aomechmarine

Hey my Acura people, quick story/ question, and then a few related tangents.

So o was busy with school for a minute, summer is coming so I went to the owners manual and was checking to see what maintence and such was needed. Then I saw OH CRAP... I haven't done the recommended every 3 year interval brake fluid flush... and this car is coming up on 5 years... before this car I had Corollas and there was not even a recommended interval at all. Serious. Considered lifetime fluid for the car. Had a Civic too, but never did it on that car, didn't have it long enough anyway.

Some heavy research later, from various websites and mechanics... turns up that most places looking to profit from you, recommend every two years, no matter what car you have, no matter the OEM manual recommendation.. SUSPECT...

Whereas most sources NOT looking to profit from you... most said 2-3 years was probably overkill... but 4-5 years more realistic / necessary... which made me feel a bit better, since I can't reverse the clock... one source actually said 6-7 years, but that legit seems to be asking for trouble, I mean DAMN thats already past double what the OEM recommends for our car... and still others straight up said to NEVER change it at all, which... NO I don't agree with that at all.. some even said every year... so uea, a lot of laziness and overkill out there...

Now i did nottice there was even other stories on Acurazine where people did it late because they effed up like me, not intended to do it late...their car seems to be fine... I even noticed that as far as I can tell, 4cruzin's ILX has over 200,000 miles on the same OEM Brake fluid... Tyson... BRUH... WTF? i hope he sees this... did you know you are overdue..? ��

So 4Cruizin's car seems to be fine, I'm pretty sure I'm OK... my own mechanic has never even brought it up , and I think MAYBE one service advisor brought it up a while ago, that was it... I am STILL changing it ASAP tho... that being said... i am looking to use this new Bosch Brake Fluid, that seems to only be available at Autozone. At least around me.

Now I looked into other performance stuff.. Like I beleive its calles ATE SiperBlue, or the Super Gold stuff they make too... Various names, same stuff... but I read on their website that they actually recommend being changed out every YEAR. So people are running it 3 years, which is triple past what they actually recommend.... The price varied too bit wasn't anything crazy... but I'd have to take a decent drive to go pick it up or most likely order it online, driving the price up. The Bosch stuff has VERY similar specs, I trust Bosch products and its's only $15 a liter. Plus I get Autozone points cuz I'm a cheap bastard like that.....

Now heres the big sell point...if you look closely at the specs on the can, it actually says you can use it for DOUBLE the amount of time as a regular DOT 3 brake fluid. And 50% longer then a DOT 4.. technically this stuff is DOT 5.1..... so I don't think I would actually push it to 6 years, but I would feel pretty comfortable pushing this stuff another 5 years before I get another brake fluid flush.. this time intentionally...

what do you guys think..? both on the Bosch stuff and the brake fluid flush interval..?

Please excuse random typos.. sent fromiPhone, god damn nightmare writing this

aomechmarine

So related tangents.. I also went to two different dealers to get my brakes checked, they were squeaking.. pretty sure it was just crud build up/ corrosion from the winter months...Also to see if I could get a deal on the brake fluid flush, and/or brakes, if needed, etc...

So first dealer said I need new brake pads all around... said fluid looked a little dirty... SUSPECT... Wanted $140 for brake fluid flush, wanted $640+ tax total price to resurface rotors and get all new brake pads and brake fluid flush done.. Could "hook me up" for $570+tax with some slight protest from me... Off the bat I was like FUCK THAT...

Dealer two, wanted $160, for brake fluid flush, but said my brakes were all fine, I can probably go another year or two, just check them during regular service... crud was most likely broken up when pads were checked twice...The noise has dissipated a lot, wouldn't be surprised if I could use a rotor resurfacing all around when I do change all the pads out, probably play it safe and do it all at before/ about 100,000 miles.. I believe the OEM rears lasted about 50k miles, and I probably changed them a bit early, but they were squeaking. im currently at about 68,000 miles... so 100,000 miles os about 2 years or so away for me.. mental note...

i called a local tuner spot, they said $50 bucks for labor if I bring my own fluid... my mechanic is remodeling his shop, won't be open for a few more days... if he charges me the same or only a little more, I'll get it knocked outt with him ASAP...

pretty crazy tho, fucking Stealership wanted me to do $500+ worth of unnecessary/ premature work... NEVER trust theses mofos, always get a second opionion at least... Never tell them what you think is wrong, just ask for a general check, it's free at most dealerships... Also don't always go to the same dealership if you have a few that are close... I mostly go to my mechanic... I know its a bit dirtbag to basically only use the dealer for a free check up...But I will go to the dealer if the price is right... it just usually isn't... has been at least 3 or 4 times tho... Plus I know they will make the difference up by ripping someone off later.. so I'm like a cheap bastard version of Robin Hood������

aomechmarine

***As far as I can tell, 4Cruizin only changed rear brake pads ONCE near 100k miles, and hasn't even changed the fronts at all! Maybe he did change them again tho. Makes sense, he probably has long drives at a steady clip, so doesn't eat up brakes like an average driver...means "average" ILX driver will wear out brakes in a similar ratio tho...? Right..? Like if he changed out rears at about 100k, then at 200k its probably time for all new brake pads all around right..? So my car wasted rears at about 50k and would probably wear out all 4 at about 100k..?������Right..? Rough estimate..? Seems about right...

Tyson...? Have you checked those brake pads bruh..? BRUH..?

aomechmarine

Cool so I had a brake fluid flush done with the Bosch fluid. I watched the guys do it in front of me. A pair of brothers who have a tuner shop, they used to be Honda dealership techs. They bled all the brakes, changed all the fluid... they used up only half of the 1 liter bottle. I saw the fluid that came out of the brakes. Was pretty dark, but still see through. The new stuff is almost clear. Brake pedal feels slightly firmer, nothing crazy. Might not be from the fluid itself, might just be that my brake fluid was done, but there is a small noticeable difference. I'm just going to give away the rest to one of my buddies. I got the brake fluid for free through Autozone points from buying oil and filter specials. So I spent $50 on labor to do this. They knocked it out in about 20 minutes because they have all the equipment, 2 man team, and a lift. Worth my $50.

I also looked this up online, and a few different mechanics told me in person too, that most dealerships don't actually bleed the brakes... they mostly just take out the old fluid from the reservoir, top it off with new fluid, and call it a day... they even said that its OK to do that! Pretty crazy when it just takes them all of 5 minutes to swap fluid in the reservoir, and then they charge you $120-$160... SMH... can't even spare 10 more minutes to bleed the brakes when you charge someone that much..? WOW

schen72

I'm a pretty gentle driver and don't slam on my brakes all the time. For example, in city driving I often coast to the next traffic light because what's the point in braking at the last minute? There are always people who gun it going around me and then a few minutes later I coast up to them at the next light. My pads last typically into the 80k-100k miles range. On my RL, they wore out around 50k but that is a heavy car so maybe that's normal.

thoiboi

Brake pads =\= brake fluid..

schen72

I was just mentioning pads because of marine's post about the dealer trying to screw him over by wanting to replace pads.