Best brake bleeder kit

[madvladcivic]

Like the header suggests: What is the most reliable
brake bleeder kit for under say 100$? Have read reviews
for MityVac, Actron or one or two others. It will only
be for use once/twice per yr.

How about a length of Tygon tubing and a 60ml syringe?

Thanks.

 

[Roland-5.0]

We have a mighty vac at the shop and when I use it it does work good. Nothing beats bleeding them the 2 man way IMO

 

[bdamico]

speedbleeders and wasn't this done just a few days ago?

 

[Roland-5.0]

If its just for one car you could always get some speed bleeders. There simple to use alone.

 

[Gabastone]

Motive Power Bleeder works great - Mityvac 6830 does not.

 

[V70R]

Another for Motive's Power Bleeder. Best out there for a one-man job on VW/Audi clutch slaves and masters.

 

[surpdlr]

Phoenix systems

The V-12 is below your price point (I have not used it, I own and use the Max Pro, shop around they can be had +-$200.00), but can't be beat. It pushes the air up (the way air wants to go in most liquids).

http://www.brakebleeder.com/

Jeff

 

[dirtydogintex]

speedbleeders and wasn't this done just a few days ago?

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=168525&highlight=brake+bleeder

 

[theoldwizard1]

We have a mighty vac at the shop and when I use it it does work good. Nothing beats bleeding them the 2 man way IMO

I have a Mityvac.

I still prefer the old 2 man method !

 

[joe_padavano]

I have a Vacula brand (yeah, waaaay too clever a name) vacuum bleeder that uses shop air with a venturi to create vacuum. I got it at the Long Beach swap meet years ago for $15 because no one else knew what it was. This is BY FAR the best brake bleeder I've ever used. One pass at each wheel and it's done. It takes far longer to jack the car up than to bleed the brakes with this.

List price on these is around $200. Mityvac now sells a similar product for less. It sure beats the hand-pump bleeders. I've used hand-pump bleeders, pressure bleeders, gravity bleeding, and the two-person approach. The Vacula is the best and fastest.

http://www.etoolcart.com/brakebleederkit-vac180051.aspx

 

[bdamico]

I've never heard a good response why a bleeder kit is better than speedbleeders. Would be interested in knowing. Shoot. I've bleed brakes without even taking rims off if I recall. One person.

 

[Lurch67]

I've never heard a good response why a bleeder kit is better than speedbleeders. Would be interested in knowing. Shoot. I've bleed brakes without even taking rims off if I recall. One person.

Good question!

 

[Zeke]

+3 on Motive. Gravity works very well. Just takes time.

 

[signcrafter]

I've never heard a good response why a bleeder kit is better than speedbleeders. Would be interested in knowing. Shoot. I've bleed brakes without even taking rims off if I recall. One person.

The main reason is if you have a couple vehicles you work on. I've never owned speed bleeders but have heard nothing but good about them. But I work on all of my family's and friend's vehicles so it was better for me to buy a mityvac 6835 so I can do any vehicle I need to. That's the main reason I see. I like to flush my brake fluid every two years. Not sure if that's needed or not but that's what some of the manufacturers recomend so I started doing that to all vehicles I work on since it's cheap and easy to do with a bleeder.

 

[Skin]

I dont have any experience with speed bleeders but as far as some of the kits go, including the Motive Power Bleeder, they can work well but takes so much time to set it up that you might as well of just had someone pumping the brakes so honestly i'd just assume save the money. Now a pressure bleeder with the attachment kit is fantastic but a bit pricey for just personal use.

 

[Den69rs96]

the motive one is a piece of cake. find the adater that fits your car and first do a dry run to make sure the cap is is sealing ok. Just basically pump it to 10 psi and see if it holds air pressure. If it does release pressure and fill it with a qt or so of brake fluid. Pump up to 10-15psi and leave it alone. Go to your caliper and attach a hose to bleeder on the caliper and open. Once no more air comes out and the fluid is clean close it. Even couple mins check to make sure the gauge is over 10 psi. If it isn't give it a few more pumps. Move to the next caliper and repeat. It make take a few extra minutes in clean up thats it.

 

[rodm1]

Mityvac MV8500 Silverline Elite has vacuum and pressure. It's grate for draining lawn mower fuel tanks and draining master cylinders plus you can bleed your brakes to.

Bleeding brakes I've found pull a vacuum at the wheel cylinder then slowly pump the brakes. It works very very fast that way.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SQYUA/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[aveguy]

Motive Power Bleeder is best IMO. I like pressure bleeding over vacuum because you don't have to worry about getting a good seal on the bleeder screw threads. If the bleeder screw threads don't seal when you open to bleeder, than vacuum bleeding can actually pull air back into the system via the threads. Sometimes when using the Motive system, if I am just doing a quick "test bleed" to see if the system has any evidence of air, I often don't even put any new fluid in the Motive pressure jug. No fliud in jug means no clean up involved, just need to make sure you don't drain the master down to far.

Do yourself a favor and get a good offset box brake wrench that fits your bleeder size and real collection bottle with some of that really soft super flexible tubing. I use to think that the collection bottle was an over priced waste of money, until I used one that is. Now that I have one, I love it because it has a non spill cap with a drain-back ****** for hose end, a magnet/cord to attach to chassis, and really soft tubing that latches onto the bleeder ****** very well.

 

[P0234]

We have a mighty vac at the shop and when I use it it does work good. Nothing beats bleeding them the 2 man way IMO

I agree, nothing better that a 2 man bleeding for a stubborn air bubble. Motive and Mytee are great for changing fluid, not so good for getting air out.

 

[pendragon1998]

I like my motive.

 

[robalmal]

I have been bleeding brakes by myself for over 40 years..This week alone did 3 brake fluid changes.
All I use is a length of plastic hose that fits tightly over the bleeder valve..Stick the other end into a plastic bottle which has a little brake fluid in the bottom.
Open the bleeder quarter turn and pump the pedal slowly,no more then halfway down. The end of the hose in the fluid in the bottle stops air getting sucked up on the upstroke. Keep the reservoir full and pump till the fluid is the new clean brake fluid.
Also helps to use a turkey baster to **** out as much old fluid from the reservoir as possible beforehand.
Works on all the ABS system cars I have come across too.
I can see you might need a vac tool if you got a lot of air in the system somehow. but for routine brake work that is all I ever use. Never had a problem

 

[nimbleVagrant]

The Mityvac 6830 has always worked well for me. It makes a great fluid catch when compressing calipers and makes quick work of pulling fresh fluid through a system. Follow it up with a gravity bleed and I'm all set. 95% of the time it keeps the job a 1 person affair.

 

[joe_padavano]

If the bleeder screw threads don't seal when you open to bleeder, than vacuum bleeding can actually pull air back into the system via the threads.

I have to disagree with that. If the bleeder screw is under vacuum the whole time it is open, it is not physically possible to get air back into the brake system. Yes, you will get air bubbles in the line from the bleeder screw to the vacuum bleeder, but the pressure in this line is lower than the pressure in the wheel cylinder. Any air that leaks around the screw threads ALWAYS goes into the bleeder, not the brakes. Now, if you are using a hand pump bleeder, then I agree that you can get air back into the brake system between pumps. It's just not possible with a vacuum bleeder that works off shop air.