Rep Power: 381

Basic.

DOT 5 = Silicone base. and although it has a high boiling temp it has several VERY bad draw backs. Such as it is not compatible with regular brake fluid, it is hard to pour without introducing bubbles and thus results in soft pedal feel, and moisture still gets into your system and will pool in low areas like your calipers and encourage rapid corrosion. STAY AWAY!

If you want the heat capacity of DOT 5 fluid, look for DOT 5.1, which is a Glycol base brake fluid, just like DOT 3-4. Example, ATE Super blue/Type 200 is a DOT 5.1 Fluid, and has a dry boiling point of 536 wet of 392. Exceeding DOT 5.

LowLife, Absolutly do not top off your brake fluid unless it is below the Min mark on the reservoir. if you do it will cause you more problems in the long run when you do change out your pads. (Overflowing the master cylinder is a sure fire way to get brake fluid on all sorts of things in the engine compartment... and Brake fluid Eats Paint like its butter.)

 
Rep Power: 310

ok i read more into the dot 5 thing, and although a few sites i saw say its a race fluid bla blah blah, some say its not....i found one that says due to the drawbacks its better to find a high boiling point dot 4.

s2k man, get off the soap box because i NEVER recommended anyone to convert to dot5, i just stated that it was good for high performance and if thats enough for someont to go change fluid over....they have more problems than that.

Zzyzx i recognize some of that from one of the pages lol but yea dot 5 is a tricky thing to deal with. and your wrong about topping off.... all you have to do when replacing pads is crack the bleeder of the caliper or remove the master cylinder cover before you push the piston back in, and from what i have seen, most cars will have NO problems with leaking it from the master cylinder, meaning that if you dont care about a lil mess there probably isnt anything the manu. put under it.

 
Rep Power: 400

don't crack the bleeder when you push the caliper in. you can introduce air to the system. no need to crack the bleeder unless you're planning on flushing the system.

 
Rep Power: 310

i did it once before when i had forgot to open the cap on the resevoir and the customer was bitching that they needed the car at a set time, i pushed the caliper in a lil, then cracked the bleeder as i continued to push it in, i closed the bleeder shortly before i stopped pushing, and later topped off the fluid. im hoping that i prevented air from entering by cracking it while under pressure, but who knows.

 
Rep Power: 316

I've done that a LOT of times and never a problem!