We are in the midst of a brake upgrade. Two years ago, we bought a ten year old Infiniti EX37 Journey AWD, with 38,000 miles on the odo. which, according to Carfax, had been serviced exclusively at Infiniti dealerships for all of its service life. (And the previous owner had anticipated service intervals: for instance, having the 30,000 mile service done at 25,000 miles.) So far, the vehicle has served us well, but, when we took the car into our longtime and trusted mechanic in October 2022, when we picked up the car, the service order stated that, "We (the service shop) should take a peek at the rear brakes the next time you bring the car in." From that note, we deduced that — probably — the car was on its second set of front rotors and pads, as, even though the front rotors are larger than the rear rotors, they usually wear faster than the rears due to transfer of mass during braking. So a week ago, we had new rotors (EBC BSD7351, which are "high carbon" slotted rotors) and pads (Stoptech 309 series para-aramid pads) installed at the rear of the EX37. As part of the installation, we began the incremental process of replacing the Nissan factory fill DOT 3 brake fluid with Motul DOT 5.1 brake fluid. We had the first drain-and-fill last week, and are scheduled to have two more drains-and-fills in coming weeks, gradually replacing the old DOT 3 fluid with modern DOT 5.1 fluid over the next month.
Here is the anomaly: we purchased the Motul DOT 5.1 brake fluid from two different sources. As we understand it, Motul has offered DOT 5.1 fluid for sale only recently. The bottles that we have on hand were sealed, and appear to be fresh and uncontaminated. BUT the dry boiling point claimed by Motul on the front of the three bottles are all different from each other. One bottle has printed on the front that the dry boiling point is 516°F., a second has a stated dry boiling point of 518° F., and the third has a stated dry boiling point of 522° F. For the mathematicians among us, that amounts to a spread of only 6° F. among the three bottles, which is nothing to worry about, and we are not worrying.
Still, there must be a real cost, albeit a minor one, for Motul to have bottles printed up with different specifications printed on the fronts of the bottles.
Does anyone care to venture why the printed specs on the bottles would differ?
Here is the anomaly: we purchased the Motul DOT 5.1 brake fluid from two different sources. As we understand it, Motul has offered DOT 5.1 fluid for sale only recently. The bottles that we have on hand were sealed, and appear to be fresh and uncontaminated. BUT the dry boiling point claimed by Motul on the front of the three bottles are all different from each other. One bottle has printed on the front that the dry boiling point is 516°F., a second has a stated dry boiling point of 518° F., and the third has a stated dry boiling point of 522° F. For the mathematicians among us, that amounts to a spread of only 6° F. among the three bottles, which is nothing to worry about, and we are not worrying.
Still, there must be a real cost, albeit a minor one, for Motul to have bottles printed up with different specifications printed on the fronts of the bottles.
Does anyone care to venture why the printed specs on the bottles would differ?