Motiv Brake Bleeder or Speed Bleeders?

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My Evo is due for new Rotors and Pads. As always I change out the Brake Fluid as well. I have been using the Motul RBF 600 fluid for about 4 yrs now.

So here is the deal. 1) I have been thinking of buying this Motiv power bleeder for the car, so I can do the brake bleed myself with no help. I like the idea of not having to pump the pedal to change the fluid because of fear of the pedal going all the way to the floor and possibly damaging some seals. BUT the speed bleeders seem to be pretty trick as well, Has anyone used the Motiv bleeder? Is it easy to use? worth the Money?

2) Brake fluid. I have been on the fence on this. As stated I have been using Motul RBF 600 for the past 4 yrs. I just want something that will help out the OEM Brembos as much as possible since the car see's spirited driving quite often as well as ocasional Solo 2 time. I was looking into using the ATE Super Blue fluid. For the money it seems to be the ticket at only $11.95 per liter, where as the Motul RBF 600 runs about $18 per pint. It is true that the Motul has higher boil points hot and wet, but not so much higher to justify the price difference. So I wanted to see if anyone here has used the ATE Super Blue in a high performance applications or in a street driven hot rod.

As for the Brakes, I am going with the DBA 4000 series Slotted Rotors and Stop Tech HD Brake Pads front and rear. I have had good luck with the Centric Stop Techs on and off the track and for the cost they are a bargain for any application. As for the DBA's this will be the first time using them. I have heard nothing but good about them, and they are less cost than the Brembo Rotors on the car now.

Opinions are always welcome. Thanks For your time.


Jeff
 
My 2 cents on the speed bleeder: It really depends on the brake fluid reservoir setup on your car. I bought one to use in a brake flush on my Civic and it didn't go so well. The brake fluid reservoir on this car has a lid that twists and snaps on, not screws on, and since Motiv doesn't have a special adapter for it I had to use the "universal" one that has a cone shaped seal and a chain with posts and wing-nuts to tighten it down. I can see how this would work well on older setups but this car has a remote reservoir and there isn't anything real strong (e.g. the master cylinder) under the reservoir to clamp against. I tightened it down as much as I was comfortable doing but I could not get a good enough seal for the kind of pressure that's needed. I know others have had success so it's not impossible, but it's at least hit-or-miss.

On the Civic I ended up waiting until the wife was home and flushing it the old fashioned way.

OTOH my wife's Mazda3 has a Ford sized screw cap fluid reservoir, and the Motiv kit has a cap that fits it. I bet it'll be great on that car.

I've been enticed by the speed bleeders as well but my lazy conclusion so far has been that with the infrequency that the need for this job comes up, I'll just go with the plain old two-person method that doesn't involve modifying anything or hooking up any third party devices.
 
I'm kind of up in the air about a power bleeder v. speed bleeders.

1) I bought and used speed bleeders for my car and love them. But as rationull pointed out, they really aren't used all that often. And generally not transferable to another car.

2) For fun I made my own power bleeder. Instructions for DYI can be found on the internet. I purchased a spare master cylinder cover for each of the two cars I own and modified them for the power bleeder.

The speed bleeders seem simpler to use. But the power bleeder is certainly more sophisticated. And may be better for some cars, especially those with certain ABS systems.

I just remembered one trick someone suggested regarding the speed bleeders. This individual purchased one speed bleeder and attached a hose to it to attach to the regular bleeders as he bled each corner of the car. It was a kind of "portable check valve."
 
Originally Posted By: Frbl
I'm kind of up in the air about a power bleeder v. speed bleeders.

1) I bought and used speed bleeders for my car and love them. But as rationull pointed out, they really aren't used all that often. And generally not transferable to another car.

2) For fun I made my own power bleeder. Instructions for DYI can be found on the internet. I purchased a spare master cylinder cover for each of the two cars I own and modified them for the power bleeder.

The speed bleeders seem simpler to use. But the power bleeder is certainly more sophisticated. And may be better for some cars, especially those with certain ABS systems.

I just remembered one trick someone suggested regarding the speed bleeders. This individual purchased one speed bleeder and attached a hose to it to attach to the regular bleeders as he bled each corner of the car. It was a kind of "portable check valve."


The above in bold is a brilliant Idea!

Jeff
 
Speed bleeders work great.

Speed bleeders are cheap.

You want to cap off a speed bleeder when finished
to ensure protection from wheel well enviroments.

31ANZNYFJVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: Jeffs2006EvoIX
Originally Posted By: Frbl

I just remembered one trick someone suggested regarding the speed bleeders. This individual purchased one speed bleeder and attached a hose to it to attach to the regular bleeders as he bled each corner of the car. It was a kind of "portable check valve."


The above in bold is a brilliant Idea!

Jeff

+1
Very simple, one speed bleeder and a little hose can be used with many cars.
 
The speed bleeders are not cheaper than the Power Bleeder though. I have heard good and bad on both. For my car the Speed Bleeders would run $8.00 each or $15.00 each for stainless, so if I get 8 Im looking at $64 plus tax and shipping. The Motiv Power Bleeder is $50. I would need 6 power bleeders since I have 4 piston calipers up front that have 2 bleeders per side, then the rears have 2 piston and also have 2 bleeders per side.

In my cars case, with the Brembo Brakes I have on my car, it would actually be cheaper to buy the Motiv power bleader.

Im still on the fence on this.
 
Originally Posted By: Jeffs2006EvoIX
Frbl said:
I'm kind of up in the air about a power bleeder v. speed bleeders.

1) I bought and used speed bleeders for my car and love them. But as rationull pointed out, they really aren't used all that often. And generally not transferable to another car.

2) For fun I made my own power bleeder. Instructions for DYI can be found on the internet. I purchased a spare master cylinder cover for each of the two cars I own and modified them for the power bleeder.

The speed bleeders seem simpler to use. But the power bleeder is certainly more sophisticated. And may be better for some cars, especially those with certain ABS systems.

I just remembered one trick someone suggested regarding the speed bleeders. This individual purchased one speed bleeder and attached a hose to it to attach to the regular bleeders as he bled each corner of the car. It was a kind of "portable check valve."


The above in bold is a brilliant Idea!

This would be the only way speed bleeders would be worth the money is this idea above.


I am thinking on this one.

Jeff
 
The one speed bleeder attached to a hose was my idea. I posted about it last year. Several thought it was a decent idea, but others thought the threads of the original bleeders would let air back into the system.

I ended up making my own pressure bleeder that fits both of our Toyotas that works well, maybe I'll post some pics of it.

Here is the original thread from last April.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1865248
 
There's a website with some really great info and forgive me for not having the link but he mentioned the Motul RBF 600, while it had better boiling points was more of a racing fluid that had a higher water absorption rate and unless you change it out more often recommended the ATE Super Blue (or the gold stuff) as it had a slower absorption rate and made for a better longer term fluid, while not having that big a dropoff from the Motul stuff. Price was a big bonus.

He also HIGHLY recommended a vacuum bleeder like the Mityvac Brake Bleeder as this somehow helped prevent forcing air into the fluid, or something like that. It's pretty expensive though and probably way out of the price range you're looking for, but it could be used on multiple cars, depending on which version you got. But the Super Blue and vacuum bleeder seems like a winning combo to me. Just throwing what I read out there, not suggesting anythiing. I'll try to find the link as it was a pretty awesome page about brakes with a ton of info.
 
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