Brake fluid is an often overlooked piece of the puzzle which is the braking system. People rarely change it, and those who want better performance usually remember it last. In reality, how often you change your brake fluid, and what type of brake fluid you use can have a massive impact on how your car brakes. Here’s everything you need to know on this subject! 

Why You Need to Flush Your Brake Fluid

Before we get into performance brake fluids and how they affect your car’s performance, let’s talk about basic maintenance for a brief moment. Many people think that the braking system is a perfectly closed environment. That isn’t exactly the case.

Various components develop micropores just big enough to let the moisture seep in. To say that your brake lines, ABS cube, and other components aren’t designed to deal with moisture would be an understatement. 

Hygroscopy 

Fortunately, you have your brake fluid to offer a limited amount of protection to all these parts. It does so through its natural hygroscopic properties. In other words, this fluid attracts moisture from its environment, trapping it and keeping it away from critical components. 

As much as this is a benefit, it can also be a drawback if the levels of moisture reach 2% or higher. At that point, your brake fluid is considered to be contaminated. Here’s why. 

Every time you step on the brakes, you’re causing pads to mate with the rotors. The byproduct of that process is heat. Depending on how often and how hard you’re braking, that heat can reach high temperatures that begin to affect all the components in your brake system. This includes your brake fluid. Given enough heat, it will begin to boil, which means that you no longer have hydraulic pressure in the system. With no hydraulic pressure, there is nothing to actuate the calipers. 

Brake Fluid Boiling Point

All liquids have a boiling point. Your brake fluid has two — wet (wet conditions) and dry (dry conditions) boiling points. Both of these boiling points are much higher than that of water. However, if you introduce enough moisture into the brake fluid, these boiling temperature will drop significantly. Water contamination is a real thing, which is why it’s highly recommended that you flush your braking system every 2 years. 

Brake fluid that has been used for a year will suffer 2% water contamination. This percentage rises quickly the longer you wait. If ignored for long enough, you can have 8%-10% contamination, at which point you shouldn’t really count on your brakes to work nearly as effectively. By flushing the system every 2 years, you’re saving yourself a lot of potential trouble. 

Performance Brake Fluids?

Speaking of boiling points, not all brake fluids are made the same. This goes for fluids of the same DOT rating. Your average OE brake fluids have to meet the DOT standards for dry and wet boiling points, which they usually do. 

However, they rarely exceed these standards. Performance brake fluids such as Motul BRF 600 and Motul BRF 660 are specifically designed to offer higher dry and wet boiling points, even though they are DOT rated just like any other brake fluid out there. 

The benefits of having more headroom in terms of the boiling point are fairly straightforward — the hotter the brake fluid gets without turning into gas, the better. As long as it retains its fluid form, you can brake. In practice, this means that you can brake harder, more often, and for longer, without worrying whether your pedal will suddenly drop to the floor. 

Are Performance Brake Fluids Suitable for Street Use? 

The answer to this question depends on what you’re looking for. For most people, using this type of brake fluid is overkill. Your chances of reaching either of the two mentioned boiling points while commuting to work are close to none. 

However, if you often go for a ride down the back roads, and you like to push your car whenever you can, you could enjoy the benefits of performance brake fluids. 

Get Quality Brake Fluids at Newparts.com 

Here at Newparts.com, we offer a wide range of high-quality regular and performance brake fluids made by some of the most popular brands in the business. To find the right brake fluid for your car, simply head over to our shop, select your make and model, and we’ll show you only those products that are a guaranteed match for your vehicle.