Castrol GT LMA brake fluid?

Guys, if Rara says something about brakes, I listen. I was sceptical about Valvoline simply because its specs were so high. Fluids with great specs are ofen more hydroscopic, which means they work great in extreme conditions, but at the cost of reduced life. ATE has good specs, but its main advantage is that it is HIGHLY non-hydroscopic. You can run it longer with less bleeding, which makes it great for a street car. A fresh batch of ATE once a year would provide great street performance. For racing, I would consider Ford's very good top-end fluid, which is much cheaper, and flush it often.

Originally posted by Auto-X Fil:
Guys, if Rara says something about brakes, I listen. I was sceptical about Valvoline simply because its specs were so high. Fluids with great specs are ofen more hydroscopic, which means they work great in extreme conditions, but at the cost of reduced life. ATE has good specs, but its main advantage is that it is HIGHLY non-hydroscopic. You can run it longer with less bleeding, which makes it great for a street car. A fresh batch of ATE once a year would provide great street performance. For racing, I would consider Ford's very good top-end fluid, which is much cheaper, and flush it often.

Most owners rarely (if ever) completely flush their brake fluid and expecting them to do it yearly with a fluid that is difficult to source and more expensive is completely unrealistic.

BTW, thanks for giving us your "approval" of Rara's opinion.

Originally posted by bigMoneyRacing:

Most owners rarely (if ever) completely flush their brake fluid and expecting them to do it yearly with a fluid that is difficult to source and more expensive is completely unrealistic.

BTW, thanks for giving us your "approval" of Rara's opinion.

I got my Super-Blue for $15 after a brief search that turned up a dozen retailers. Anyone who is using the forum is probably capable of placing an internet order. And most people here are much better at things like that than your typrical driver. What percentage of the owners of any model of car belong to an owener's group of any form? It's a dedicated DIY minority, in most cases. I was stating that you can go longer with this fluid than with other, which makes it perfect for people who do less frequent flushes. You will experience less degredation with ATE than anything else I know of, over any time interval. If anything, it should be the fluid of choice for the DIY person with better things to do than bleed the brakes. And I wasn't giving Rara my stamp of approval because he needs it. There are some newbies in this thread, and I was letting them know that Rara is the authority on the matter, while expounding on his answer with some more detailed tech.

The Ford HD fluid is very good fluid especially for the money, though, they have recently changed the packaging, and I haven't used any of the stuff in the new package. I have been using ATE Super blue in the contour for awhile now, and I've been very happy with it.
In our race cars, we've been running the Motul 600 which is awesome in all but the most extreme cases, where nothing short of Castrol SRF is going to work.

bigmoney, proper brake servicing is critical, as is using at least decent fluid when doing the servicing. If you want to stay super cheap, go with the Ford HD fluid; then hunt for the Super Blue (which really isn't that hard to find and isn't that expensive either) then after that you would be looking at a Motul 600 type fluid.

I've had great success with the Motul 5.1 and it has a greater wet boiling point than the Motul 600.

OOOOOOOh Maaaaaaaaaan into the the trash can, Ahhhhh whew found the receipt! Now for a shower!

Paul

Originally posted by F111D F:
OOOOOOOh Maaaaaaaaaan into the the trash can, Ahhhhh whew found the receipt! Now for a shower!

Paul

to answer your original question, I've never used the castrol LMA, I'm sure its decent, as Castrol certainly knows how to make good fluid; thier SRF fluid is considered to be one of the best racing brake fluids in the world.

found Castrol LMA at Pep Boys, forgot about that store, after shopping I now remember. Strange place to shop!!!

Does the ATE come in a metal container? I realize it's slow but if the cotainer been on the shelf too long, it's makes me wonder how much moisture I'm buying?

What is it about ATE that makes it not hygroscopic? Synthetic base or the additives?

Wonder what Valvoline did to their stuff???

Just goes to show actual experience "been there done that" beats marketing drivel anyday.

TNX
Paul

Originally posted by F111D F:
What is it about ATE that makes it not hygroscopic? Synthetic base or the additives?

Wonder what Valvoline did to their stuff???

The ATE is hygroscopic.

The Valvoline SynPower is less hygroscopic then normal because it is a synthetic fluid. It's very hard to beat the Valvoline for a daily driver/track car. It is a great all around fluid.

Yeah, it's just that ATE is less hydroscopic than most other fluids. It's a full syn as well, and blended for low mousture aborbtion.

Originally posted by DemonSVT:

The Valvoline SynPower is less hygroscopic then normal because it is a synthetic fluid. It's very hard to beat the Valvoline for a daily driver/track car. It is a great all around fluid.

Originally posted by rara:
I can't stand the valvoline synpower. It doesn't last two months in my car before I feel its too spongy; it soaks up water faster than any other fluid I've ever worked with.

you guys wanna clarify this? it seems as though you are contrdicting each other. i ask because last time i changed the fluid i used the valvoline because of the positive things demon said about it. but now i see rara saying the opposite and his advice should also be taken into account.

