What brake fluid to use in a ‘00 360 US car?

New 360 gated speed owner here. The shell brake fluid per shop manual is no longer available in the US. What brake fluid is everyone using now?

 

Is your not racing ..use ate 200

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Good ol super blue! Thank you.

 

Not blue .. the yellow ate 200 .. i am not even sure if the blue is made anymore

 

Blue isn’t made anymore for about 10 years now. Yellow is the same brake fluid but different color. Apparently they was a US government concern people would confuse brake fluid with washer fluid. Ugggh

 

I use Motul RBF 600 for all my cars... just perfect.

 

Analine dye can be added to ATE gold if blue is important. Motul, Prospeed 683 will work. All DOT 4 fluids.

 

Stoptech 660 is in all my cars, no issues

 

Truth is, even generic Dot 4 will work. I used ATE Blue and gold for years in race cars with no trouble so it will be just fine on the street.

 

The reason I like ate 200 is that it actually states a longer service life

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Get one of those tools to measure the water content for brake fluid... if it's getting to 4% or thereabouts, time to flush. Remember the water content in the reservoir up top will be much less than in the caliper, where the fluid might boil...

I usually flush every year if I track the car, every 2 or 3 if I don't, but I do a bleed every year.

 

+1 on ATE 200 , I use it in all my cars including my Spec Miata...

 

I look at the wet boiling point, it's what I want to be the highest:

ATE 200:

• Boiling point minimum (dry) : 536 degrees F.
• Wet boiling point minimum: 388 degrees F.

Motul RBF600

Dry boiling point 312 °C / 594 °F
Wet boiling point 204 °C / 399 °F

Castrol SRF (the best of all)
Dry : 608 F
Wet : 518 F

..but SRF is more than double the price, so..

 

Think of it as cheap insurance!

I would prefer the one that is least hydroscopic...

 

You actually want a fluid which is most hygroscopic (not hyrdoscopic). Unabsorbed fluid in the brake lines will corrode and rust the lines.

If you are tracking or driving the car hard, get a high temp fluid like RBF660, Endless 650 or SRF. Otherwise ATE Typ 200 is fine.

 

When you say fluid you mean water , right ? So where is the water coming from...from the fluid boiling.. So coming back to my boiling points... Brake fluid that is less likely to boil, is less likely to introduce water in lines, no?

 

Here's the tester I have, it actually works:

https://www.amazon.com/ITEQ-Liquid-Tester-Indicators-Calibrated/dp/B076SC377J/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=brake+fluid+tester&qid=1633711879&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExUVFGODg0VTFQN0JYJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjQxOTUzM0o0RllWRVpQRjJPNSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNjkwOTk3M01HSDhXTzdTTlA3MiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

No, the water is coming from the environment, not from brake fluid boiling. The brake system is sealed but not perfectly, and moisture from the environment gets in the system over time. Brake fluid is hygroscopic so that this water becomes entrained in the fluid vs. sitting in your lines.

Wet boiling point is important because most people change their brake fluid rarely/never. For those people, it's important that the brake fluid continue to work so that you don't crash when going down a steep mountain pass for example.

In a high performance car where fluid is changed annually or more often (especially one driven on a track), wet boiling point is almost never the relevant metric. Wet boiling point is measured at 3.7% water content. If your brake fluid has 3.7% water in it, it likely has not been changed for several years (or you left the reservoir cap off for many humid days in a row).

Dry boiling point and pedal feel are the relevant metrics, especially on track.

RBF660 has good pedal feel (lower compressibility), a very high dry boiling point, and is fairly cheap (~$44/L)
Endless 650 has excellent pedal feel (low compressibility), a very high dry boiling point, and is expensive ($80/L)
SRF has okay pedal feel (medium compressibility), a very high dry boiling point, and is somewhat expensive (~$65/L)

Chart with data (I have not tried RT700/RS683 but have heard good things and it is cheaper than Endless or SRF): https://parsbrorc.com/?page_id=33

 

Exactly how do you know it works? Just curious.

 

I took my tester to the shop where I know the guy really well ( I do all my annual inspections there, all my cars) and compared his "professional" expensive tool with mine. Same.

I can show you if I measure fresh fluid, it has 0 or close to 0 content, and if I take it to my 2 year old now (wait, I no longer have old fluid in any of my cars ) ; rephrase; take it to *a* car which has old fluid, it will show the water content higher. Anything above 4% is bad.