as far as I can tell, only in Harley Davidsons.

I found half a dozen charts with the same information via google::see chart near bottom:

http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/BrakeFluidComparison.html

Examine the chart to see why people that don't need the maximum fluid performance of this high dollar brands use ATE type 200 (SuperBlue). ATE-SB is the first step above 500dF DBP and is rather low in cost compared to higher boiling point fluids. The next step higher cost 3X-10X more $$$.

Speeking only for the F355: the stock brake system is perfectly adequate with only fresh fluid until you become proficient at driving. The first failure mode is pad fade--the stock pads ablade and loose their coefficient of retardation (BAD), and an upgrade to semi-race pads is in order. As long as you stick to street tires you need nothing more than ATE boiling points and semi-race pads, even in the midst of texas summers (103dF) and long runs (72 minutes==1 tank of gas) while running within spitting distance of lap records for 3200 pound cars with 400 HP on street tires. Based on my observations, fuild temps approaching 500dF can be generated on stock pads. We could cook hot-dogs on the heat comming off the rotors after a long run through the holes in the wheels.

{I had a pad fade event on fresh ATE SuperBlue on factory pads in 95dF temps, Since switching to DS2500 pads, and keeping fresh SB in the system, I have not had another pad fade event on street tires. Thus, fluid temps are not getting up into the 530dF range with street tires.}

{Assuming proficiency in the driver} Moving up to r-compounds adds to the heat load in the brakes and definately needs a more heat tollerant pad (than factory) and needs the freshest fluid you can give it (1 week max) or a high dollar fluid and (1 month max). You will cook the factory pads with r-compounds, if you push the car in any way.

Moving up to slicks, and you start to need cooling ducts to the rear rotors, higher temp fluids, and another step upwards in the heat tolleration of brake pads. For actual racing you will want bigger calipers, and bigger heavier rotors that come with the challenge cars.

Remember, the above is for F355 activities in hot weather conditions.

 

Super Blue is excellent. It also comes in a gold/yellow whatever color. That is nice because you can see when you have thoroughly bled the lines when the new color starts coming out.

 

I've used ATE Super Blue/200 Amber in everything from old Jaguars to the 308 GTS to my racing Corvette Z06s, and it works great. I've never experienced a fluid boiling condition with Super Blue/200 fluid.

If you do have a concern about fluid boiling, consider Castrol SRF. It is a lot more expensive, but it is probably the best racing brake fluid you can buy. I know several guys who use it in high end track cars and say it is great and never have a brake failure attributable to boiling fluid. I bleed my brakes before each track event. Folks who use SRF say it lasts a lot longer and they don't feel the need to bleed as often.

IMHO, for track day events, Super Blue is fine. It is reasonably priced, has among the best performance specs out there for racing fluid, and at its price you don't even think twice about bleeding often. If you keep fresh fluid in the car, any of the race-rated fluids will work great, and the Super Blue is good stuff.

p.s. I've also used Wilwood 600 fluid, and that is good stuff also.

 

Castrol SRF. Full flush once a year, highest wet boiling point (the only one that matters). Bleed the calipers every other track day (with 100 minutes or less driving time per day).

 

I second Castrol SRF

 

There's a Brembo engineer in one of the other forums I post on. Here's some info he posted a few years ago, pay attention to the bit on Castrol. It's possible they've fixed that problem by now.

 

I've been using Elf HTX from Performance Oil Store (www.PerformanceOilStore.com) for several years in all my cars including the Radical SR3 track car.

Feff

 

I exclusively use AP Racing 551 brake fluid. Never any issues, and I strongly believe that company is the best in the world when it comes to brake systems.

 

Try some of the ENDLESS RF650 Super racing fluid.

 

Created an account to push Endless products? Who actually makes the fluid?

 

I joined a long time ago without any particular intent, and I used to have some post count. It went back to 0 after I was inactive, I have no idea why.

Endless fluid is a pure brake fluid made by Endless Japan.

