Quote:
Originally Posted by XutvJet
I don't think any of us are saying that. Most of us understand that vehicle fluids have a life expectancy. It also pays to test fluids and there are plenty of cheap products on the market that you can use to test brake fluid, coolant, and such. It is a dealer/shop's vested interest to sell you on all sorts of maintenance services as they make them a ton of money.
BMW's 2 year brake fluid service interval is largely based on folks driving high speeds on the autobahn where high MPH stops can result in potential brake fade issues. Us in the US typically are driving well below 50mph and on the highways, 80mph and usually more like 65mph in most places on average. Brake fade isn't much of an issue during a single panic stop from 80mph to 30mph vs one at 120mph to 40mph. The German makes are just bonkers about their brake fluid changes but if you go to an Asian or domestic shop, they hardly ever recommend a brake fluid change unless it's been years, the car really old, and/or the fluid in the reservoir brownish. Those cars use DOT 3 or 4.
Lastly, I've tested 4 y/o brake fluid on my M235 at the reservoir and at the caliper. Hardly any measurable difference and within 0.5% of a percent, thus, so much for that argument and it really opened my eyes to how needless a 2 year fluid change is on a street driven only car. Now if I was tracking any of my cars on occasion, I'd be changing the fluid probably every year for obvious reasons.
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You've never been to Florida, have you? Lol. Our highways move at 80+. You can be going 80 in the middle lane and have someone blow past you going WAY over that. 50 mph is like, surface roads speeds.
That said 2 years is probably more to drive service dollars than anything else. I can also feel a difference in old brake fluid vs new in the pedal, old fluid leads to a sponge feeling pedal. My C4 is due for fluid because of this feeling (to be fair, this fluid is several years old and desperately needs replaced).
All that said, I'm surprised more people don't run Castrol SRF. It's DOT4 and not hygroscopic.