huka

Hi Alls,

Have anyone here ever swapped mineral oil in their hydraulic disc brake with silicone oil.?
If so, can you share the story.?

Regards,
Irvan

dedhed

Brake system components like seals are usually designed for a particular type of fluid and using a different fluid is generally not recommended.

Iride01 

The low end temp for silicone oil might be something you should consider if you do decide to use it over the recommended mineral oil. You might find your brakes not working well in the chilly months.

I've no experience with using silicone oil for anything though. I'm not much of an experimenter anymore for things that I need to depend on, IE. BRAKES. though I don't use them much when I ride, I want to know they'll work when needed.

squirtdad

Why would anyone use anything but the manufacturer specified fluid for a critical system like brakes?

3alarmer 

...my friend here, Roger, used the wrong brake fluid when he changed it out in his Harley Davidson.
Froze the cylinders, and that sucker was still sitting in his garage after fifteen years, when he moved it and his furniture to Santa Cruz.

Bald Paul

Good article explaining the differences:
DOT Brake Fluid vs. Mineral Oil - and the Winner is.. – Epic Bleed Solutions

Bald Paul

In my career as a Regional Technical Specialist (fancy description for "tech that travels to fix problems") for one of the import car manufacturers, I saw this many times.
Kids would buy the performance models (or mommy and daddy would buy it for them) and change out their brake fluid to DOT 5 because, well, "racecar". Little did they know that mixing DOT 5 with the factory supplied DOT 4 was detrimental to their brake systems, usually finding out only after the ABS warning light came on. Often times, I was the guy that had to inform them (and the parents) that the cost of replacing their entire braking system, including master cylinder, ABS hydraulic unit, calipers, brake lines and hoses was NOT going to be covered under their factory warranty.

Boy, those were some fun conversations!

HillRider

From the article Bald Paul referenced, absolutely no bicycle hydraulic brake manufacturer condones the use of silicone (DOT 5) brake fluid. Experiment at your own risk.

Numerozero

You're asking people to recommend using a product not endorsed by th e brake manufacturer?

Even if it worked for me I would never publicly tell anyone else to do so.

At shops I've worked at we won't even mix mineral oils - Tektro brakes get only Tekro mineral oil; Shimano brakes get only Shimano mineral oil.

Barry2 

I suspect this ......... "Location: Jakarta, Indonesia"



Barry

veganbikes

Don't play around with brakes, use the proper mineral oil designed for the brake. Don't use alternatives, the tiny amount of money you may save might be all wasted if you are stuck in the hospital or just simply destroy your brakes. We aren't talking about an upgrade to a full Campagnolo Super Record EPS gruppo but using relatively cheap brake fluid.

cxwrench

huka

Dear all kind responders,

Thank a lot for sharing here your concideration, all of it comes to my thought really. It was just me who had an idea (that silicone oil has higher boiling temp than mineral oil) but lack of informations about it (and I didn't know DOT5 were made of silicone until HillRider mentioned it). That was why I wrote on this forum and asked for anything, any thoughts, experiences you might have. For Barry2 yes I live in Jakarta, Indonesia and riding MTB hilly track around Jakarta often means long steep discending Sometimes accidents occured and few were quite fatal due to brake loss from high temp. Iride01 we dont have winter here so no oil is ever frozen Bald Paul thanks for sharing the article it is really an enlightment. veganbikes and Numerozero thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Sorry for my late response

Thanks all,