SolaraGuy.com

Hi! Been a while since I've posted on here.

I'm still rocking my 2000 SEV6 5 speed Solara and loving it! I'm lowered with TRD springs and KYB struts and I have cross drilled and slotted rotors from Stillen on the front with Stillen pads and stainless steel brake lines. I've been running this setup for at least 6 years. Stock sized rotor, stock calipers, nothing too exotic, just mildly upgraded. The pads have lasted forever and were just changed a few months ago (Stillen). A bit after the pads were changed I went on a spirited drive through the curvy roads in the hills/mountains, which was awesome. However, after the drive my brakes didn't feel right and still don't. I believe I boiled the brake fluid. It used to stop on a dime, but now the pedal feel is off and it's just slower to stop and feels much less precise.

I took it back to the garage that did the brakes and they bled the system, but it's just not the same. I have worries in traffic, forget about going anywhere with hills and cliffs and tight turns. I found a garage where the head guy mods his own imports for fun, so I'm going there for this upgrade, the garage that did the pad change was so/so and not performance oriented at all. New guy said he'd put in aftermarket fluid, but to research the fluid real well first.

I don't know what type of brake fluid to get. I figure I could just get new fluid of the OEM type, but why not get something better? I've been warned that some types with silicone may damage the system, and I don't want that, but I don't really know much about this. Anybody have a high temp brake fluid they can recommend for me?

Could be your master cylinder is on its way out, i running stock brake fluid with stoptech bbk with no issues and the stopping is great. You could run motul rbf600 dot 4 brake fluid boil point between wet 421° - dry 594°

That RBF Fluid has potential, thanks!

I think I had the master cylinder replaced not that long ago. It's been around 4-5 years, but I think it'd be ok unless I just hooned it too hard and broke it. Maybe just fresh stock fluid is the way to go. I've also been reading about 5.1 fluid which is silicone free and boils high: http://www.synlube.com/brake.htm
(from: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/107-c ... fluid.html ).

It looks like I'd better pay attention to that wet number since I don't plan on changing the fluid all the time.

Can I just use any brake fluid I like as long as it's not silicone based? Because if I can I'm going to get the most badass poly glycol they make. Can stock fluid be mixed in with 5.1 or 4 or whatever?

Use dot 3 don't go with dot 5. Not meant for our cars

Just buy a ericsol bbk with ebc pad or stoptech, rotora bbk.

get some new fluid and bleed the brakes your self, fo sho.

Yeah, the more I learn about brake fluid the more I think that maybe that was just old fluid with high water content. Matter of fact I think it was raining when they changed my pads, that can't be good. Maybe I should stick to stock and reduce risk of complications.