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re: silicone brake fluid

Er, "hydrophyllic", I believe, but I could be wrong. Water-loving. Latin. The DOT-5 fluid is not appropriate for most modern systems, especially those with ABS. Anyone who lives in a humid climate should change their fluid out with DOT-4 annually, or use whatever is stamped on their brake-fluid reservoir cap. I've had a lot of problems with calipers with all the gulf-coast moisture in central Texas, believe it or not. A retired mechanic from Denver still can't believe me.

At 10:55 AM 6/12/03 -0400, you wrote:

I wouldn't recommend using silicone. It is very difficult to bleed all the air
out and has strange viscosity properties. I tried it years ago on a classic
car that I completely rebuilt the brakes on.  I never could get the system to
work right.

If you've got any old brake fluid at all in the system you'll have the boiling
point of the old DOT 4 fluid.  As a case in point, I watched a twin turbo
Ferrari Boxer that had silicone fluid t-bone a Ford Pinto (this should give
you some indication as to how long ago this was) leaving a drivers school when
the brake fluid boiled in the calipers.

L.K. Foster

snip
>
> Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 00:06:09 -0700
> From: "John C. Bowne" <[email protected]>
> Subject: Slicone brake fluid
>
> I know that the BMW manual calls for replacing the brake
> fluid every two
> years.  I have assumed that is because regular brake fluid is
> hygroscopic
> and absorbs water from the air.  Is it possible to replace
> the regular
> brake fluid with silicone brake fluid that is not hygroscopic
> to get longer
> life?  Does BMW approve of this?
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