what brake fluid?

[Canadian Cuda]

i've got all my brakelines and stuff all hooked back up and have a couple questions. 1st i didnt put in any new lines, so they are half full of fluid, the thing is i dont know what type of fluid they are. i'm guessing dot3/dot4. would it matter if they are mixed or do i have to flush the lines.2nd in which case should i got to something better? also I wounldnt mind if it didnt peel my paint.

thanks

[acudanut]

 Are you kidding ?...Any brake fliud. 

[Chryco Psycho]

What I would recommend is to disassemble the rear wheel cylinders to clean them out , blow out all the lines & invert the calipers to get all the fluid out & clean out the master as well if possible & use DOT 5 Fluid , DOT 5 is NOT compatable with dot 3 or 4 , but it will not eat paint either

[Canadian Cuda]

thanks chyrco, is there any performance advantage to dot 5 other than it not eating paint?

[burdar]

I'm going the DOT 5 route myself.  I've got too much money in the body to risk ruining the paint.  Like was said above, the DOT 5 fluid is not compatable with other fluids.  You will need to clean out your lines and such.  I've got all new components so it's a no brainer for me.

I have heard people say that the DOT 5 fluid gave them a softer pedal though.  Some say to put the fluid out in the sun for awhile before dumping it into the brake system.  Apparently if the DOT 5 fluid is shaken, it will develop a lot of air bubbles.(more so than the other fluids)  Putting it in the sun is supposed to reliece the trapped air.

As for a performance gain...isn't the DOT 5 supposed to have a higher boiling point?

[burdar]

Here's a good discussion on the subject.

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=5868058&Main=5865792

[Canadian Cuda]

thanks burdar

so from what i've read if i remove as much old fluid possible and run the dot 5 through it should remove any last traces of the old stuff. instead of flushing it with alcohol before which could leave other residual.

[73EStroker]

After having DOT 4 eat some of my underhood paint on my $17K paint and body job I am going to change to DOT 5. As my entire brake system is brand new there is no problem from that side. Just wondering which fluid goes to the top - silicon DOT 5 or DOT 4? What i am thinking here is that the good fluid may "push" out the bad through the bleeder nipples if the viscosity goes in my favour.