Shimano Mineral Oil, or best alternative?

Just bled my rear brake, had some magura royal blood so tried that, but think the viscosity might be a little lower as there’s a bit more pull, so does anyone know where there is an actual 1 litre bottle of shimano oil that’s not costing the earth, or a similar that might reduce this squelch a little?

Morgan Blue mineral oil works perfectly in Shimano brakes, I’ve found.

Was recommended by my LBS as what they use as well.

Something like this amazon or an equivalent from halfords

What was that Citroen hydrailic/suspension fluid that used to be recommended? It was the exact same stuff, down to the pink colour?

Edit – seems Halfords no longer to it, but it was “Citroen LHM” like the below – which I think just stands for “Le Huile Minerale”

https://www.driftshop.com/motul-lhm-plus-citroen-hydraulic-suspension-fluid-1l.html

There was a big thread on this a while back, will try and dig it out.

Putoline HPX R 2.5w in all my Shimano brakes. Seems to have sorted the wandering bite point and I paid less than £10 delivered.

Dug – https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-great-shimano-mineral-oil-drought-of-2021-when-where-can-i-get-some/

Juice Lubes do a mineral oil for Shimano brakes

I ended up with a several bottles of Reverb fluid which works for me.

Semi-related question – how much oil do you need for 2 brakes? I’m tempted to buy one of those kits from eBay.

how much oil do you need for 2 brakes?

On a good day, about 100 cc. On a bad day, a couple of liters.

Bike hut mineral oil from Halfords or Epic Bleed Solutions. 100ml bottle will do for a couple sets (front and rear). 1 litre will last a life time ….

Don’t go for the LMH stuff its different to the Shimano oil.

Putoline HPX R 2.5w in all my Shimano brakes. Seems to have sorted the wandering bite point and I paid less than £10 delivered.

Good to hear as I’ve just bought a litre of this, haven’t actually tried it yet but a few people have recommended it recently

What was that Citroen hydrailic/suspension fluid that used to be recommended? It was the exact same stuff, down to the pink colour?

LHM is green IIRC.

Pink might be automatic transmission fluid or power steering fluid.

LHM is a LOT thicker than the shimano stuff.

TBH I’d be interested/surprised to know what doesn’t work in shimano brakes. I presume Shimano is a big enough customer to be probably having something made for them, but I’d also presume it’s just an oil with a known boiling point. In which case any oil-based fluid should work, it just might let you down halfway down a mountain when it starts to vaporize.

Digging up the topic to say that I use Silkolene RSF 2.5wt, looking at viscosity graph it’s a bit more at room temp, but ends up quite a bit lower at lower temps, anyway, no wandering bite point etc. however my mt5 caliper seems to be hesitant to keep the pistons out, not sure if it’s oil related cause mt2 at the back doesn’t have such issues, however I have noted that the oil is quite a bit more slippery than the Shimano stuff, how is the Putoline in that regard?
Apart from this potential issue, I’ve been running the Silkolene stuff for a year now with no I’ll effects, bleeds nicely, has a high VI and doesn’t eat seals or any bollocks like that, easier to get than Putoline and a bit cheaper.

Citroen LHM in mine for a year or two no issues.

I wouldn’t use LHM just for the viscosity alone, plus many people stated it’s very hard to bleed, and remains more spongy even with a good bleed, however it shouldn’t damage anything, but I wouldn’t use it because there are better options out there, which accidentally are more versatile also (can be used for damper oil change for example)

Used the Shimano stuff for years on my Zee’s and XT and SLX
Think it’s what the bike shop used when my Magura went tits up
No issue that I can tell

There seem to be a ton of non-Shimano oil on ebay.

Yet to use it, but got some in this set recently. Anyone used it or similar? I’ve got plenty of Shimano so don’t need to use it, but might do in the name of science.

I used some other branded “Shimano” oil and it aggravated my wandering bite point issue, the issue was there before though, so can’t say I fault it. Imo it can’t do any harm, but I wouldn’t buy the stuff intentionally.

Bikester have Shimano oil in stock. £35 for a litre mind you…

Country Cycles Killearn have some Shimano 1L bottles in stock.

Unless you have a bike service and want to use the “right stuff” just because, buying a litre of Shimano oil makes no sense, it’ll be a lifetime supply, much better to get a quality damper oil for 1/3rd the price and have something to use in your suspension as a bonus.
Btw. spoke too soon, Silkolene RSF 2.5wt feels almost the same on the fingers as the Shimano oil, must have had hands dirty from something else when “testing” last time.

Baby oil. You can get it anywhere.

Stupid idea, first of all unknown (high) viscosity, secondly pointless additives like scents etc. and it’s not even any cheaper.

which I think just stands for “Le Huile Minerale”

Liquide Hydraulique Mineral

Baby oil was for fun 🙂

Yes, but I hope you realize that many people would actually use it “mineral oil is mineral oil”
Had to clarify.

Well this is timely, I need some 2.5wt oil for my forks anyway, as well as some brake fluid. looks like I’ll be trying the Puto or the Silko!

Seriously though, I’ve been using the Magura royal blood in my shimano brakes for the last 4 years with no issues.

I’m moving to putoline now I’ve used all my Royal blood up.

Morgan Blue in stock here – https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Morgan-Blue/Hydraulic-Mineral-Oil-1000ml/83P5

As I said before, recommended based on several years’ happy use by myself & LBS.

This stuff works perfectly, I have used it for years on a load of bikes and brakes.

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-parts/bike-brakes/bikehut-mineral-oil-brake-fluid—125ml-169049.html

“…..or best alternative?”

New brakes
maybe
https://www.rideformula.com/products/mtb-brakes/cura/

0r

https://www.magura.com/en/components/bike/disc-brakes/

Anyone using Putoline still alive to report back?

I tried the Citroen LHM stuff once and it was a lot thicker viscosity then the Shimano stuff. This made the brakes feel strange and in very low temperatures it felt rubbish (like the fluid had got even more viscous).

This article is very useful:
https://epicbleedsolutions.com/blogs/articles/dot-brake-fluid-vs-mineral-oil

Basically says Shimano and Juice Lubes mineral oil is the best. Juice lubes is fairly cheap and in-stock.

I figure the faff and time taken bleeding brakes is worth more to me than saving a few quid on mineral oil which might not be much good.

Anyone using Putoline still alive to report back?

I’m running it in a couple of bikes that have Saints on.
It does seem to give a more consistent bite point.
I’ll be using it in all the bikes as and when they need a pad change.

I’ve been using the same bottle of green LHM for about 10 years I think. A teeny bit here and there added to shimano and more recently Clarks brakes. Ordered bleed kits from epic and didn’t bother with the 100ml of their own oil for £2 extra as LHM seems fine. Can’t say I’ve noticed different performance but I suppose there is still 99% original oil in all my brakes.

Whatever Epic Bleed Solutions use works really well. Have used them on XT and GRX brakes and they’ve felt better after bleeding on both occasions (particularly when I remembered to moved the levers to burp them).

The question isn’t about saving money but more about the availability of the larger volumes of shimano stuff. The Putoline sounds good, but just wondered if it was consistent enough for a full range of temperatures.

It was a question of performance for me as I already had a large bottle of Shimano oil.
Hence running it in some bikes but not others so I can compare it.
Its not been warm enough for me to see how it copes with summer temps and Alpine length descents, but for winter temps and Tweed Valley length trails it’s been good.