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I am doing new seals and oil on my 2015 yz250f forks and I have 2 bottles of different brand 5wt fork oil. I know I need a little over 1 liter to do the job. Can I mix my Maxima blue label 5wt with a little bit of Bel Ray 5wt. I will do my inners first with Maxima but won't have enough left to do the outers. That's where I would like to mix the brands for the outers.
2015 YZ250F
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I would say you're fine. Same weight, different brand. Meh,I'd do it myself, personally. Just my 2 cents.
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Maybe just use one oil on the inners and then the other for the outers
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mx317 wrote:
One on one side and one on the other.
RyanLester761 wrote:
I would have mixed the two together and acted like it was all the same.
If you mix two 5wt's together won't you get a 10wt?
Oh, nevermind... you can just run half the recommended oil volume and it will be 5wt again. 
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Use one oil in one leg and the other oil in the other leg.
While mixing them should not be an issue, we don't know what additives are in each and there could be an adverse reaction in mixing them.
Secret tip...Add about 1 oz of Dot 3 brake fluid to each oil. It will help the oil seals to do a better job and last longer.
Paw Paw
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Paw Paw 271 wrote:
Use one oil in one leg and the other oil in the other leg.
While mixing them should not be an issue, we don't know what additives are in each and there could be an adverse reaction in mixing them.
Secret tip...Add about 1 oz of Dot 3 brake fluid to each oil. It will help the oil seals to do a better job and last longer.
Paw Paw
Nice tip. Good thinking.
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Do the inners with one, then mix both together and use the mix for the outers.
Don't use one for one side and one for the other. Jeez.
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KDXGarage wrote:
Do the inners with one, then mix both together and use the mix for the outers.
Don't use one for one side and one for the other. Jeez.
You do know the inner and outer mixes oils. It forces it in the bottom seals and burps it out the top of the cartridge, jeez. The smart thing would be to put one brand on one side and one on the other.
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Paw Paw 271 wrote:
Use one oil in one leg and the other oil in the other leg.
While mixing them should not be an issue, we don't know what additives are in each and there could be an adverse reaction in mixing them.
Secret tip...Add about 1 oz of Dot 3 brake fluid to each oil. It will help the oil seals to do a better job and last longer.
Paw Paw
Why dot 3 vs dot 5? Just curious.
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do not add brake fluid to fork oil. it will not "help" the seals.
not all oils are exactly the same viscosity even though they have the same viscosity number on them, but in this case, they will be close enough unless you are a pro level rider.
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barnett468 wrote:
do not add brake fluid to fork oil. it will not "help" the seals.
not all oils are exactly the same viscosity even though they have the same viscosity number on them, but in this case, they will be close enough unless you are a pro level rider.
I want to hear the reasons behind adding it. Personally, I'd worry about seal swell.
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Seal swell is exactly what you want a small amount of in the fork oils. They did at one time come with an additive to do this, but that was dropped many years ago. I still swear by it and my seals last a lot longer using it. The Dot 3 has this additive in it as does Dot 4 and Dot 5, but cost a lot less.
I am a believer, but I do understand that others may not be and to that I say "to each his own". I use what works for me based on experience.
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I always found this article about suspension fluid very informative.
http://www.peterverdone.com/wiki/index.php?title=Suspension_Fluid
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m21racing wrote:
Why dot 3 vs dot 5? Just curious.
DOT 5 is silicone based...vastly different properties than either DOT 3 or 4. It also doesn't play nice with other fluids
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