Hope Oil

[Kenny--Trials]

Hi peeps, 

Does anybody know if there's any difference at all between specific bike brake oil and car brake/clutch oil? Dot 4 and dot 5.1 just seems a fair amount cheaper from somewhere like halfords than chain reaction

Thanks

Kenny

[Cap]

No difference any dot 4 or dot 5.1 will do

[CC12345678910]

Though spending a bit more on some performance motorbike/car DOT wouldn't do any harm either.

After all, you want the best for your nice posh bike, right?

[AdamR28]

While it won't harm, it won't have any benefit either. Boggo stuff goes in my brakes

[Bottleneck]

I've tried using power steering fluid, but my chemistry teacher told me it had some solvents in it, so would this somehow damage the brakes?

Also, as I sometimes ride in winter (Not just any winter but the famous Russian winter aka easily -25ºC) I was recommended to add some antifreeze to the oil. Again, is that somehow bad?

[Cap]

36 minutes ago, Bottleneck said:

I've tried using power steering fluid, but my chemistry teacher told me it had some solvents in it, so would this somehow damage the brakes?

Also, as I sometimes ride in winter (Not just any winter but the famous Russian winter aka easily -25ºC) I was recommended to add some antifreeze to the oil. Again, is that somehow bad?

Power steering fluid will ruin the seals, I wouldn't put antifreeze in hope brakes.

Dot fluid should work fine at that temperature from what I can find on Google, might operate a bit slower but shouldn't freeze. 

[Bottleneck]

I did it with my Echo TR brakes (though idk if it makes any difference), and they weren't leaking more than before, with proper oil, the one that was already in the brakes as supplied by Tarty. Is it just that these levers are crap? I've had four, and all of them started leaking like three months after the first use

[Mark W]

Which lever/where are they leaking from?

The TR brakes have mineral oil seals so you can run water, antifreeze, mineral oil, etc. in them, but the Hopes are DOT specific.