I'm a little nutty when it comes to brakes--I think they are the very best
way to go fast. I want them to be powerful and progressive, and work pretty
much the same way every time. Complete confidence in that is worth at least
2 seconds a lap on any track I race at. Mid-corner speed is a direct
function of confidence in your brakes--If you're nervous about them you'll
brake sooner and more than necessary. If you find yourself completely off
the brakes at turn-in and thinking about getting back on the throttle before
the apex, then you chickened out, and you're going too slow. Probably
because you weren't sure the buggers would work.
When my pads were getting knocked back I'd give the brakes a left foot pump
way before the true brake point. No matter what that slows you down, but
more likely you follow the pump with a lift and very early braking. Not SO
bad a thing if you're going into a long, fast corner because you can settle
the car out and feather the throttle, but it's not the fast way through.
If I need to change brake fluid every race to have optimal brakes, then
that's a very small price to pay.
-----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
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