I don’t know if this has already been discussed, but are there cheaper alternatives to shimano brake fluid which do the same job? I know there is a warranty issue, but brakes are probably out of warranty any way

I used some sewing machine oil. Cheap and very light so easy to bleed.

i think that citroen suspension fluid supposed to be the same -LHM MINERAL HYDRAULIC BRAKE FLUID ISO 7308 – 1 LITRE BOTTLE

Though i may be wrong.

ive used some mineral oil from halfords ( there brand) dont no the exact but it was proper bright green !! been in nearly 9 months and no probs at all.

I used citroen lhm from a motor factors for years and its been fine. Just recently pushed the boat out and bought a big bottle if shimano oil. It wasn’t that much more expensive and I’m worth it.

years ago I bought 1 litre of the Shimano oil from CRC for under £20, not even half way done and have Shimano brakes on 3 bikes. Saves any back of the mind worryment about have I got the right stuff, would Shimano be better.

I have seen the many ‘conversations’ on here saying the LHM oil is as good, the lever feel will be different, no it won’t, yes it will, well I am using it now any way and you smell!

All the while I haven’t had to worry about the correct oil. or smelling.

I believe Baby Oil is mineral oil.

I found this out whilst researching Magura rim brake bleeding for my trials bike.

Not actually tried it as just ended up using V-brakes and not sure this will be the correct ‘weight’ but just passing on what I read!

I have previously used 3 in 1 oil, Jack Oil (for Hydraulic Jacks)both have worked fine.

Currently using some Comma LHM oil to very good effect,I think the biggest difference is time spent doing a thorough bleed and getting rid of any air in the system.

I looked in Halfords. The supposedly cheap Citreon LHM stuff was about £12. The Shimano stuff…£17.

I’m a cheapskate, but for how long it’s gonna last…

Aeroshell 41….it’s what I use in Magura and Shimano brakes.

Its mineral oil, it’ll last and last, it doesn’t absorb water like the DOT fluids.

My one brakes funny though all my brakes are either Magura or Shimano, but I have a Grimeca four pot, which is the same as the Shimano XT (original) and that uses DOT fluid…

Motorbike hydraulic clutch fluid or Citroen suspension oil.

A bulk buy of shimano oil sounds good, the original stuff has lasted ages… Cheers for your opinions

Yeah the Citroen stuff works perfectly.

Bike Hut mineral oil brake fluid from halfords £5.99 , used it last night 🙂

shimano mineral oil is not the same as “mineral oil” under other ‘labels, its a specific formulation with tight QC, when you look at how much R&D shimano put into their disc brakes its worth following their advice

its not like owning Avid, Hayes, Formula or Hope and running any random Dot 5.1 you can find?

considering how little you actually need to bleed a brake, its worth buying the genuine shimano oil to make sure 100% your brakes will work in the long term, especially when stressed on long descents

I don’t run shimano brakes or have shares in Shimano in case you are wondering, but would always use shimano oil if I did own their brakes 😉

shimano mineral oil is not the same as “mineral oil” under other ‘labels, its a specific formulation with tight QC, when you look at how much R&D shimano put into their disc brakes its worth following their advice

I love shimano brakes but…

…shimano’s r&d has improved and revamped their brakes umpteen times in the last 15 years, we have over theose years had exact same lever assemblies across deore, lx, xt and saint all at the same time but for somewhat varying prices (2002-04 iirc), fancy linky things in levers for better pad clearance, centerlok, icetech pads and rotors, two, four, two, and now four again pistons, crazy bleed systems when the new brakes were harder to bleed/get the sneaky hiding little bubbles out than the old ones that you could do in 2 minutes just like a car’s brakes, leaky seals and no spares beyond complete calipers or lever assemblies, and yet they still manufacture and spec the exact same formulation of brake fluid. 😕 Amazing how they got that bit just right the first time around!

Seriously, it would be useful for some chemist type to tell us what is really in shimano oil, magura oil, lhm and indeed other people’s (halfords/bikehut, juice lubes etc) bike-specific mineral oils. Perhaps its just good luck but the only one of my 3 sets of shimao brakes i ever overheated had shimano fluid in it, and not happened since i used lhm…

@julianwilson

agree with your comments

I’ve been trained by Shimano as a bike mechanic, and had specific training on their disc brakes. the importance of using their specific mineral oil was always stressed

I am not stupid about commercial realities, and soon realized buying DOT and Shock / Fork oil from motorbike suppliers was 1/4 of the price of buying the same rebadged fluids from MTB “brands”. This was confirmed when I actually met a rep from one of the leading oil manufacturers and we got talking, he told me the ‘brands’ his company rebadged oils for.

yet, from talking to many experienced mechanics and industry people, it does appear Shimano have something a little different going on with their mineral oil. its not a stock item from what I can gather?

I am sure many people have had good success using other mineral oils in their Shimano brakes. But as a professional bike mechanic I’d only recommend using Shimano in Shimano brakes, and Magura Blood in Magura brakes.

For DOT brakes I’d just use any good quality DOT of suitable spec.

the reason for this is that DOT is an automotive product and subject to tightly controlled legal specifications, whereas most mineral oils are?? At least with Shimano and Magura you have a controlled specification for their mineral oils.

http://www.peterverdone.com/wiki/index.php?title=Hydraulic_Mineral_Oil

Looks like the Pentosin stuff is discontinued. Interesting reading though, in a dorky sort of way.

It’s oil. It’s incompressible, the viscosity has no impact on a brake and the only possible variable is boiling point. The seals don’t care as long as some kind of mineral oil is used.

Can vouch for the fact that the Shimano stuff is definitely different to LHM. Few years ago, needed to bleed my Shimano brakes in a hurry, had no Shimano fluid, went and bought some Comma LHM. It was much thicker and the brakes felt draggy, especially in cold conditions. Rebled with Shimano fluid days later and all was good again.

trained by Shimano…

+

the importance of using their specific mineral oil was always stressed

no sh1t sherlock!

They’re hardly going to say ‘you know what, it’s just mineral oil, buy any brand you like the smell of’ are they?

I don’t disagree with your opinion that it’s different (I dont have the data to decide) but using ‘Shimano told me to only use Shimano stuff’ is not the most unbiased or convincing argument! 🙂

Used the cheaper halfords stuff without issues, get more for your momey…

I have used LHM for years and can’t tell the difference on lever feel. Interestingly if you follow the link on the Halfords site to the COSH data sheet for Shimano oil it gives you this

Shimano data sheet

Which is a Shell product that is mineral based and has (if you can be bothered to go to the Shell site) a very similar viscosity to LHM – actually it’s slightly thicker.

So take what you want from that

Which is a Shell product that is mineral based and has (if you can be bothered to go to the Shell site) a very similar viscosity to LHM – actually it’s slightly thicker.

And only about £2.50 a litre 🙂

I see on the epic brake bleeds website they state

“Our LHM+ Plus Mineral Oil brake fluid is the perfect substitution to use instead of the more expensive, genuine mineral oils from the likes of Magura, Shimano and Tektro.”

LHM probably is OK, but Shimano propaganda might not agree

Tech Speak: Brake Fluid Break Down & Implications for Road Disc