Rara is likely being tougher on it than Demon. There are a lot of variables that could affect the experiences they each had, but I'd bet that Rara just messes around with brakes a lot more, and hasn't liked it in his conditions. However, if Demon says he likes it, you can bet that it's not a bad fluid, and it is doubtless better than most fluids except stuff like ATE that we've been discussing. Any major brand synthetic will give you good results. If you have stock brake hoses and street pads, and don't drive agressively, the odds of seeing the difference within a couple years are slim to none.

So in summary: no reason to drain what you're using, but I'd reccommend that everyone who doesn't bleed or flush their brakes all the time find some ATE super-blue and do it right. Anything will work in a pinch, but if you are planning ahead the ATE is probably the least hydroscopic fluid out there and it'll last for a very long time.

Originally posted by Auto-X Fil:
Anything will work in a pinch, but if you are planning ahead the ATE is probably the least hydroscopic fluid out there and it'll last for a very long time.

I thought we were supposed to change it once a year.

Originally posted by Auto-X Fil:
A fresh batch of ATE once a year would provide great street performance.

Quote:

Rara is likely being tougher on it than Demon. There are a lot of variables that could affect the experiences they each had, but I'd bet that Rara just messes around with brakes a lot more, and hasn't liked it in his conditions. However, if Demon says he likes it, you can bet that it's not a bad fluid, and it is doubtless better than most fluids except stuff like ATE that we've been discussing.

Must you give your opinion on everything? The question was posed to Rara and DemonSVT; how about letting them answer instead of giving your guess at their answer

GD, you run a couple auto-x and change some struts and you think you hung the moon.

My answer had nothing to do with racing, it had to do with all the research I did on brake fluids over the past two months when I started rebuilding my brakes. I talked to all my friends who track their cars, I read the archives, I googled, I asked around at other forums.

I don't see any contradiction in my statements above: "a long time" is compared to generic DOT 3. Certainly your car won't lose all braking after a year, but changing it once a year provides very crisp braking all the time. It's a conservative default that I like to recommend.

And as for my comment about Rara and Demon's advice: I happened to be on at the same time as he asked the question, so I said what I had been thinking about it, since I had also noticed the disagreement. I was just voicing my opion, since as you noticed, I have one about everything. I'm obcessed with vehicle dynamics and mechanics, and the reasons that you could get two very different opinions of the same fluid were of interest to me.

On the other hand, your only contributions to this thread have been to criticize my posts. What gives?

Originally posted by Auto-X Fil:
Rara is likely being tougher on it than Demon. There are a lot of variables that could affect the experiences they each had, but I'd bet that Rara just messes around with brakes a lot more, and hasn't liked it in his conditions. However, if Demon says he likes it, you can bet that it's not a bad fluid, and it is doubtless better than most fluids except stuff like ATE that we've been discussing. Any major brand synthetic will give you good results. If you have stock brake hoses and street pads, and don't drive agressively, the odds of seeing the difference within a couple years are slim to none.

So in summary: no reason to drain what you're using, but I'd reccommend that everyone who doesn't bleed or flush their brakes all the time find some ATE super-blue and do it right. Anything will work in a pinch, but if you are planning ahead the ATE is probably the least hydroscopic fluid out there and it'll last for a very long time.

My experience w/ the Valvoline SynPower fluid comes from doing a system flush when I replaced my pads a few years ago. I replaced pads, rotors, and flushed the system fully w/ the synpower. It was just fine when I was done, but within two months it had degraded so badly (with only normal street driving mind you) that I had to completely flush it again with ATE SuperBlue. The SuperBlue has been in the car, untouched for two years now, and still hasn't degraded anywhere near where the Valvoline fluid was after two months.

I don't pretend to have any great detailed chemical info as to why one is more or less hygroscopic than the other, only that my personal experience shows the ATE fluid to be more than 10 times better than the valvoline as far as moisture absorption while in a "closed" system. Further, I've had friends with other vehicles have a similar experience to mine. In fact, one friend, in CA, had a virtually identical experience with his Audi S4. Two months w/ the valvoline and the brakes were so spongy they needed square pants. Reflush w/ ATE and its been over two years with no need to reflush.

Im sticking with Rara on this one as well. Ive had Super Blue in my car for over two years and my truck for one. My brother has had it in his ZX2 for two years also. All are fine (though that part of me is thinking flush, just to be safe).

I wouldnt mind picking up some of the gold stuff this time around just so I know when the blue is through.

i understand rara's point of view. demon?

fwiw, I will admit I am more sensitive to pedal feel than most because of my occupation, but the valvoline stuff got so bad so quick, you'd have to have a pegleg to not feel the difference.

if you say it is no good then i trust it is no good. but my curiousity gets the best of me usually so i still want to know why such a huge discrepancy over what would appear to be a painfully obvious detail between to very well informed senior ceg'ers.