Can I use different brands of the same weight fork oil in each fork?

[daverdfw]

I ran out of one brand and have some of another. Is it really any different if the Right fork runs Brand A and left runs Brand B? but same weight?

[TnNinjaGirl]

Each brand is a little bit different in their weighting.

If that is all you have.... mix the 2 together and then add them to your forks.

If it isn't, then why?

[crazymadbastard]

Different brands are really different. That said, you can run different brands.
They will average out as the forks move as a unit.

[daverdfw]

Originally Posted by TnNinjaGirl

Each brand is a little bit different in their weighting.

If that is all you have.... mix the 2 together and then add them to your forks.

If it isn't, then why?

I have more of Brand A coming just not till Friday, I might just wait and be patient.

[TnNinjaGirl]

The stock 250 forks don't have complicated valving and it'd be hard to notice a small difference in fluid viscosity.

For eg:

You have Brand A fluid which is 5 wt and Brand B which is 8 wt (because they both may say 5 wt but remember brands are different) and you add them together to get an effective 6.5 wt. You probably won't notice a difference between 5 wt and 6.5 wt in the forks like you would in quality forks with all kinds of valving in them.

You probably will notice a difference with different weights in each fork.

[daverdfw]

Originally Posted by TnNinjaGirl

The stock 250 forks don't have complicated valving and it'd be hard to notice a small difference in fluid viscosity.

For eg:

You have Brand A fluid which is 5 wt and Brand B which is 8 wt (because they both may say 5 wt but remember brands are different) and you add them together to get an effective 6.5 wt. You probably won't notice a difference between 5 wt and 6.5 wt in the forks like you would in quality forks with all kinds of valving in them.

You probably will notice a difference with different weights in each fork.

good point, I know even the same weight would have different viscosities. But like you are saying these forks are so basic I am sure especially me being new to these bikes , I wouldn't be able to tell.

[HoneyBadgerRy]

Fork oils are different, but there is no problem running one oil in one fork and another in the other. Or in mixing oils, I do both all the time. Some bikes have rebound forks and compression forks, and you run different oils to valve them differently.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by daverdfw

I ran out of one brand and have some of another. Is it really any different if the Right fork runs Brand A and left runs Brand B? but same weight?

Weight is not what defines these oils, but kinematic viscosity, or the time that each takes to flow through a calibrated orifice at specific temperature in a lab.

The higher the SAE viscosity grade, the slower it flows and the higher the damping effect in the suspensions.

Regardless the viscosity, all oils weight more or less the same: around 80% of the same volume of water.
The W in the SAE designation stands for winter or cold-start.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_oil

You can perfectly use different brands if they have the same SAE grade.
The difference, if any, is as small as it is among batches of the same brand and grade.
Within a range of tolerance, all industrial products deviate more or less from its specified standard, same for oils and viscosity grades.

Keep Calm and Ride On !!!

[psych0hans]

Thanks for posting this up, I have the exact same issue and it's just too expensive for me to buy more of "Brand A" and I feel "Brand B" might be too light, but a mix of the two would be just where I want it to be. I might even add a "Brand C" if I fall short of "A" and "B" as they are both 16floz bottles and I need 500ml of each. So I'm going to have to make up the difference in each leg of approx 27ml. Lol confused yet? Anyways here are the brands I'm using :-
1) Maxima 5w - 473ml
2) Rockshox 3w - 473ml
3) Harley Davidson "E" - 54ml(maybe)

[RacinNinja]

FOund something that might be useful for folks here...viscosity chart!

[daverdfw]

Thats an interesting chart, I was using Maxima and Bel_rey, and man they are separated by quite a lot. I might just wait till friday to get the Bel Rey to match the other fork

[RacinNinja]

Originally Posted by daverdfw

Thats an interesting chart, I was using Maxima and Bel_rey, and man they are separated by quite a lot. I might just wait till friday to get the Bel Rey to match the other fork

Pretty surprising huh? The same "weight" oil can have soooo many variations depending on brands. Some 5 weights are even the same as 10 weights.

Crazy!!

[daverdfw]

Originally Posted by RacinNinja

Pretty surprising huh? The same "weight" oil can have soooo many variations depending on brands. Some 5 weights are even the same as 10 weights.

Crazy!!

I suppose the moral of the story is to stick to 1 brand and then make changes within that brand i.e 20wt to 15wt to 10wt. that ways its more consistent when you change

[bruce71198]

Yes

[cuong-nutz]

I remember posting something about the charts. Fluid Temps also affect it too.

[tgold]

A sure way to get lost in tuning your suspension is to use different viscosity oils from different manufacturers. That chart tells exactly why. You might use brand X 10w and decide that you want to slow down your overall damping, so you buy a bottle of brand Y 15w not knowing that it is actually less viscous than brand X.

There is also the matter of Viscosity Index (VI). VI is a measure of how well an oil maintains it's viscosity with a rise in temperature (the oil warms as it is forced through the orifices & valves in your fork) and the greater the change in viscosity with temperature, the bigger the change in your damping rates as you continue to ride. When you look for VI numbers the higher the VI number, the better the oil is at maintaining its viscosity. I use Redline suspension fluid because it has some of the best VI numbers and I am custom mixing different viscosities at precise ratios to better control the acutal viscosity of the oil in my forks.

Peter Verdone is the guy who put that chart together and he has some very good insight about this subject. It's well worth taking the time to read his articles. He also has a very handy chart with ratios for mixing the different Redline oils to get a specific viscosity.

[daverdfw]

so here is a question, I was going with 20wt oil because with gear I will be around 240lb. What if I did 1 fork with Bel-rey 20wt and 1 with Maxima 20wt. Looking at the chart, it looks like it would almost get me to like a 17wt or something since the maxima 20wt is not far from the bel rey 15. Unless I am on crack and totally off base.

[RacinNinja]

Originally Posted by daverdfw

so here is a question, I was going with 20wt oil because with gear I will be around 240lb. What if I did 1 fork with Bel-rey 20wt and 1 with Maxima 20wt. Looking at the chart, it looks like it would almost get me to like a 17wt or something since the maxima 20wt is not far from the bel rey 15. Unless I am on crack and totally off base.

It's best to mix the oils and have the same mix in each fork leg.

[daverdfw]

Originally Posted by RacinNinja

It's best to mix the oils and have the same mix in each fork leg.

Kinda what I figured, I will just both Bel-Rey in both.