Scirocco Register

Any good reasons for swapping over to DOT 5 brake fluid? Any good reasons for not swapping over to DOT 5?

I'm hoping that my new job will enable me to take the old girl off the road for a rebuild as the current job with its 150 mile a day commute has effectively killed her. Anyway, one of the things that I was looking at was a new braking system with DOT 5 fluid or at the very least use DOT 5 with the current system (heard that this could be fraught with problems...).

Any thoughts on this?

dot5 is silicone based, and not compatible with dot3 or dot4, and also probably not compatible with the rubber seals in a system designed for dot3 or dot4.

you could upgrade to dot 5.1 which would be compatible, but unless you're boiling the brake fluid on a regular basis (unlikely with road driving) then it's just spending money for the sake of it

Nate wrote:dot5 is silicone based, and not compatible with dot3 or dot4, and also probably not compatible with the rubber seals in a system designed for dot3 or dot4.

you could upgrade to dot 5.1 which would be compatible, but unless you're boiling the brake fluid on a regular basis (unlikely with road driving) then it's just spending money for the sake of it

Cheers Nate, that was the niggle at the back of my mind, a lot of faff and expense for not much improvement. Best to improve the mechanical parts of the brakes and stick to the DOT 4 then.

AndyJ wrote:
I'm hoping that my new job will enable me to take the old girl off the road for a rebuild

This is good.