My front single piston calipers come in tomorrow, when i will also install my russel stainless steel braided lines. Hawk HPS goes in after i can afford to get my rotors turned.


Is it necessary to bleed the system dry before changing out the calipers and lines or will it not spill much as long as the reservoir cap is closed?

I know i should know this but i didn't find much on what to do with the fluid when changing break components.

 

Better to just do a complete fluid change if you ask me. I will be running same thing as you, but with brembo blanks and synthetic DOT3.

 

Brembos - you HAD to one up me didnt you?

Anyway, do I need to drain the system dry before swapping parts, or would that make it too hard to pull new fluid back through?

Im trying to avoid a mess as im not working in my own garage.

 

Flush the hard lines until the fluid runs clear before you connect the hoses and calipers, keeps the crud out of them.

Fyi, synthetic brake fluid is DOT 5, not 3 or 4. Changing over to DOT 5 cam be a pita as the 2 are not compatable, but this would be a good time to do it if you want. I'm running it, but can't recommend it that well.

 

You can get new rotors from www.rockauto.com for about 15 bucks a piece (I have a set). Since you already need to remove the rotors anyway, order new bearings and seals while you're at it. Total cost should still be under 50 bucks or so, and these are items you will need to replace soon anyway if they haven't already been done...

 

Blurry pic, I know. But as far as I remember, DOT3 and synthetic.

 

DOT5 is silicone based fluid. Low water absorption. IMO, not desirable in a performance oriented application, as it gives a 'spongier' feel than glycol based (synthetic or not) fluids. At least, that was my impression playing with the two when I raced karts. Probably worth mentioning is that there are potentially negative impacts to switching between glycol and silicone based fluids. IIRC, glycol based fluid can damage seals in a system intended for silicone based fluid.

IMO, with respect to brake fluid, Castrol LMA is a good option. It's fairly tolerant of moisture, and I've yet to boil it (in either my street car or the Spec7). The stuff is average price, and can be found at Pep Boys.

So far as I can tell (I go through several sets of front rotors a year), nearly all first gen rotors are Brembo at this point...regardless what the box says. There are others...buy they are much less common. Olympus auto parts should be about the cheapest source for brembo rotors in the DC/Baltimore area (that I know of at least)...as mentioned above you should expect to pay between 15-20 dollars each.

 

As long as the rotor mass and design is the same, does the manufacturer really make a difference in quality? Just curious.

 

On a street car I doubt it makes any difference at all. In an application where the rotors are subjected massive heat cycling (racing), it starts to matter.

 

 

I was thinking silicone in place of synthetic, my bad. Fwiw, all synthetic means is the chemical engineers played with the molecules and made some changes from what's naturally occuring.

 

if it was truly synthetic then that would be ideal. No water absorbtion and a higher boiling point of any petroleum based brake fluid. More than likely it's not a full synthetic anyways.