Does brake fluid effect stopping

[Walter F.]

I have been reading about people claiming brake fluid should be totally changed every few years in a Corvettes brake system. Does changing the fluid make the car stop any better?

[Joe L.]

Re: Does brake fluid effect stopping

I have been reading about people claiming brake fluid should be totally changed every few years in a Corvettes brake system. Does changing the fluid make the car stop any better?

Walter-------


It does not. Brake fluid is, essentially, incompressible regardless of whether it's contaminated, or not. What changing the fluid may do is increase the service life of brake system components.

[Duke W.]

Re: Does brake fluid effect stopping

Over time brake fluid becomes contaminated with water and other harmful substances that cause internal corrosion of the hydraulic components. Periodically flushing the system removes these contaminants and elastomer wear particles that will eventually result in leaks or even complete loss of braking performance.

This simple maintenance procedure can extend useful life of the hydraulic components by decades!

Duke

[Michael W.]

Re: Does brake fluid effect stopping

I have been reading about people claiming brake fluid should be totally changed every few years in a Corvettes brake system. Does changing the fluid make the car stop any better?

Yes and no. If the old fluid is contaminated with water, it can boil under prolonged severe braking action. The resulting vapour will lead to reduction or loss of braking ability.

Whether this is a real threat or a just a remote possibility has been argued about for decades.

This is not unique to Corvettes- all cars are affected.

[Paul S.]

Re: Does brake fluid effect stopping

Over time brake fluid becomes contaminated with water and other harmful substances that cause internal corrosion of the hydraulic components. Periodically flushing the system removes these contaminants and elastomer wear particles that will eventually result in leaks or even complete loss of braking performance.

This simple maintenance procedure can extend useful life of the hydraulic components by decades!

Duke

What he said, in spades! We (meaning the collective we, car owning public in the USA) religiously change oil, sometimes change coolant and almost never change brake fluid. It's coming around slowly as more car manufacturers have scheduled brake fluid changes as part of service.

Learn how to flush your brake system periodically--it's not that hard or scary. I used to run my Porsches at DE's (between 18-22 weekends per year at the track) and was changing brake fluid in those cars every other track event--so I have gotten very adept at doing it. The C2 is trickier to flush as it tends to take more time to get all the air out, but the process is the same. And I couldn't get DOT 5 to bleed out or quit seeping out of one of the calipers (replaced it twice under warranty) and started over with DOT 4 in my 67 and just made up my mind to flush the brake fluid every 3 years. Just did it in July this year. All's well.

In short, I change all my cars brake fluid regularly. Oil too (once per year-time vs miles); coolant (based on the heavy use schedule of every 3 years).

[Don H.]

Re: Does brake fluid effect stopping

I routinely bleed my brakes every year when I change the oil & grease the front end of both cars. My wife expects to be the "pedal person". Don H.