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Re: What's wrong with my brakes?

To: "T. .R. Dafforn" <td214@cam.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: What's wrong with my brakes?
From: Barry Schwartz <bschwart@pacbell.net>
Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2000 09:21:08 -0700
 and the general
>thought is that DOT4 does mix with DOT5, but you get the worst of both
>worlds
****************************************
I don't know who told you that DOT 5 would mix with DOT 4  but they are
incorrect - and obviously never tried to mix the two.  They are not
compatible and will not mix anymore than oil and water will.  If you pour
DOT 4 into DOT 5 it will, like water in oil, form little balls in the fluid
or enough, will form its own layer, and no amount of agitation will cause
them to become permanently combined.  Eventually the two will stabilize and
settle out, again just the same as oil and water would.  Silicon oil is NOT
hygroscopic (will not absorb water), while the other glycol based DOT
versions will.  Therein lies the main difference.  There is a DOT 5.1 (I
believe it's .1) that is compatible with existing glycol base fluid, and
quite possibly that is what the person(s) were referring to, but Silicon
fluid (DOT 5) and/or glycol based (DOT 3, 4, and 5.1) definitely are NOT -

Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net

72 PI, V6 Spitfire (daily driver)
70 GT6+ (when I don't drive the Spit)
70 Spitfire (long term project)


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