Shimano is one of the leading brands in everything related to bicycles and cycling. In recent years it has become fashionable to use mineral oil for bicycle brakes, but is it really necessary?
Who has a bicycle, has a treasure. Any owner will want the best for her if he wants her to last many years, although the best are not always done. proper care. For this reason, Shimano improved the fluid for the brakes of its brand. It is a non-corrosive mineral oil with excellent thermal expansion properties, which also does not absorb water from the air. It is also not caustic or toxic, although they are only recommended for Shimano brand hydraulic disc brakes.
What brakes do you use?
If they are from the same brand, Shimano mineral oil will be the most suitable option. Instead, if they are Magura, Royal Blood, or any other brand, DOT fluid is most likely used.
Basically, we will use the brake oil intended for the system of our bicycle. Those systems are designed for a specific fluid and we can damage the seals if we use the wrong thing. Shimano hasn't used DOT fluid since the '70s and it wasn't a proprietary thing at all. They were only guided by the fact that mineral oil is less caustic and does not absorb water/moisture.
However, we can probably get away with using different mineral oils in different mineral oil brakes, but why take the chance? It is unlikely that we will get any performance improvement from using non-Shimano fluid in XT calipers. If so, Shimano would have improved it or created a different fluid for those brakes.
Although we agree on something, and it is your high price. 100 ml of mineral oil from Shimano usually cost around 25 euros. However, we know that we may not need to grease the brakes as often, so that is an average of 5 cups of coffee per year. Finish Line mineral oil is about the same, maybe a euro or two cheaper and their DOT fluid is about the same price. But it's really not worth saving a couple of bucks, if we can get the right fluid for our brakes.
In the case that we can't afford 25 euros a year or every few years, we may need to reconsider things a bit. If you have a bike with hydraulic disc brakes, you shouldn't try to under-invest. If small purchases to keep a name brand bike running aren't within the budget, we may prefer to talk to someone who knows better on lower budgets.
Mineral oil vs DOT fluids
Although Shimano made brakes with DOT fluid in the 1960s and 1970s, modern brakes use mineral oil. This oil will not harm painted finishes and is less harmful to skin and the environment. Chemically speaking, DOT fluid absorbs moisture from the air, and this absorbed moisture lowers the boiling point of DOT fluid over time.
Instead, Shimano's mineral oil starts at a higher dry boiling point than any DOT fluid specification. The boiling point of mineral oils will not change over time because they do not absorb moisture.
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