Speed bleeders anyone?

Keith Tanner wrote: I do gravity bleeds. Gives me a really good pedal and it's easy to do solo. Plus this way I don't need to buy (counting in his head) 44 speed bleeders.

This is what I do too. Incredibly simple and effective. I don't understand why it isn't the norm.

Woody wrote: I hate brake fluid.

Could somebody explain why that weird feeling, smelly, hygroscopic, paint stripping E36 M3 is the standard rather than simple mineral oil? Citroen seems to get along quite well with mineral oil in the brakes.

BrokenYugo wrote:

Woody wrote: I hate brake fluid.

Could somebody explain why that weird feeling, smelly, hygroscopic, paint stripping E36 M3 is the standard rather than simple mineral oil? Citroen seems to get along quite well with mineral oil in the brakes.

Because mineral oil doesn't absorb water, allowing it to pool and cause rust & localized flash-boiling:

http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/blog/dot-brake-fluid-vs-mineral-oil/

Lof8 wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: I do gravity bleeds. Gives me a really good pedal and it's easy to do solo. Plus this way I don't need to buy (counting in his head) 44 speed bleeders.

This is what I do too. Incredibly simple and effective. I don't understand why it isn't the norm.

Does gravity bleeding work on cars with ABS?

Googled gravity bleeding, am I missing something or is it as easy as it sounds?

It's easy, although some systems can be very slow to gravity bleed, so it ends up taking a while. And you've gotta sit around the whole time to keep it topped off. I'd generally rather just throw the pressure bleeder on it and have the whole system flushed and done in a few minutes.

I love gravity bleeding. As soon as I found out that my car would do that, it's the only way I bleed brakes. I usually have other stuff to do at the same time, so the time suck is no big deal.

Woody wrote:

Lof8 wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: I do gravity bleeds. Gives me a really good pedal and it's easy to do solo. Plus this way I don't need to buy (counting in his head) 44 speed bleeders.

This is what I do too. Incredibly simple and effective. I don't understand why it isn't the norm.

Does gravity bleeding work on cars with ABS?

Yes, although you may still have to trigger the unit in order to shake out bubbles. It's about the only way to bleed the brakes on an Series Land Rover.

I don't find gravity bleeding slow, because I can watch exactly what's going on. There's no question when a bubble comes out, and I don't end up chasing around and around. It also uses very little fluid so unless you're trying to do a complete system flush while watching the hockey game you don't have to worry much about the master going dry.

Pressure bleeders can introduce microbubbles into the system. I've always been able to get a better pedal from gravity bleeding than our Motive pressure bleeder. We use the pressure bleeder in the shop because time is money. I use gravity bleeding on my car because race car.

Best use for speed bleeders: Clutch slave cylinders. Just put a pan under the cylinder, open the bleeder, fill up the reservoir, and pump the clutch until it's solid. Close bleeder and dump pan. No bench bleeds needed.