is there a set time to change the brake fuilds, and clutch line fluids. i change it everytime i do an oil change, every other track day. or on the road ape every oil change, i bleed it and make sure the fuilds are fresh. that way i use up the whole bottle by end of the year.
Once you open a bottle, its garbage. I use a brand new $20 bottle of RBF every weekend. Sometimes twice a weekend. Yrmv
To each their own, I do everything usually twice a season. Just wondering, why do you guys do it so often? If I were changing it out that often I would send it in to get tested to find out exactly how much life it really has left.
Yea Mattie, brake fluid absorbs moisture - water - when exposed to it. Some vendors put nitrogen int the shiipping bottles to eliminate the natural air. Sorry to hear about the car. Good luck fixing it!
I've been using Valvoline DOT 3/4 fully synthetic and have had no issues. It's relatively cheap and readily available at auto part stores.
I personally dont believe its necessary to change brake fluid every weekend or every other weekend. Same with the engine oil. Unless you have a race built motor with higher compression and rev limit moved up and so on. But on a stock motor there is no benefit to change it every 200 miles. But again thats just my opinion and my bikes run well anyways!
Honestly, I seriously doubt there is much change after a couple hundred miles of track riding. I do mine about every three weekends. That's right at 1000 miles as I ride about 300 miles a weekend between instructing and riding in other groups. One of these days I am going to send an oil sample out for analysis, but I'd be willing to bet I could go longer without any adverse effects...
No, it sure doesn't get better with age. But it doesn't get to a point of needed change after 200miles under the conditions I indicated. If you believe or even know that you have to change it then do that. I know different and thats what I do. I mentioned that it is my opinion, knowing that there is someone coming around with a statement like yours.:lmao:
By that rationale shouldn't you be changing them for every session? How about every lap? Of course that notion is preposterous, but it illustrates a point. Fluids have a service life, and to some degree that life is dictated by the conditions and stresses the fluids are exposed to. For those of us who are slow as shit and do 4-5 track weekends a year, I believe changing fluids a couple of times a season is reasonable. As you said, YMMV.
Brake fluid offers exactly zero lubrication. It transfers force from the brake lever to the brake pads.
sigh....you misundertood. Oil is to lubricating properties, brake fluid is to braking properties. I wasn't saying that brake fluid is lubricating anything. Guys, guys, guys, I've been in this racing game since '94...don't let the 'join date' mislead you.
People value their motors and lives differently apparently. For a mere $45 worth of oil and brake fluid and 20 mins of my time, I have the peace of mind of a well maintained motor and fresh brake fluid that I know isn't going to fade on a 100 degree day of racing. I also come from a looooong background of endurance racing so changing fluids, chains, tires often was/is the norm. But even for an average trackdayer, it just makes good sense to do the oil and brake fluid. Keeping fresh fluids is just good maintenance, practice and a form of cheap insurance, IMVHO. I have a lot of GSXR motors for sale for you guys that don't have 5 mins and $20 to change your oil.
Between me and you, i saw your pre-edited comment. Lol No offense taken. And of course people look at join dates as a noob indicator. Justin thought, that i thought, brake fluid had lubricating properties. That is a fathomable for a guy that just joined a bike forum, bought his lst bike and never been to the track, but not so much for a 20+ yr racing vet. The dick references are a bit annoying and concerning though. My opinion differs from others. I havent been rude about it as a lot of you have. The ego problems are with the members, imo of course. Carry on .
The reality is that maintaining your track bike goes above and beyond what you normally do for your street bike. Things are pushed and beaten to a higher degree and things wear out more frequently. Although having so many years experience can be a negative thing (Remember, years of doing things wrong can still be years of experience), MotoracerX is accurate. The minimal amount of time it takes to bleed your brakes and flush them is something you can benefit from. The track day guy that slaps in fresh fluid at the start of the season and runs her until the end without a single re-bleed is not getting the most out of their investment. These are track day and race day bikes. Maintaining them means you have to do it more frequently. In 1000 track miles, you wear more things out like fluids than 5000 street miles. If that makes sense... Then, to buy the better fluids for brakes and engine are minimal costs to maintain. Peace of mind, best performance... But, realize that you are putting a lot of load and stress on your machine. This means higher quality in products will help your machine work less hard to do what it is being asked. There is always going to be the group that never changes oil, has thousands of miles on their track day bikes and barely change tires when they need to. Always. But, there are also those that realize this sport is dangerous. It is aggressive. And, it works your machine. For me, I try and do whatever I can in an attempt to thwart those issues. And that means bleeding brakes at minimal, before every track day and typically multiple times during a race weekend. It is dependent of course, but minimally bled every time before those events. Same with oil. I will go two track day weekends (4 days) on an oil change. Every race weekend gets fresh oil. Excessive? Probably. But it isn't hurting anything and when we tear down, we see positive results.