In the earlyn '70's Group 44 and ourselves, amongst others in different
forms of racing, did some early silicon brake fluid testing for Dow
Corning. The brake fluid worked well. As Dow progressed, the viscosity
of the fluid became lower. The very early fluid was "relatively" thick.
We ran this for a 2 or 3 year. Every batch got better and seemed to
have no adverse results to the hydraulic components. This was a current
race car so the brakes may have been checked more often (and we didn't
have to pay for the fluid). We worked with the Dow Corning product
engineer so we had access to any problems, feedback, etc. As the
silicon became more popular, several companies jumped on the bandwagon.
Some of the silicon fluids sold,including those sold tothe racing
community, were in the smake oil end of the spectrum. Dow finally
dropped the program, probably due to bean counters ooking at potential
sales vs cost. FYI, Ted
Bill Babcock wrote:
>You wuz lucky. Must have been neoprene or butyl everywhere to begin with. If
>any bits had been natural rubber you would have had black gum where the
>parts used to be.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net] On Behalf
>Of Randall Young
>Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 11:19 AM
>To: fot@autox.team.net
>Subject: RE: Brake Fluids
>
>
>
>>And one final question for those who use silicone fluid: How often do
>>you change it?
>>
>>
>
>I've never changed mine, just to be changing it. Of course, it hasn't all
>been in my TR3A for over 15 years, I've had the system open several times to
>replace hoses & seals. But I've still not seen any indication that silicone
>ever rots the way glycol does.
>
>FWIW, I switched both my motorhome and an old Chevy to silicone without
>cleaning out the old glycol ... they both worked fine. Never had another
>hydraulic problem on either of them. When I sold it, the Chevy was over 20
>years old, estimated 250,000 original miles on it (probably 150,000 with the
>glycol/silicone mix), still had the original seals on 3 corners and original
>hoses on all 4.
>
>Randall
>
>
>
--
Ted Schumacher
tedtsimx@bright.net
http://www.tsimportedautomotive.com
108 S. Jefferson St.
Pandora, Ohio, USA 45877
Fax: 419.384.3272 (24 Hrs.)
Phone: 800.543.6648 (US & Canada)
Tech/ Gen. Information/ Worldwide: 419.384.3022
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