Super Blue deemed illegal

GaleForce

If you like/use this stuff, you better buy it up while you can get it.

Braking News: ATE Super Blue Deemed Illegal for US Distribution*|*Hooniverse

Last night, we heard through the grapevine that Alfred Teves Enginieering (ATE, a division of Continental) would be discontinuing the sales and distribution of the popular “Super Blue” variant of its DOT 4 brake fluid. Apparently the Super Blue fluid has run afoul of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard after nearly 15 years on the market for being blue. For the correspondence Continental sent to their distributors, and more of the story, click through the break.


It seems that the federal government has taken 15 years to figure out that Super Blue fluid is, in fact, blue in color. Evidently there is a stipulation that all brake fluids distributed in the US must be either clear or amber in color. This begs the question, why is that a law? The blue color was one of the major selling points of Super Blue fluid, as it made a complete bleed of your braking system much easier to accomplish. I would use ATE Super Blue and ATE Typ 200 fluids alternately (Typ 200 is the amber version of Super Blue), filling the master cylinder with one color, and when the color coming out through the caliper changed, it was easy to tell that all of the old fluid had been expunged from the system.

As this is effective immediately, the supply line for this brake fluid has already dried up. That said, there are likely some retail establishments that will continue to have it on their shelves until it is sold out, and some of those retailers will likely continue importing Super Blue under the auspices of “For Off-Highway Use Only”, but we’ll see. In the long run, I guess these are the brakes…

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kenchan

that is stupid. who cares if the color is blue or white or amber or green or any color easy to detect correct bleeding.

should concentrate on taking out artificial colors in kids snacks first.

thanks for the heads up, mr gale!

MX52Z

This is why every federal employment contract should contain a fired-on-the-spot clause for any dickhead that makes a regulation counter to the public interest. No scratching heads, no ten-year appeal process for the victim, just an immediate firing and prosecution of said dickhead.

H2O_Doc

I think the regulation was ostensibly IN the public interest.

03g35coupe6mt

The company should tell the government to stick it . they spend way too much time on bulls**t

nogoodname

This can't be real? Sounds so ridiculous!

MX52Z

I suspect this isn't in the public interest rather some politicking going on behind the scenes like all government deals.

H2O_Doc

If it is real, it seems too trivial to be motivated by "politicking." On the other hand, I could see someone reading the regs and saying "this is out of compliance."

H2O_Doc

After a little but of reading it seemed less nonsensical. The different DOT fluids are different colors so they can be easily distinguished from one another. In industrial or shop settings, it provides a little added safeguard against making an error. Adding blue coloring was always agains the regs, it just took a while for someone to enforce the standard.

At least you won't wonder anymore if it was brake fluid or smurf cum you put into your car.

DEpointfive0

Hey!
What's wrong with smurf cum?!?!?!

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m4a1mustang

So stupid. Read the label to see what the fluid is. Government needs to back the f*ck off and quit "protecting" us from ourselves with stupid regulations.

I like alternating between the amber and blue ATE fluids... makes it easy to know when I've completed the flush. I have a few cans of blue and will see if I can get my hands on a few more before its too late.

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H2O_Doc

It's stupid until some mechanic uses the wrong fluid and gets someone killed. Then there is the incredulity that someone didn't have the sense to make the differences easily recognizable with a simple glance at the color.

m4a1mustang

The rest of us don't need to suffer because of some idiot's mistake. Maybe look at the bottle or can to confirm it's brake fluid before putting it in the car? That's a novel thought.

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m4a1mustang

I demand that all motor oils be colored pink, so that the gold/honey color of fresh oil can't be mistaken for light amber brake fluid by the 16 year old tech at Midas.

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H2O_Doc

I understand what you are saying, but lots of numb nuts like me depend on other people, often making minimum wage, to change their brake fluid, headlight fluid, and all kind of gizmos. Knowing this, regulators appear to have added a check to help keep Joe Walmart from making mistake that causes my car to plow into a school bus full of pandas and nuns (poor pandas).

My point was less about whether or not it is right or wrong, but more about what the motivation was.

Buy me coffee tomorrow.