Yes, I do work for Endless USA, so if you have any questions I can answer them.

 

I forgot about the Endless fluid. Brawn GP were using that fluid last season (and maybe still used now). Risi started using their products last season in ALMS/LMS too.

And apparently it's the factory fill in GT3 Cup cars: http://ferrarichat.com/~ferrari/forum/showthread.php?t=245779

 

I'll make a blasphomus statement. It does not matter. Using any synthetic brake fluid like a valvoline synthetic brake fluid from pepboys or kragen are just fine. Maybe a motul rb. Beyond that you are wasting money. Bleed the brakes before a trackday or just a track weekend and flush the brakes once a year with new fluid. 95% of cars being tracked have aluminum brake calipers. Aluminum looses 25% of strength @400F and 50% of strength at 500F! That means brake fade from boiling fluid is your friend. It is the early warning sign that you are the limit of your brakes and when the fluid cools you get somewhat of a recovery which should be bleed out once off track. You want fluid to be the failure point because it is safe. The alternative is loosing brakes and using a wall as your brakes=bad day.

 

I'm afraid to hear the answers here on Fchat, but what's the word these days on Ford fluid?
For a long time (when I was into these things) it was the ultimate bang for the buck, a great high performance brake fluid. Of course, that was 5 or more years ago, is that still the case? It was great for wet boiling point, and I'll need to do a brake fluid flush soon....

Edit: Hmm, was it actually that it had a good dry boiling point, so it was good for racers who flushed regularly? That's what I'm getting from the first few google hits.

 

"Bang for the buck" and the implication of a "Ferrari" in the same sentance. The mind boggles.....

 

I use this product in my street car. It should work well also on the track.
The Ultimate High Performance Brake Fluid! Motul RBF 600 is a 100% synthetic fluid for hydraulic-actuated brake and clutch systems. Specifically designed to resist the high temperatures of actuated (steel or carbon) racing brakes and clutch systems. Motul RBF 600 far exceeds the standards of DOT 3 and DOT 4. The RBF 600 container is filled with Nitrogen to increase shelf life and eliminate contamination while factory sealed. Extremely high dry and wet boiling points help prevent vapor lock and brake fade during hard use. EXTREME THERMAL RESISTANCE AND STABILITY: The elevated dry boiling point of RBF 600 (312°c / 593°F) enables effective braking even under the extreme conditions of competition. VERY EFFICIENT WHEN RAINY: The very high wet boiling point (216°c / 420°F), is superior to conventional brake fluids provides a particularly efficient braking system in rain and put back the apparition of vapor lock
Give it a try. You have nothing to lose.
I also Motul gear oil and Total Oil for my motor. 10-50 weight.
hope this helps.

john

 

Been racing and driving for years and buy the Wilwood 550 fluid. Works fine for me and I keep it regularly changed. I have always had grave doubts about seal integrity if fluid really gets over 500deg F, so the real fix is to have adequate thermal capacity of the system and extra cooling, not bazillion deg fluid, if you sense any fade.

 

I have done little track work, but the work I have done I learned a very valuable lesson. Do not use cheap brake fluid. I was out in a Lotus Esprit tubro when my pedal went to the floor. The fluid was just changed a week prior with some regular brand (don't recall exactly what it was but it was not the super cheapo stuff). Anyway, I bleed the brakes the following day with Super Blue and ran at the track all day with no issues.

 

I've decided that I must have missed a winky smile on your message.

Or is it a crime against the snobberisti to not buy the most expensive, horsey-infused jizz for their Ferrari?

 

Actually, super blue and gold are not wonderful fluid but they do meet dot specs. There really is no reason to use these in track applications. The best use of blue and gold is for the diy'er brake fluid changes done yearly by those with lesser diy experience. You can see when you got new fluid. Regular Trackers bleed so often there is no need for the annual change because they always have new clean fluid in there.

 

For the track..... Castrol SRF.

 

motul rbf 600 and rbf660 work quite well. I would highly recommend them.