Brake fluid

[70 340]

Which brake fluid should I use dot 3 or expensive silicone? Brake system is all new.

[Chryco Psycho]

your call , the dot5  silicon brake fuild will not absorb water or hurt the paint but it will not mix with other brake fluid & is more expensive

[hemi71]

 

If i had a complete new system, I'd go with the silicone....no worries about paint damage, one spill of the DOT3 and the silicone stuff does not look so expensive anymore.

[70 340]

Think I'm leaning toward silicone.Any one have any experience with useing the stuff?
 Thanks

[Mopar73340]

I used it in my White Chally and am currently in the process of converting my Red Chally. Like said above it doesn't absorb water and won't hurt your paint. Seems to work ok.

[dawgs 73]

Not trying to hijack anything, but is it true that the silicone needs to be flushed and replaced every so often? If so, that may be an issue that you need to think about when you make your choice. I'm wondering the same thing....

[Chryco Psycho]

all brake fluids need to be flushed once in a while , depending on useage & dirty environments etc

[70 340]

Chryco what type of fluid do you use ? do you need to change silicon any more often?

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Chryco what type of fluid do you use ? do you need to change silicon any more often?

No. Don't be scared. If I had a virgin system, I would go that route too. You just can't mix the 2 types of fluid, and of course, I have the old paint peeler stuff. 

  Mike

[dawgs 73]

While on the subject, do you have to have a virgin system to switch to DOT 5? By that, I mean will the small amount of paint eater type, that may be left on or in the system components (left over from the draining of the old stuff) have any effect on the switch?

[ShelbyDogg]

I have friends that just opened all the bleeders till the master cylinder ran dry, closed them, then started filling with the silicone type and bleeding till the color came out all the same. No problems after that. He had a show-car and didn't drive it like I do mine.   I still use the old reliable Paint-eating stuff too. I just try to bleed alot of it out when I do my brakes. I remember stories of the silicone brake fluid having a lower boiling point and didn't want to risk a spongy pedal after a couple of high speed stops. Those rotors can glow cherry red. Think about how hot those brakes must have been on that Charger in the movie BULLIT.  I never switched.
Rob

[71340RT]

I drained the dot 3 fluid from master cylinder on my Challenger RT back in 1993 and opened the bleeders and let as much of the dot 3 drain out as I could. I then filled the master cylinder with dot 5 silicone brake fluid and bleed each wheel till I had dot 5 coming out. I have never had a spongy pedal and no other problems either. I just replaced the fluid this January and only because I replaced some of the older brake lines with stainless steel ones which tells me the stuff worked great. I just put it in my 70 Cuda project that is almost done being restored and I don't want to run anything else now that I've had such good luck with it. I also ran it in my 340 Duster for years with no issues.

[Chryco Psycho]

my Charger which is recently rebuild has dot 5 , my chall which has only been driven 6000 miles in 26 years still has dot 3/4
 I would say you would need to flush the dot 5 less as it will not absorb water, but dirt will still conaminte it so it depends how much dirt the car sees , driving on gravel roads or in a lot of salt etc has to contaminate it faster 

[wiging19]

all brake fluids need to be flushed once in a while , depending on useage & dirty environments etc

I converted my front to disc brakes and converted over to silicone.  When I converted the front to the original style of disc brakes I noticed that the water tended to accumulate in one place and cause rust.  Now I try to bleed the brakes every year to make sure no water accumulates in my brakes.  As someone mentioned already the price of repainting a spill makes this a cheap alternative.  Especially if for some reason it springs a leak near any painted area.

[Stacked440]

id go with silicone, it foams up with an ABS car but its best for those old cars with regular brakes.  Also the regular brake fluid strips paint where as silicone you can polish your car with it (not recommended but seriously it doesnt hurt paint!!)