BBi brake fluid

DOT 4

or you may change all hoses and all rubber seals and use DOT 5 ( silicone brake fluid )

 

I am a Mondial owner, but I can note that ATE made the brake calipers and other compoents for the Mondial, and the BBi, some parts were shared right back to the Daytona.

Using the ATE TYP200 DOT4 fluid would be a reasonable choice.

 

Agip super HD according to user manual. That should be equivalent to any DOT4 brake fluid. As mentioned do not use DOT5 as this is silicone based and cannot be mixed with other types.

Best, Peter

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that is why I said to replace all rubber parts. but you never will have boiling brake fluid with DOT5

 

It does in fact boil but its compressible and gets more compressible the hotter it gets.
There are now DOT fluids with a higher boiling point.
Terrible choice for brake fluid.

 

Silicone was over rated!

 

David; Not really, it is a matter of using silicone fluid for the correct application. Also, it is NOT generally compressible. There is a temperature "window' in which it is compressible, which is why we never use it in race cars. For normal street driving it performs identically to conventional brake fluids. Inspite of all the "stories" it is not necessary to flush systems before installing silicone fluid. Numerous tests have been conducted over the years, a number by Dow Corning themselves, that document silicone and conventional fluids will operate in the same system without issues. Silicone will not work in ABS systems due to the very small passages in the ABS controller microvalves. But, what do I know, I have only used it in hundreds of cars since 1978.

 

While I've never installed/replaced/used DOT 5 fluid in any vintage Ferrari, I did use it for several years decades ago in various '30s, '50s/'60s vintage cars I owned, restored or serviced and never felt it behaving differently than "conventional"(?) DOT 3/4 fluids, but for some reason it kept internally "killing" OEM-type (NOS & aftermarket) pressure reliant brake light switches pretty quickly, so I went back to using "conventional" fluids.
My original reason for use of DOT 5 was its alleged prevention of paint damage in case of accidental spillage.

 

Timo: Yes, for some reason, Silicone fluid shortens the life of "some" pressure activated brake light switches. I have had this happen, replace the switch and the new one lasts forever, or fails again in a few years, no rhyme nor reason for the switch life. I have seen studies on this subject that also are unable to reach definitive conclusions. Boxers are unaffected by the switch issue as they use a mechanical switch. Also, your comment regarding conventional fluid attacking paint is another reason to consider silicone fluid. About 50% of the Ferraris I see have some form of brake fluid paint damage in the engine bay on on a front fender from spilled brake fluid.

 

Dyke, in my limited(?) experience, pretty much all pressure activated brake light switches failed within months, some in weeks with the use of silicone brake fluid, but I never studied the reason why.
And yes, I too have seen more than plenty of vintage cars with paint damage caused by spilled "conventional" DOT 3/4 brake fluids, even in nicely "restored" ones.

 

also in ABS cars?

 

I once used a brake pressure switch for a hydraulic system on a truck and after about 3 weeks the switch failed. so not liked the hydraulic fluid

 

Turbo: As I wrote in my post, silicone brake fluid does not work in ABS systems because it will not flow easily through the microvalves in the ABS controllers.

 

That is why especially for cold climates DOT 5.1 fluid was developed. It is a glycol based lower viscosity fluid.

 

McLane Tilton, founder of Tilton Engineering was a close friend (RIP Mac) due to an entirely different hobby. Mac always said the same about flushing systems and it was considered quite scandalous. He also spoke of the compressibility issue in some of his literature and was threatened with a suit by Dow. When he pointed out it was spoken of in both Dows published test reports as well as the testing by TUV Dow dropped the suit. At least at that time TUV rejected it for road cars because of it.

Many underhood finishing materials are certainly prone to damage from glycol based fluids. I had some damage to very recently repainted 330 wrinkle paint work. I can say from being a shop foreman in a very large Ferrari dealer any modern exterior paint (at least post lacquer) is maybe not immune but certainly extremely resistant to damage from DOT4. Brake fluid spills were unfortunately common enough I know this from direct experience and its been a very long time since I have seen modern exterior paint hurt. But and this is a big but, we did in nearly every case quickly douse it with water and get after it with wet towels. Lacquer never gave you that chance.

 

Out of the thousands of times I have handled brake fluid around cars I admit it. I have spilled a few times. I am not perfect.I guess you are in your one single time doing it under zero pressure in your garage. Not only that, one case of damage I did mention was do to a mechanical failure, not human. But again I guess your car is perfect and never has a mechanical failure.

I am very happy for you.

 

I had a a hose on the Motive brake bleeder burst, and showered the front of a modern Subaru, and my garage walls with DOT4.

I scrambled to get a towel and rags, but the hang time was pretty long before I could mop things up.

No issues with modern paint as a result of this spill.

Caution to everyone - those Motive bleeder hoses are just cheap vinyl and not resistant to brake fluid. I can't believe they wouldn't use a brake line quality of hose to prevent this type of disaster, but I guess they want the clear hose for various reasons I can imagine. Change that hose frequently.

 

+1 -- Have a Motive, but have gone back to the vacuum hand pump for this reason (the sealing and the hoses are just too iffy).

 

Moysiuan, I am not so sure "cheap vinyl" hose is used by Motive. When I buy "cheap" vinyl hose to connect bleeder screws to a collection container when performing brake bleeding, after completion I typically rinse out the hose and put it away for the next use. Upon reuse, I find that the hose has hardened up a bit and thus I just use a new piece. However, I like to put all the Motive Bleeder parts and its hoses back into its original box and need to coil up all the hoses to fit it all back in. Upon reuse I typically find the Motive hoses are always pliable and never hardened. I would say that the hose material that Motive Bleeder uses is different than the "cheap" stuff. It stays pliable. Over the years I did need to replace a leaking swivel fitting on the reservoir screw cap and at the same time I also purchased replacement hose from Motive just because "I was in there." Changing the hose out may not be wise unless it is specifically sourced for use with brake fluid. I do not know where to purchase the kind of hose that Motive uses, but it is clearly different than the vinyl hose sold at the big box stores. EDoug

 

Dyke and I have agreed on the non race use of silicone brake fluids for many years, and they can be very useful for museum and stored cars. Long term use advantage is their ability to not promote rust in the system which is a good thing for long term storage. Silicone fluids are used in all military vehicles when in storage.