Bicycle Mechanics - Shimano brake fluid

Yeah im gong to be bleeding my m445's soon, but the shimano mineral oil stuff is way overpriced, any one know of alternatives? on my avid elixirs i just used the normal dot fluid from the auto shop.

UPDATE!: After some web browsing stumbled upon this! Amazing!
http://www.peterverdone.com/archive/bikemineraloil.htm
Worth a read if you have shimano or other mineral oil using brakes!

You can't use a DOT fluid in Shimano brakes - it'll eat the rubber seals... You need to use a pure mineral oil of the same consistency as the Shimano product. I've heard of people using 'Johnson & Johnson' baby oil and being ok, but I don't know if that's truth or anecdotal. I've heard horror stories too often about non-shimano oil to try it myself.

Magura also uses mineral oil so maybe their brake fluid is worth a look. Some motorcycles also use mineral oil in their brake systems.

One caveat of using auto brake fluid is it dissolves paint.

Find a Vespa or other such scooter/moped dealer...the brakes on these often use mineral oil; at least they did in Morocco. Shimano mineral oil is way overpriced.

-j

Personally, I'd just spend the $20 for the "Right Stuff" and be done with it. Doesn't seem like too much to be safe. I once switch a motorcycle I had from Dot 4 to Dot 5 Synthetic, so it would not eat paint. I ended up replacing the seals in the slave cylinder every year, so in the end it cost me a lot more.

Just my 2 cents...

Personally, I'd just spend the $20 for the "Right Stuff" and be done with it. Doesn't seem like too much to be safe. I once switch a motorcycle I had from Dot 4 to Dot 5 Synthetic, so it would not eat paint. I ended up replacing the seals in the slave cylinder every year, so in the end it cost me a lot more.

Just my 2 cents...

Agreed; you might wish you had spent the $20 if you induce a sudden brake failure during a panic stop and fail to avoid an accident. IMO brakes are too important to cut corners.

Shimano rebrands mineral oil (granted this is not the same mineral oil you buy at a pharmacy) and marks it up a bajillion times to prey on this very same mentality. The issue with changing one DOT fluid for another is the chemical properties are not the same. There are plenty of resources on the web discussing this as there are resources on the web that discuss what mineral oil products are suitable subtitute for the overpriced rebranded shimano stuff. Shimano wants you to believe that their oil is a magical elixir so that folks are too afraid to use anything but their brand of product. The reality is the OP was not asking for the convenient solution...he was specifically asking for an economic solution. Feeding the shimano corporate machine does nothing to help make their oil cheaper and suggesting that one do this does nothing to advance the OP or anyone in a similar situation to a more economical solution.

I was browsing some info in my glovebox a few days ago that basically stated the following "Subaru does not recommend using anything but Genuine Subaru engine coolant in Subaru vehicles. Using anything but Genuine Subaru engine coolant can have catastrophic effects on the function of the engine." I didn't realize Subaru had cornered the market on engine coolant.

-j

Shimano rebrands mineral oil (granted this is not the same mineral oil you buy at a pharmacy) and marks it up a bajillion times to prey on this very same mentality. The issue with changing one DOT fluid for another is the chemical properties are not the same. There are plenty of resources on the web discussing this as there are resources on the web that discuss what mineral oil products are suitable subtitute for the overpriced rebranded shimano stuff. Shimano wants you to believe that their oil is a magical elixir so that folks are too afraid to use anything but their brand of product. The reality is the OP was not asking for the convenient solution...he was specifically asking for an economic solution. Feeding the shimano corporate machine does nothing to help make their oil cheaper and suggesting that one do this does nothing to advance the OP or anyone in a similar situation to a more economical solution.

I was browsing some info in my glovebox a few days ago that basically stated the following "Subaru does not recommend using anything but Genuine Subaru engine coolant in Subaru vehicles. Using anything but Genuine Subaru engine coolant can have catastrophic effects on the function of the engine." I didn't realize Subaru had cornered the market on engine coolant.

-j
Right on, but it seems like I'm gonna have to buy genuene for now, until some suggests another better option (don't want to buy Johnsons baby oil).
Yes the point I was trying to make was you could use non genuine dot fluids with the various avid brakes, but had to use genuine mineral oil with shimano

You never know what the manufacturer is doing to their branded products. Put anything other than Honda ATF in your Honda car, and you will regret it. Do NOT ask me how I know :rolleyes:

You never know what the manufacturer is doing to their branded products. Put anything other than Honda ATF in your Honda car, and you will regret it. Do NOT ask me how I know :rolleyes:
Very true, but btw I did research and you should look at the link in my first post.
I know you said dont ask, but... how do you know?

Very true, but btw I did research and you should look at the link in my first post.
I know you said dont ask, but... how do you know?

I picked up some ATF fluid at Autozone and changed it in a 91 Accord years ago. It started shifting so bad I thought the tranny was gone. I had to drain it and refill 3 times to get all the Autozone stuff out, and it finally worked again. Never again will I try to save a few bucks on something like this.

Asked my mechanic about draining./flushing coolant on my Toyota Sienna and he said I would need to get coolant at Toyota dealer, he doesn't stock it. He said not good to use anything else. He at least must believe it because the shop doesn't usually want you to bring parts for them to install! Maybe I'm a sucker, but with something like brakes, I doesn't seem to be worth the risk, at least until we know more.

One caveat of using auto brake fluid is it dissolves paint.

True, but this is almost always a DOT [x] product which the OP can't use anyway (it literally will eat the seals away and Shimano specifically warns about this).