this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
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Brake fluid is hygroscopic and will accumulate water over time despite being in a nominally sealed system. Water in solution with brake fluid noticeably lowers the boiling point which leads to issues under repeated braking (e.g. down long steep hills) as the fluid boiling means you lose braking capacity in that circuit.
You should ideally be changing the brake fluid every few years (2-3 being the typical recommendation) and that applies even if the brakes are used less often.
You can use DOT 5.1 to significantly increase that wet boiling point, but it's expensive for normal car use. I usually use it in my motorcycle, since I've experienced brake fade on that before, and it's... Not fun.
Huh? In here you can get DOT5.1 for the same price than DOT4. Roughly 10€ per litre, depending on brand and how big bottle you get.
Not where I am; DOT 5.1 costs 2-3 times as much as DOT 5 locally.
DOT 4, $.375/oz.
DOT 5.1, $1.42/oz.
It's 3.8x more expensive to buy DOT 5.1 locally.