Which Brake Fluid to use, regular or low viscosity?

[bimmerdriver]

My car was built in 12/2001. According to Pentosin, Super DOT 4 is recommended for up to 6/2002 and DOT 4 LV is recommended for 7/2002 onward. I was thinking this might be related to the change in DSC, but it's not. That change was in 9/2002. I'm not aware of any other change in the brake system in 7/2002, so I'm wondering why Pentosin chose 7/2002 as the build date to change the specification. I called the BMW dealership and all they sell is LV. This is consistent with realoem.com, where the only brake fluid I could find is 83132405977, Brake fluid DOT4 LV, low viscosity. It seems to have superseded all other brake fluid part numbers.

ATE Type 200 is regular viscosity, not low viscosity.

Any comments on this?

[bigjae46]

Didn’t know there was a difference among DOT 4 brake fluids.


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[cobra]

The low viscosity stuff is formulated to work better with modern ABS systems which pump fluid and pulse at high frequencies. It should still work fine in all other DOT4 systems.

[bimmerdriver]

The low viscosity stuff is formulated to work better with modern ABS systems which pump fluid and pulse at high frequencies. It should still work fine in all other DOT4 systems.

Thank you for the reply. That's understood, but I'm wondering if there is any explanation for Pentosin specifying Super DOT4 for up to 6/2002 and DOT4 LV for 7/2002 or later. It seems arbitrary, unless something was changed in the braking system in 7/2002.

[JamesSJ1]

I think other standard models from BMW shifted towards the LV fluids around that time, but not necessarily the E46 M3 and maybe not others later either. I've been running ATE TYP 200 for 60k miles now without thinking twice about it.