Silicon or not silicon as brakes liquid ?

[shooting brake]

Hello. Can anyone give me an overview (advantage/drawbacks) on switching to silicon for braking liquid rather than the usual thing. I am about to change brake discs, pads and seals on a 1800 ES.
Thank you in advance
Damien

[Peter Milnes]

Not Silicon but Synthetic brake fluid. Available from most stockists (Halfords, et.al.) in DOT 4.1 and 5.1 versions. For normal motoring DOT 4.1 will suffice, but for harder brake usage DOT 5.1 would be better. The advantage of Synthetic is that it is not hygroscopic, thus does not get degraded by moisture ingress.

All the best, Peter

[andy1]

damien, if you wish to use a silicone fluid use dot5 (this fluid was devoloped by the u.s military and is silicone based) advantages ?claimed to be non hydroscopic (but moisture will still enter the system as its vented to apmosphere and can form into globules which can be just as damaging),less aggressive to paint, longer claimed service life,however one of the disadvantages is greater compressibilty compared to glycol based fluids which can lead to a more spongy feel to the pedal, the rest dot 3 4 4.1 5.1 are glycol based, dot 5.1 is a lighter viscosity version of dot 4 and was designed for abs systems i would advise to use dot 4 and change yearly hope this clears things up

[shooting brake]

Many thanks
Damien

[shooting brake]

It does
Many thanks
Damien