mineral oil the same as any other ?
- Thread starter MrGrumpy
- Start date
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Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
No. You want Shimano compatible stuff. On paper at least it has some unique properties.
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
Mineral oil is weird nomenclature so it pays to know what's what. It's a little bit like picking wild mushrooms to eat. There's no magic formula to know which will kill you and which won't. It's best to understand and work from first principles.
All oil distilled from fossil oil is technically mineral oil. If it comes from mother earth, it is mineral oil. If it was made in a factory, it is synthetic oil. If it is squeezed from olives or sunflower seeds or such, it is vegetable oil.
However, they sell stuff in the chemist/pharmacy that's also called mineral oil. This is stuff you take for gut ailments, smearing on babies bottoms and testing for skin ailments.
The mineral oil used in Shimano, Magura and Cantrememberanymore brakes is not the same as the stuff sold in a pharmacy. It is real mineral oil distilled to a specific viscosity for use in power steering units in Volkswagen and Rolls Royce and one or two other cars...Peugeot perhaps. It is also used as brake fluid in some large earthmoving equipment.
The exact substitute for the pink stuff sold under the Shimano brand and Blue stuff sold under the Magura brand is Castrol LMH. It is approximately ten times cheaper than a same size bottle of bicycle-branded oil.
When you're in a pickle, just about any fluid will work but that's another story.
Get Shimano or Magura or Castrol LMH.
You can freely mix Shimano, Castrol and Magura if you want to create your own colour.
All oil distilled from fossil oil is technically mineral oil. If it comes from mother earth, it is mineral oil. If it was made in a factory, it is synthetic oil. If it is squeezed from olives or sunflower seeds or such, it is vegetable oil.
However, they sell stuff in the chemist/pharmacy that's also called mineral oil. This is stuff you take for gut ailments, smearing on babies bottoms and testing for skin ailments.
The mineral oil used in Shimano, Magura and Cantrememberanymore brakes is not the same as the stuff sold in a pharmacy. It is real mineral oil distilled to a specific viscosity for use in power steering units in Volkswagen and Rolls Royce and one or two other cars...Peugeot perhaps. It is also used as brake fluid in some large earthmoving equipment.
The exact substitute for the pink stuff sold under the Shimano brand and Blue stuff sold under the Magura brand is Castrol LMH. It is approximately ten times cheaper than a same size bottle of bicycle-branded oil.
When you're in a pickle, just about any fluid will work but that's another story.
Get Shimano or Magura or Castrol LMH.
You can freely mix Shimano, Castrol and Magura if you want to create your own colour.
Last edited:
rusty bearing
Guru
- Location
- Chorley, lancashire
Yep, mineral oil from the local auto shop is fine and much less expensive the Shimano own brand or Maguras 'royal blood'. The only time having a different color is useful is when you might want a visual indicator that you have replaced all the brake fluid.
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
A quick google suggests Castrol LHM has been replaced by LHM+.
It appears to be often sold as the fluid for the Citroen hydraulic suspension system.
About £13 a litre, but there's a cheaper version from Comma which I suspect would do the job just as well.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=C...efox-b-ab&gfe_rd=cr&ei=3FwLWKPmH9Hc8AfslLzYBg
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Comma-LHM1L-1L-Hydraulic-Fluid/dp/B003BPSVQG
It appears to be often sold as the fluid for the Citroen hydraulic suspension system.
About £13 a litre, but there's a cheaper version from Comma which I suspect would do the job just as well.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=C...efox-b-ab&gfe_rd=cr&ei=3FwLWKPmH9Hc8AfslLzYBg
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Comma-LHM1L-1L-Hydraulic-Fluid/dp/B003BPSVQG
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/c...-fluids/specialist-fluids/?522776092&&cc5_871
Hmm seems to be the stuff ??
Hmm seems to be the stuff ??
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
That will do.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
T.M.H.N.E.T
Rainbows aren't just for world champions
- Location
- Northern Ireland
Dot 5.1
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
^^^^^. Cheap as chips.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Righty. Thanks folks. I'll just get the bleed kit. Doesn't need it yet, as it's quite new.
T.M.H.N.E.T
Rainbows aren't just for world champions
- Location
- Northern Ireland
