brake bleeder ideas

[Donald]

OK, the $28 HF hand operated vacuum pump does not cut it.

Power bleeder (Motive & MityVac Pressure one)
Probably wastes brake fluid. Leftover brake fluid probably gets tossed. No air line needed. May need special adapters. Need the "Black" model for hose swivel. Many Motive ones got poor reviews on Amazon, plastic cap leaking, had to jury rig some master cylinder adapters.

Vacuum bleeders (MityVac and much cheaper HF)
Air line needed. Little or no brake fluid wasted. No special adapter needed. Can pick up air from bleeder threads. The Mityvac seems more expensive than a Motive.

 

[Donald]

Maybe use my MityVac 7201?

 

[Donald]

Which way do the shops do it? Pressure or vacuum? Why so?

 

[Sawdusted]

Is getting an assistant to help you an option? All the indy shops I have frequent use the 2-person bleeding method.

 

[Donald]

At this point my "assistants" have 4 legs and are only good to lick your face.

 

[c502cid]

I've used speed bleeders with great results

 

[Donald]

I see MityVac does sell an adapter to use an extractor (like 7201) to bleed brakes.

 

[panthermike]

How about the one person method? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfTmlOZbXgs

Seems easy enough.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: panthermike
How about the one person method? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfTmlOZbXgs

Seems easy enough.


I think there is a good chance of pulling air and/or the sealing grease into the cylinder.

 

[KenO]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: panthermike
How about the one person method? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfTmlOZbXgs

Seems easy enough.


I think there is a good chance of pulling air and/or the sealing grease into the cylinder.



Doubtful. A bleed bottle is what I, and everybody I've ever seen at the track use. When you've got 30-40 HPDE, time trial, club racers, etc. every track weekend using bleed bottles - I'd say they're what you use. It's what I use.

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-176959...mple-bleed.aspx

 

[TooManyWheels]

I have a Phoenix V12. It isn't a panacea, like all bleeders it is messy and you have to be very deliberate with how you handle EVERYTHING, but it does get rid of the air.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I used Mityvac 7201 without expansive adapter for bleeding brake. Just buy 1 foot 1/4" plastic hose from hardware store to connect to main hose then to 7201 container.

I connect the small hose to bleeder valve then pump the Mityvac 3-4 times before loosen the bleeder valve.

While the Mityvac suck out the old fluid fill up the reservoir when it near empty. For the rear I fill up the reservoir twice and once for the front. Less than 1 quart brake fluid was used. Total time to bleed 4 corners was less than 15 minutes, time to raise/lower the car and remove/reinstall 4 wheels took much longer.

I had Motive Power Bleeder, it didn't work well so I sold it on Craigslist. Now I have Mityvac to do oil, ATF and brake.

 

[Merkava_4]

I'm going with the Motive Products bleeder the next time around.

 

[Donald]

So aside from the actual products, which is better in general, power or vacuum?

 

[larryinnewyork]

I have the Speedi-Bleed, Model K100

It's a pressure bleeder.
The pressure is supplied by your tire.
May use 5 PSI. Reinflate tire when done.
I ordered with the 'universal' adaptor. That worked OK.
Then I ordered the specific cap for reservoir (Still waiting to try).
All coponents are very well made.
Price $129.00

Different methods. pros & cons to each.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: larryinnewyork
I have the Speedi-Bleed, Model K100

It's a pressure bleeder.
The pressure is supplied by your tire.
May use 5 PSI. Reinflate tire when done.
I ordered with the 'universal' adaptor. That worked OK.
Then I ordered the specific cap for reservoir (Still waiting to try).
All coponents are very well made.
Price $129.00

Different methods. pros & cons to each.


That seems a bit steep for a brake bleeder. I could rent a helper a lot cheaper for the few times I need to bleed brakes.

 

[Donald]

Gravity bleeding - will this always work and get all the air out? Is the only "con" that its a bit slow? What about a new & empty caliper?

 

[Vikas]

My (second hand) experience with gravity bleed has been great. I got a great pedal after my mechanic did the gravity bleed on my car while he was working on something else. But this was many many years ago and the system had no ABS.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I didn't buy Mityvac to bleed the brake, I bought it to do oil change in the E430. I then used it to do ATF for the E430 and LS400, then use it to do oil change for S2000 and LS400.

I didn't think about using it to bleed the brake because I had Motive Power bleeder with various adapters for all 3 cars. I first tried the Motive on the LS400, it worked okay for 2 front wheels but didn't push any fluid out of the bleeder valve of the 2 rear wheels, I had to use Mityvac to do 2 rear wheels.

I then bleed the brake for the E430. Same thing happened with Motive Power bleeder, nothing coming out of the 2 rear wheels. Mityvac came to rescue and the job was done in less than 5 minutes.

Motive Power bleeder failed on both cars, sold them on Craigslist for almost what I paid and happily using Mityvac to do several difference tasks.

 

[larryinnewyork]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: larryinnewyork
I have the Speedi-Bleed, Model K100

It's a pressure bleeder.
The pressure is supplied by your tire.
May use 5 PSI. Reinflate tire when done.
I ordered with the 'universal' adaptor. That worked OK.
Then I ordered the specific cap for reservoir (Still waiting to try).
All coponents are very well made.
Price $129.00

Different methods. pros & cons to each.


That seems a bit steep for a brake bleeder. I could rent a helper a lot cheaper for the few times I need to bleed brakes.


Yes, it was expensive.
But, we all need to splurge once in a while.

I feel I have a quality tool that will save me money every time I use it.
Like I said, all the components are of high quality.

I'm sure other pressure bleeders will work fine.
Any one is way better than nothing.