# AMSOIL Series 500 & Series 600 Brake Fluid



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

*AMSOIL Series 500 & Series 600 Brake Fluid
*
*Overview*
AMSOIL offers two brake fluids, both of which are compatible with the Cruze. These are the Series 500 and Series 600. The Series 500 is labeled as a DOT3 fluid, while the Series 600 is a DOT4 fluid.

_*Ordering*_
You can order AMSOIL brake fluid using one of the two links below:
AMSOIL Series 500 (DOT3) High Performance Brake Fluid
AMSOIL Series 600 (DOT4) Racing Brake Fluid

_*Why should I change my brake fluid?*_
I get this question a lot. People who claim to have run 10-20 years on a car without ever changing brake fluid (except when bleeding brakes during caliper replacements of course), without ever running into an issue. People ask me why they should change their brake fluid in the first place, so here are the answers:
1. *Boiling Point*. When you make hard stops, your brakes get very hot, causing the fluid to boil. This happens more during extreme conditions such as very hard (emergency) stops from a high speed (55mph+). The fluid boils which causes it to vaporize into a gas. Since gas is compressible but fluid is not, this causes a mushy brake pedal feel in addition to reducing total stopping power. 
2. *Water Absorption*. Brake fluid is specifically designed to absorb water. It does this so your brake lines don't corrode from the inside out. Depending on your specific region, your brakes will accumulate ~3% water contamination in about 3-4 years or about 30k-40k miles. 3% contamination is considered "wet." This causes your boiling point to drop severely. With factory DOT3 fluid that has a "dry" boiling point of 400F, 3% contamination reduces the boiling point to 280F. The lower boiling point causes brake fade under emergency conditions. Ever had to stop very abruptly on the highway and watched someone behind you slam on the brakes at the same time but swerve out of their lane to avoid hitting you? In many cases, this is a result of brake fade. Once the fluid boils, you lose a lot of braking ability. 
3. *Factory Fill Procedures*. It may surprise you, but your Cruze brakes are not bled from the factory. Instead, a device is placed over the reservoir and the air is vacuumed out of the brake system. Once the vacuum is complete, brake fluid is filled. Any engineer will tell you that it is impossible to get all of the air out of the system using this method as one cannot have a perfect vacuum in these conditions, much less with a plastic reservoir. Changing brake fluid removes all of the air from the system. The result is a significant improvement in brake pedal feel, consistency and effort, as has been noted by several members who have performed a brake fluid flush. 

*Why AMSOIL brake fluid?*
DOT3 minimum specifications for brake fluid are 401F dry and 284F wet. 
AMSOIL Series 500 specifications are 520F dry and 304F wet. 
DOT4 minimum specifications for brake fluid are 446F dry and 311F wet. 
AMSOIL Series 600 specifications are 580F dry and 380F wet. 

AMSOIL brake fluid will not only provide better braking performance through a higher boiling point in dry conditions, but will also last longer before falling down to DOT minimum specifications. AMSOIL Series 600 brake fluid is strongly recommended for anyone planning to road race or auto-x their Cruze. 

*Is it difficult to flush brake fluid?*
We have a writeup on changing brake fluid here:
http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/153-brakes-suspension/34593-diy-flush-brake-fluid.html


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

I remember hearing that the clutch shares the same reservoir so would this be good to bleed/change at the same time?


Sent from my iFail 5s


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## Zach.K (Apr 17, 2014)

Merc6 said:


> I remember hearing that the clutch shares the same reservoir so would this be good to bleed/change at the same time?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iFail 5s


I know my Audi A4 6MT required bleeding the clutch slave cylinder to properly bleed the brakes in entirety.


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## giantsnation (Oct 11, 2012)

Great write up - we'll be in touch next week to order me the DOT3 fluid.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

The Cruze uses the same master cylinder for the clutch fluid. Do both at the same time.


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