Cadillac CTS-V - Brake Fluid

What kind do you all run?

DOT 3 is the standard on these cars, some people choose to run Blue DOT 4 for heavier use ie road courses and such.

I am swapping my new brakemotive rotors & pads tomorrow & decided to go ahead and flush the old fluid out. I was told to use blue but can't find it local. Do any automotive stores sell it? I know I don't at auto zone.

Not sure what the law in TN is, but in FL DOT 4 Blue is not "street legal" you may have to order online.

I've been using ATE 200. It is pretty high-temp, isn't very expensive, and says it should be changed every 3 years (which suggests it has a more normal affinity for absorbing water).

It comes in a huge bottle, so I usually suction out the excess in my other cars and fill them up with it too.

The only reason for blue is so you can alternate colors and tell when it is flushed through. I think this is more useful on a race car where the fluid may be "bad", yet still quite new. So it still looks nice and clear gold (or clear blue). On your car it will likely be cloudy grey, so it will be obvious when fresh gold fluid is coming out. The blue doesn't do anything else.

I run Motul RBF600

Cool. I was wondering if that was the purpose for the color. So if I can't get my hands on any ATE or anything then a prestone dot 4 would be fine. Correct? It has the highest boiling point of all we have here. 517 or something close to that.

Any DOT4 should work fine and be an upgrade from DOT3 stuff. If you're not tracking it you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

I'm going to track it, however it will be later this year or next year before I do.

Hey BudRacing, did you see any improvement with that pinion brace? I've seen them on eBay but was skeptical.

I swapped out the brake fluid with DOT4.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TQ0WM4/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

Ate or Valvoline Synth if I don't want to order the Ate.

I looked at the Valvoline Synth at work but the Prestone HD DOT4 Synth has a higher wet and dry boiling point.

Then the Prestone sounds like a good readily available fluid to use. What are it's BP's?

Wet is 311 & dry is 517 I believe.

Motion RBF600 for me too.

Oops. It auto corrected me. *Motul

I have used Valvoline syn. for most of my cars. For track use I can only get one track day on the valvoline. Got a soft peddle on my '04 CTS-V on the second day at VIR without bleeding for the second day. I need to bleed the brakes for the second day of a two day event with the Impala. I switched to ATE and was able to run two days at Gingerman without problems. I still bleed and put fresh fluid in for each track event.

Wet is 311 & dry is 517 I believe.

I took the time to look it up.
Valvoline claims 480 dry and 311 wet.
http://www.valvoline.com/products/brands/valvoline/dot-3-4-brake-fluid/28

Prestone claims 470 dry 284 wet.
http://www.prestone.com/enca/node/438 (you'll have to click "technology" on the page.)

^^ You looked up the wrong one.
The one they're referring to is the Prestone DOT 4.
But the picture seems to be wrong.
http://www.prestone.com/products/print/440?popup=1

This is the actual bottle
http://www.amazon.com/Prestone-AS800P-Dot-Brake-Fluid/dp/B001B0TA2W

Wet boiling point of the Motul (421 degrees) is almost as high as the dry boiling point of some of the other fluids mentioned in this thread. It's not super expensive either. I don't have to bleed my brakes that often with it either and if you've seen my calipers, I'm not exactly easy on the brakes.

Motul RBF600 and ST-47's great combo

Castrol SRF and forget about them for a loooong time. Lasts 4-5 times as long as the Motul RBF600 in my clutch as well.

^^ You looked up the wrong one.
The one they're referring to is the Prestone DOT 4.
But the picture seems to be wrong.
http://www.prestone.com/products/print/440?popup=1

This is the actual bottle
http://www.amazon.com/Prestone-AS800P-Dot-Brake-Fluid/dp/B001B0TA2W

Thanks. I'll start grabbing that when I need something with short notice.

Actually the new bottle is yellow. But it will say synthetic DOT 4 on it with the boiling points listed right on the front.

Actually the new bottle is yellow. But it will say synthetic DOT 4 on it with the boiling points listed right on the front.

Good to know! Thanks again.

autozone carries another brand too, can't remember which, that is a true dot 4 with a higher boiling point, but it only comes in smaller bottles. The prestone "dot 4" is really a dot 3/4, whose boiling point matches the valvoline synthetic dot 3/4 on the shelf but the valvoline is cheaper.

I have another can of super blue on the shelf but im waiting until I can purge the air from my abs before I just waste it. I used my other can of super blue on the wifes maxima and used the leftover in my clutch...I noticed a nice improvement. I can't imagine how good the castrol or rbf feels... The heat resistance to boil is probably a big factor when there's so little fluid involved.

Castrol SRF and forget about them for a loooong time. Lasts 4-5 times as long as the Motul RBF600 in my clutch as well.

+1

Been an SRF junkie for years and years.

Do it once and fogetaboutit ...

autozone carries another brand too, can't remember which, that is a true dot 4 with a higher boiling point, but it only comes in smaller bottles. The prestone "dot 4" is really a dot 3/4, whose boiling point matches the valvoline synthetic dot 3/4 on the shelf but the valvoline is cheaper.

I have another can of super blue on the shelf but im waiting until I can purge the air from my abs before I just waste it. I used my other can of super blue on the wifes maxima and used the leftover in my clutch...I noticed a nice improvement. I can't imagine how good the castrol or rbf feels... The heat resistance to boil is probably a big factor when there's so little fluid involved.

We are actually talking about the smaller bottle. There is a prestone dot 3/4 that matches the Valvoline. However there is another prestone that is a true dot 4 with higher boiling points. The only other small bottles carried are dot 5. You can use that if you want to die...

I know this all because I manage an Autozone.