Brake/Clutch Fluid

[David T]

I just had a long conversation with an engineer at Brembo. They make brakes for many of the European car manufacturers (Lotus among them). They have and continue to recommend Castrol DOT 4. It is a very popular brand in Europe and is available almost universally there.They are setting up an assembly line here in the US. They cannot get Castrol to provide large tots (500 gallons) of the stuff from Castrol here in the US so they are going to use a comparable DOW product. From Brembos' point of view a DOT 4 brake fluid has to pass stringent requirements so it doesn't really matter who the manufacturer is. They consider it all to be equivalent. When I asked him about Castrol being more compatible with the seals, he said that was a myth. So it now seems not so important what brand fluid you use as long as it is a good one. The BIG thing is to change it at least every other year. He also did say the "new" Castrol is the same stuff as it always was, just in a different bottle. Bottom line, if Castrol is available to you locally you should use it, but if not, any good, national brand should be fine. It is not good to mix brands or DOT levels.
David Teitelbaum