Brake fluid allergy?!

 

Anyone ever heard of this?

Every time I work on my brakes I get sore eyes (presumably from fumes). Last
year when I inspected the front brake and flushed the very revolting 20 year
old fluid I got rashes up both forearms and hands and my eyes were sore for
weeks afterward!

Since replacing the master cylinder seals yesterday I've been in & out of
the bathroom cabinet for eye lotion like a fiddlers elbow.

 



Could be an allergy; could be an intolerance. In any case, brake fluid
contains crap that's bad for you whether you have an allergy or
intolerance or not. So go to your neighborhood Walgreens and buy a box
of latext or vinyl gloves and wear a pair whenever you touch anything
yucky like brake fluid, transmission fluid or oil, or, worst of all,
Spagthorpe blinker fluid.

--
Timberwoof <me at timberwoof dot com>
faq:  http://www.timberwoof.com/motorcycle/faq.shtml
It's easy to say a war is so important your neighbor should go fight it for you.

 



Goes to show how nasty stuff brake fluid is, normally I'm unaffected by
petrol and even used engine oil, having said that the fluid I flushed out
last year really was disgusting, by the look of it none of the previous
owners had changed it in the bikes 25 year life!

Not so sure about the vinyl glove idea though, it was a fiddly enough job
without, it took me an hour to get the circlip out - half of that before I
figured out that I had to grind the circlip pliers a bit thinner to get in
the small space.

 

ian field wrote:

Personally after I saw what it did to my new boots way backalong I
decided that I didn't want to touch the stuff.

Latex gloves shouldn't be a problem--remember, brain surgeons wear them.
Get a box of disposables at the pharmacy--note that they come in sizes.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

 


You want NITRILE GLOVES (the purple gloves). They are chemical proof,
latex and vinyl are not.