[mgsm666]

Hey,

So i flushed my brakes last week, replacing the stock fluid with ATE Super Blue Racing Fluid.

First of all, anyone who's not sure if they can do brakes - ITS CAKE!! Super simple, just take your time and have a buddy help you out inside the car. Real easy.

So my stock fluid came out looking VERY clean, which leads me to believe that the previous owner had it flushed right before i bought the car (about 8k miles ago), but oh well, provides a good direct comparison between clean stock and clean ATE

IMPRESSIONS: I've been driving with the new fluid for a week now, and I gotta tell you, at first i thought the peddle was much less responsive. I realized after a few drives that the pedal is actually not unresponsive, but rather it is HARD AS A ROCK! What threw me off was that now you have to be prepared to use a little force on the brake peddle because it is so much stiffer (the same force that was necessary for the stock pedal will not stop the car - that's what scared me). Just be prepared to have to use some extra force on the brake peddle - nothing crazy at all, but definately a little push. The brakes should have come like this from the factory --> now it really feels like i can stop this car

It took me about 2 days to get used to it, but now i absolutely love it. Peddle is very stiff (except for the first inch or so which doesn't actually do anything - time to do the brake pedal mod), and under braking, its MUCH easier to modulate due to the added feedback/force from the pedal.

Overall, i think this was a great cheap mod to my braking system, and i would absolutely do it again. FOR ANYONE DOING THIS --> be prepared to be scared the first time you hit the brakes. I thought my car wasn't gonna stop, and i had to really lean on it. I've adjusted now, and you just need to be prepared to add a little extra force to the brake pedal.

+1 for ATE

~Jesse

Cliff notes: Great mod - be prepared for a stiff pedal which will scare you the first time, because it takes significantly more effort.

p.s. Mods --> I realize this should be in the "review" section, but i figured it would be seen more here, and thus more beneficial. At least for a little while.

[nandanrp]

I bet stainless lines would help with the slop you feel in the pedal initially.

Your description reminds me how the brakes feel after you get some snow packed into your wheels/brakes/rotors...scary as hell pushing the brake to the floor to get the car to stop

[mgsm666]

^^ Don't get me wrong...i DEFINATELY DON'T have to push the pedal to the floor...there's that little play at the beginning, and then the pedal is a ROCK!! I love it. It just takes a little extra effort, so the first time you hit the brakes you think it would go down to the floor.

No need for stainless lines unless i'm really turning this into a track car, and thats definately not my intention...i'm just gonna go with nhulr's brake pedal mod to get rid of some of the play.

~Jesse

[will12345]

bleed your brakes again..it shouldnt do that..dot 4 brake fluid changes more so when it gets hot..it really doesnt effect your brake pressure

[mgsm666]

^^ I did the flush, and then re-bled them the following day. I think i may have sucked in some air the first time (i almost let the tank run dry), but couldn't get any air out after or the following day.

Once there's air way in there, is there any way to get it out?

^^ What should it not be doing??

~Jesse

[will12345]

when you did the flush did you have fluid constantly going through? they way we do it at work, we have seal adaptor plates that we put on the end of brake bottles and throw that on top on the resorvoir and with i.e. super blue, we suck out the fluid with our pneumatic bleeder and wait til you blue fluid..do that on all four corners and you have successfully flushed your system. now if you did this and allow air the resorvoir to empty out..then you will have to have it bleed professionally with a pneumatic bleeder

[mgsm666]

I bled every corner until it was blue, filling up the resevoir regularly, but once...just once (i know thats all it takes, just still kicking myself)...i think i let the resevoir run a little low. :doh:

You said before that my brakes "shouldn't do that"...what specifically were you referring to??

I'll re-bleed them tomorrow to make sure that there's really no air left in there, but they've been holding up fine, and the pedal has been nice and stiff.

So far i'm happy...

~Jesse

[mgsm666]

p.s. whats a pneumatic bleeder??