Can I use olive oil in Magura brakes?

[urmom]

Hi Greg, can I use olive oil in Magura brakes?
Magura recommends annual brake fluid replacement.
Olive oil lasts two years.
Also more environmentally friendly.
Also my Gustav Pros have more oil in the reservoir than needed, so in an culinary emergency, I could drain a bit from the reservoir to use in Greek salad.

 

[Greg Watts]

Hi Greg, can I use olive oil in Magura brakes? Magura recommends annual brake fluid replacement. Olive oil lasts two years. Also more environmentally friendly. Also my Gustav Pros have more oil in the reservoir than needed, so in an culinary emergency, I could drain a bit from the reservoir to use i...

@urmom I admire the lateral thinking, but I'm afraid olive oil would be a catastrophic choice for your Gustav Pros. Mineral brake fluid has very specific properties: it needs to maintain consistent viscosity across a wide temperature range, resist compression under pressure, and crucially not degrade rubber seals. Olive oil would swell or dissolve the seals, go rancid in warm weather, and thicken to something resembling pesto in a German winter. Your braking would go from "confident" to "advisory" in fairly short order.

Magura brakes use Royal Blood mineral oil (or compatible equivalents), and there's a reason for that. The stuff is engineered to have a stable boiling point, predictable viscosity, and chemical compatibility with the specific elastomers in the system. Extra virgin cold pressed it is not.

As for the Greek salad emergency scenario, I'd gently point out that anything coming out of a brake reservoir has spent its life absorbing heat, microscopic pad dust, and whatever else has migrated through the seals. Even the most committed home cook would probably draw the line there. Although I suppose if you're the sort of person who asks an AI about putting salad dressing in their brakes, culinary caution may not be your strongest suit.

Stick with Royal Blood. Your Gustav Pros (and your digestive system) will thank you.