Speed Bleeders – good idea? bad idea?

[Mike]

Does anyone have experience with Speed Bleeders? They’re basically a bleeder screw with a check valve to make solo bleeding super easy. I don’t see any major harm because even if this valve were to break, it wouldn’t leak unless the screw were cracked open like a regular bleeder screw.

I’m just curious if anyone has experience in terms of whether or not they work well, are worth the extra few bucks, etc.

Topic

[college man]

I have no experience with a speed bleeder.Let us know
if they work out.

[John B Kobberstad]

My son bought some for his 1995 Camaro. I told him he was wasting money he didn’t have, but he seemed to like them I guess. He probably wouldn’t tell me otherwise because he’d get the “I told you so” from me. I’ll ask him tonight and post his serious reply.

[John B Kobberstad]

He says they work well, but you must go easy when you tighten them as they will break easily. He broke one in his caliper and had to get a new caliper. For what it’s worth.

[Mike]

I’m going to order a set for the next time I do brakes (probably this spring). I’m surprised that more people don’t use them or that they’re not standard equipment….. it seems like such a simple solution to a problem. Why would you ever want brake fluid going back the other way??

Thanks for the info. I’d love to hear some other experiences on them.

[Phil Grimsey]

I recently had a brake calliper seize up on my car which torched the pads and disc on that side. When bleeding the brakes up, I used a similar device that utilises air pressure from a tyre to force fluid out a remote reservoir and through the master cylinder. Worked brilliantly and I’d thoroughly recommend them to anyone working solo. Especially since it cost me about £12 and saved getting my boss involved in things ( I was working on the carpark outside work)

[blacK20]

I have them on my race car. Anybody that runs a race car will know that bleeding brakes are a regular operation. I thought I’d give them a try and to my surprise they still work perfectly after 2 years and many many many bleed cycles.

[Nick Warner]

I think they’re great for things that need regular bleeding. They save time and effort. For a daily driver, I don’t see the practicality of them. You have your car that needs lines, calipers and such, you do the repair and you bleed it. Probably going to be years until you ever would have a reason to bleed them again and if any of you live in the Rustbelt like me you already know how thats going to turn out. I personally stay with the conventional bleeder screws. I have found a very nice item from Mitivac that has a suction reservior. The vac uses compressed air and creates a vacuum on the tube you push onto the bleeder. It has about a 1 1/5 qt reservior in it, so if you’re flushing out your system completely its a rockstar. It also comes with a piece that you fill up with brake fluid and place on the master. You can set the level you want the fluid maintained at and it keeps you full while bleeding. Just set them up and crack your bleeder. Then slowly pump the pedal a few times and then go check at the wheel end. The clear hose will show if there are any bubbles. If all is good, close the bleeder and move on to the next wheel. It really shines for those of you who are a one-man show in the garage most of the time and don’t have someone there to help you bleed, plus it allows you to do it faster by yourself than you could with a helper the conventional way.

Another thing this thing does is something I’m sure many of you have dealt with, when you fail the master cylinder during bleeding on a used car. All that crap builds up at the end of the piston travel, you push the brakes to the floor while bleeding it and BAM it cuts the piston seals. So when you were just changing a caliper you noticed seeping on a routine brake job you now have to tell the customer that their master is junk. They will either accuse you of being a cheat or think you’re an idiot that knows nothing. With the vac system you don’t need to fully push down the pedal to do the job. Thats what I like with it. Not even that expensive and worth it if you do more than just your own cars.

[Bertsail]

http://www.gunson.co.uk/item.aspx?cat=674&item=1818

Edit
Slight disclaimer on this,
I only work on my own cars and they have been Renaults and Peugeots. The eezibleed thing I have been using for some years has screw caps to fit on the brake fluid reservoirs.
But Hondas have a bayonet type, so it’s not going to fit.
So now after a year or so of owning a Honda I’m thinking about changing the brake fluid and realize that this is not going to work.
I have ordered a universal cap which fits with a rubber band thing, so I’ll see if it works, but I’m not in a hurry to do the job anyway.
But don’t run out and buy one for a Honda as the standard screw caps won’t work and the rubber band cap may be a bit suspect.

[Author]

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