Why is brake fluid so evil

[White Noise]

Well after having my first encounter with brake fluid this weekend, i am wondering why it is so evil! i know that the demands that are put on it are great but what is in it and why that makes it eat paint!
Cheers
WN
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[Bezzer]

It's just the formula they use, trading off best for use against the various side effects. The Glycol Ethers present are the most likely cause of the paint eating, it's highly corrosive.
You can get a non corrosive fluid - silicone based DOT5 that's got higher boiling temp but really should just be used for racing, track daying etc as it goes "off" quickly and has to be changed regularly. DOT 5.1 is an attempt to gain the attributes of 5 but with the plusses of the longer life 3 and 4 fluids....but I think that has the Glycol Ethers as well in the formula so it's back to square one.
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I used to be indecisive but now I'm not quite so sure.

[mchaggis]

Tri and tetraethylene glycol mono alkyl ethers, their borate esters and corrosion inhibitors.

The ethers are organic solvents, which boil at 300+ degrees C. The use of corrosion inhibitors should be fairly obvious. The borate esters are for anti-oxidising, anti-foaming, viscosity modifying etc..

Anyway, pretty nasty chemicals; the solvents are needed to dissolve the other stuff in and provide the main bulk I should think.
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[mr.z]

Just a sidenote: droping a phone into a shallow bucket of it will not do the phone any good.
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[Wave2k]

fuck DOT4 just use water
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[Will87]

[cunni]

I've had a few encounters with this Dot4;

I had it on my hands for hours, no effects.

I've had it on my clocks for 2 months (after the brake reservoir got smashed), they are fine.

I've had it on painted wheels for approx. one day and they are fine.

All of the above had a clean after the stated time. I think it is only really danagerous to anything if left there indefinatly. It doesn't appear to be that bad at all.

As for whether I should have left it there in the first place, I was having a bad day trying to bleed a new brake system and getting nowhere!
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[Kickstart]

[Bezzer]

[J.K.R]

Comes in real handy for decorating very pesky neighbours cars

[Kickstart]

Hi

Just checked the boiling points and you are right, both wet and dry (although 5.1 is better than all of them).

However DOT 5 does not absorb water at all, There is no reason for it to get contaminated and thus need regular changes unlike DOT 3, 4 or 5.1. This is one reason why it is used by some people in classic cars as they car just fill it and forget it for the next decade.

Getting water into a system filled with DOT 5 is a bad idea as it is difficult to remove.

The spongy feel is because silicone based fluids are slightly compressable.

All the best

Keith
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[Motkram]

Water does not compress one little bit, and the best thing to do if you spill brake fluid on your beloved's paint work is to rinse with cold water. The fluid is diluted with it and becomes more or less harmless. (as far as paint is concerned, anyway)
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[Kickstart]

[dibbster]