Which Brake Fluid for the Track?

I had my first DE event for 2007 on the weekend on Summit Point's Main Track (WV) and it was a blast! The course is very demanding on the brakes (a lot of 125mph down to 50mph breaking). At the end of my 4th 30min. session I started to floor my brake pedal. My brake fluid got too hot and on the drive home my rotors were squeaking for some miles due to some deposit of my brake pads. They got obviously too hot as well. I've all stock brakes and beside the last laps of the day, they worked very well, no fading or other weaknesses. However, for my next event I need to change at least the brake fluid to one with a higher boiling point. I may further change the pads and do also think about changing my brake lines to Stainless Steel ones. My 996 is not a daily driver but I mainly drive it on the street (plus 5-7 DE events per year). What brake fluid should I get and how much of it? Should I also change my pads and brake lines? Is there a good compromise product of street/track pads out there? My next DE event will be in April on the same track. I've seen some products at Suncoast: ATE Super Blue Racing Brake Fluid Prospeed GS610 Brake Fluid - SALE Stainless Steel Brake Lines Thanks, Harold

Castrol SRF -- not cheap but your brakes are the most important part of your car. Marc

Harold, for fluid go with Motul or Castrol SRF (if you want the best & don't mind paying for it). I'm sure either will work just fine for you. Better ducting would help a lot too (like from the GT3 or Cup). Stainless lines are not needed for your application IMO. Pads are going to be the hardest to decide. Lots of choices, pros/cons and opinions on them. I have Pagid RS-19's on my GT3 that I use for both street & track. They're awesome and a lot of the GT3 track junkies swear by them. They can squeal badly on the street sometimes (need to bed them in again or wash the car to get rid of this) and the first stop or two takes a little more distance when cold. I love the Wimbledon Green! My old 996 was that same color and it really grew on me.

ATE Super Blue fluid is very commonly used. Very high temp, easy to use and tell when you have replaced the old clear with it. These pads are excellent: http://www.braketechnology.com/sport.html The Pagid's do not squeal in my experiance so far. They are better than stock, noticeably better. Pagid is a big name in brakes and they are quite good about responding to emails with questions exactly as yours. Many here complain about squealing with other more agressive compounds. These may be a good way to go. Call/email them.

I'm a convert from ATE 200 and super blue to Motul 600 and I will never go back. In my M3 (heavy car) I could do one day at a DE and then needed to bleed. I could go two full days with Motul 600 and still didn't have as soft of a pedal as I did after one day with the ATE. Brake fluid is one of those things where you get what you pay for. If you can swing the SRF then do it, if not the Motul is a great alternative. Personally I'm not going back to the ATE fluids. Andy

I have some spare Castrol SRF that I would sell you if you like. I no longer track my 996 so I don't really use it (I bought a case new . . . ) Let me know.

I have had good results with ATE Super Blue and Pagid Orange pads on my 986. There are more race oriented fluids available and even better pads available. However, more race oriented fluids are much more $$ and more aggressive pads are not as rotor friendly and give up some cold stopping power. For dual use (street/track) the super blue/Pagid Orange combo has worked well for me.

i swear by Motul Brake fluid..never had any issues with it street or hard track usage. Havn't tried the Castrol SRF but its about double the price of RBF600...is it really twice as good, i can't say but Motul is teh roxxor.

I use Motul 600 racing. It is relatively cheap and I change it often. Castrol SRF is excellent but costly and if you are serious about track you should change it often anyway. I like the Pagid Rs 19 or the newer Rs-29 (very similar) pads. My preferred set-up is the Rs-19/29 in front and Rs 19 in the rear. The brake bias is improved with the more aggressive pads on the rear. They all work fine on the street providing you do not drive in cold weather (i.e. les than 45-50 degrees F). best,

Thank you all for your advise! I guess I've narrowed down my choice of break fluid to either Motul 600 or Castrol SRF; the price difference per liter is significant ($30 vs. $75). TD in DC - PM sent! My current pads are still pretty good, so I might change the fluid for my next DE event in April and after that I'll probably change the pads as I'm enrolled for another event in May - Pagid seams to be a good choice although I see share the concern to use them on the street and in colder temperatures. How often do you guys suggest to change the break fluid?

I saw you out there (I was in the green Lotus) - good on ya for getting that first day under your belt, and I'm glad you had fun. +1 (996 for me). For mostly street/some track use I would recommend the stock pads (!) and suck up some fade. For mostly track/some street use I'd go with Pagid Orange and suck up some noise and rotor wear on the street. I'd go so far as to say there's no pad that can do both street and track really well, with no compromises, if a car weighs 3000lb+. I swap pads (and tires) for track days, and it's very easy to do - maybe 40 minutes all the way around? A nice thing about Orange is that I can use them on the street for a couple weeks between track days without major noise or performance issues. In any case if you still have pad left I'd put em in a box, get Orange on there for your April track day, and then decide afterward if you want to swap back (rather than wear the ones you have out first). If you're not doing other mods and it's only a few days a year then simply changing pads and fluid should do. Stock rotors are good (and cheap), and you needn't F with stainless steel lines. You'll want coilovers first. If you go with more aggressive fluid plan on changing it a lot, and you honestly don't need it.

I have my brake set up with Motul RBF 600 fluid and Ferrodo DS3000 race pad. I am happy with it, but planning to change the pad to DS2500, since it is better for street use. Reason price at raceshopper.com. FYI and have fun!

It is brake fluid

I guess I saw you too RamVA! Nice Lotus and great classy British sports car color! Of course you're right Tool Pants; lucky me, everyone understood me. According to the owners manual there's only 0.45 liter brake fluid in the car, so the price doesn't seem to be a big issue.

A local porsche race shop swears by Castrol SRF on their race cars... I used it in my E46 M3 in Buttonwillow and on the canyons and it was PERFECT...no fade at all.. none on stock brakes. I used ATE Blue on my S2000 w/ stock brakes and those held up well also at Cal Speedway Interior.

Yellow front, orange back, blue in between, and green to pay for it all. No issues at Laguna (hard on brakes) this past week...

I'm told Pagid yellow is a little aggressive for street use.

I've had very poor experiences with ATE Blue and Gold in my 996. Both of the times I ran ATE, I had a spongy brake pedal which got much worse after hard running. I am now running AP551 and much happier, very consistant hard pedal. My choices would be Motul 600 or AP551.