Brake fluid change – how often?

as per the titlereally. i’ve not changed the fluid in my brakes for a while and wondered if it’s worthwhile bleeding them?

do you gain performance or is it pointless?

yearly is best but minimum of every two years.

On my motorbike probably every two years. On my mtb when I think of it or when they start to go off a bit, suggesting there’s air in the system.

annually for me. its so cheap and easy to do.

Dot fluid absorbs water and drops its boiling point, all brake fluid slowly collects contaminants – dust that gets past the seals and wear particles.

Its just a piece of preventative maintenence

Can’t remember when I last did mine, I reckon maybe 4 years ago now. Still working fine though but as TJ says so easy to do there’s no real excuse.

yeah, it’s really easy on mine too (hayes Strokers). just wanted to check to see if it’s worth doing as I am hoping to ride Snowdon when it decides to warm up and I know I’ll be on the brakes for a lot of it!
I probably will.

I don’t really bother unless I have troubles with the brake. It’s certainly not the engineering method I should apply, which would normally be annual or two years at most in mucky conditions, but I’ve happily left mine for 5 years without a problem in UK riding. In fact the only time I had a problem was after that 5 year period when I took the bike to the Alps and overheated the rear and ended up with no brake.

So, my end result would suggest annually but if you’re not planning on getting them really hot or experiencingproblems, don’t bother.

I bet an awful lot of people change their bikes brake fluid a lot more than their cars fluid, if they have a car!

Just when I feel they need it, never “routinely”. Perhaps my Shimano (mineral oil) brakes don’t need the same attention as TJ’s.

What volume of oil / dot fluid is needed to bleed a brake completely – eg to flush out the old fluid and completely replace with clean?

superficial – mineral oil does not absorb water in the same way. However it still collects contaminants and this will accelerate wear.

I recently bled a set of mineral oil brakes and you could see the dirt and wear particles floating in the fluid.

So a mineral oil brake may not need doing as often or it be as important as a dot fluid brake – but its still worth doing to prevent wear and to keep the brake working well

agentdagnamit – about 25ml Yo can see the clean fluid coming thru