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About Brake
Fluid
Sourced from the
web on www.tirekingdom.com
www.howstuffworks.com
& www.vtr.org
Have you ever
thought about the things that save your lives, such as brake
fluid? When you depress your foot on the brake pedal, it pushes on
a piston which forces brake fluid into your master cylinder, which
is then amplified through brake lines to your wheel cylinders,
which force your brake pads against either the drums or rotors.
This friction forces your car to come to a slow or fast halt
depending on the pressure exerted.
The friction
created by this motion can build up to a point that can allow the
brake fluid to boil. Over time the heat generated from braking
causes the chemical composition of the brake fluid to change.
Gases that are produced can cause your brakes to feel spongy.
DOT3 and DOT4 type
brake fluids are made from Polyalkalene Glycol Ether, which has a
strong attraction to water. They also like to eat paintwork.
Water contaminating brake fluid however, causes the boiling
point (BP) of the fluid to reduce. DOT3 has a BP of 441OF
and DOT4 of 446OF.
DOT 5 on the other
hand has a boiling Point of 500OF. The other advantages
that DOT 5 brake fluid has is that it is silicone based and as
such does not mix well with water. This maintains a high BP and
allows better performance. It also does not eat your paint if
spilled.
However before going
out and changing you brake fluid, you need to be aware of all of
the issues associated brake fluid. Because water mixed with DOT 3
& 4 it just weakens the mixture, whereas with DOT 5 it will
allow a reservoir of water to sit against your callipers and/or
master cylinder which will allow it to rust quicker. Also water
has a BP of 2120F, which means that if a pocket sits
against your callipers, a vapour lock could form much quicker and
cause failure to occur at a much faster rate.
Additionally DOT 5 costs more and is NOT compatible with
DOT 3 & 4. Some experts say DON’T mix DOT types at all when
you are topping up your brake reservoir or changing your fluid.
Please note that the issues discussed in this article are taken from
the Web and their accuracy cannot be verified. They are meant to
allow for further meaningful discussion and research by members.
Always seek clarification from an expert |
Rod’s a winner
Rod Priestly is the
lucky winner of a bottle of Chardonnay, just for filling in and
returning his questionnaire by the due date.
Congratulations
Rod!!!
What you said you
wanted from the club!
We had a 25 %
response to our questionnaire, which I guess those that have been
in it for a while would say, “Comes of no surprise”.
I guess the biggest
surprise is that nearly all that sent back the questionnaire
wanted the good old car rally to be geared up, with the next item
being the continuation of the cobweb runs. We’ll see what we can
do.
Pre-published
Cobweb runs, family days and club clothing were a nicety but there
was no strong feeling about them. There was a definite NO to
movies and other organised events of that nature, along with an
absence of volunteers.
I would like to say
thank you to those that took part in this questionnaire and hope
that we can fulfil the clubs needs over the next couple of years.
We did have a
suggestion to have impromptu nights for builders who wanted to get
a bit of help and encouragement with their unfinished projects. If
this is you, please contact me at home and I will see what I can
arrange for you.
Remember measure
twice… and cut once.
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The
JBA Owners Club of Australia
