How corrosive is brake fluid?

[tmckay]

As noted in the other post, I swapped brake fluid last weekend.  I over-filled the rear reservoir and spilled some down over the front of the rear fender and through the hoses behind the engine.  Dribbled on the (brand new) rear tire.  

 I flushed it with tons of water within 5 or 10 minutes.  How bad is this stuff anyway?  Should I be worried?

Trev

[The Buddha]

Dot 3 or 4 will eat paint... and leave a oil like film on the rubber... will go with a little scrubbing. Dot 5 doesn't harm anyhting, preserves and lubricates rubber and in general is harmless to evreyhting.
Cool.
Srinath.

[rjsjr]

Made the same mistake a while ago and my fender cracked a few weeks later when I hit a bump.  Probably was weakened a little from the heat of the header pipes too, but I was surprised how much damage it did (I cleaned it off right away).  Fortunately I didn't spill on anything else, but I always put a towel on the fender first when changing/topping off fluids now.