saiguanas

http://www.harborfreight.com/brake-b...kit-69328.html

I would definitely buy the Motive or a more expensive one if I were going to use it professionally, but I just want to get my brakes bled. Does this harbor freight model look like it can help or am I better off with nothing. $22 is cheaper than $75 but not if it doesn't work.

There is also the fact that I hate ordering anything and waiting for it to come in which brings me to the next one. Autozone has one for the same price as the Motive but I can run to the corner and buy one tonight.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=289900_0_0_

I look forward to your input and thanks in advance for helping me to save money as wisely as possible.

MrJlr

I have used both.....unless you plan on selling the car, you'll need to bleed it someday again...

Motive all the way for me

Jeff_Keryk

Motive - you will buy it now, or you will buy it later.

Chinaski

Tools = Buy once, Cry once.

AT-82Collectors

I bought the Motive and it just works. Best brake pedal I have ever had on my '82. Do you want to get it done or maybe screw around with someting else?

Andy

7t9l82

i tried the harbor freight one pumped it 3 times and the piston blew out, total junk. the phoenix i believe is pretty good.

flyeri

CA-Legal-Vette

Order and wait for the Motive. You'll be glad that you did.

DaveH_RRTX

Unless you are a doing this for a living; Save yourself the money for either one. Y

You can bleed the brakes by yourself just fine using one of two methods:

1. If you have a lot of time. Use the gravity method to bleed each wheel in the recommended sequence. Best way to do this; get a bottle and a tight fitting vacuumn hose for the brake fitting. Put some fluid in the bottle. Stick the hose on the brake fitting and the other end in the bottle in a couple of inches of brake fluid. Open the brake fitting. Watch the fluid in the bottle as the air is bled out of the hose and then the brake line, continue to watch until you see the fluid rise in the bottle with no more air bubbles, then close the brake fitting. Go to the next wheel and repeat. Lay on something comfortable, this takes a fairly LONG time.

2. BETTER; use the hose/bottle method to bleed the system. It's pretty simple; make sure you have a tight fitting vacuum line for the brake fitting, get a clear bottle, fill it with about 2 inches of brake fluid, make sure the hose is in the bottle and completely covered by the fluid. Open the brake fitting, then push the brake pedal slowly all the way to the floor and let it up even slower. Repeat a couple of more times, then go back to the wheel and close the brake fitting. Top off the master cylinder with more brake fluid and empty your bottle so it doesn't overflow; but make sure you still keep at least 2 inches of fluid to cover the hose. Move to the next wheel in the mfg's recommended sequence and Do all the above steps over again. Repeat at each wheel until you are done.

No air in the lines.

Have been doing it this way for more than 30 years, it works every time.

PS. my kids bought me the Harbor Freight kit for Christmas a few years ago. It is junk. Way too much work and it didn't work as well as the method described above.

donyue

I have manually bled a lot of brakes over the years, but the C3 corvette seems to be especially difficult. I replace all my calipers with the Wilwood D8-4 calipers, new hoses, and new rotors due to leaking caliper. Tried to bleed the brakes manually with the help of another person pressing the pedal to expel the air. It did not work at all. Finally got fed up and frustrated so I purchased the brake bleed system below.

http://www.speedibleed.com/

It works great! Had my brakes fully bled and a hard brake pedal in less than a half an hour.

Thanks

Don

noonie

The Harbor Freight vacuum gun is a great vacuum tool, but not for brakes. You can use it for all your other vacuum testing. There's a lot of it on a C3.

The Phoenix bleeder works very well with older (non ABS) systems, but that model does look pretty cheezy for the price. Their pro model (not plastic) is over 300 bucks. I'm just hesitant about the lifespan of a 75 dollar tool like that with brake fluid.

In both cases you have to manually remove the trapped air from the master cylinder, a common problem on these brake systems.

I would try the gravity, manual bleed method first and then either the motive or the Phoenix.

brando1118

LOL! Yep. Exactly what he said.

C6DuffMan

If you do decide to get the Motive, seek out the newer model with the aluminum plate. It's much better that the older plastic plate.

I use two screw clamps now and not the chains. I can be setup and bleeding in about 5 minutes.

The Motive is the best bleeding tool I've ever used.

bigvette1

Keep in mind the Motive is a power bleeder -- forcing under pressure brake fluid through the lines got full flushing

vs

Harbour Freight or like type product is a vacuum bleeder -- sucking fluid through the lines.

Have used both and the Motive power bleeder is superior to all other methods, best bleed, quickest, flushing the system one end to the other and the best peddle you will have on a vette.

mikep3

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mvp-0105/overview/

I used the Motive 105 kit from Summit just like what is pictured in post #13.
I was quick, clean and worked. Best money I have spent and hope to use it next year to flush the system.

wcsinx

The HF unit is garbage. I bought it, and popped the seal in the piston on the 2nd stroke. Took it back and spent $15 more on the Mityvac version (also carried by HF) and I've been using it ever since.

However...

I don't ever recommend vacuum bleeding for brakes. Unless you seal the bleeder screw threads (and often even if you do), you'll just end up sucking air past them.

1. Gravity bleeding can work, but it is a slow process. And it's often not effective at getting pockets of air out.

2. Getting your wife to work the pedal is just as effective as a motive power-bleeder, but it requires an understanding wife.

3. Power-bleeding is a fast, solo operation, but it requires a semi-expensive, bulky piece of equipment that you'll rarely use.

I personally opt for #2.

Learning_Curve

Make you're own pressure bleeder. Here's one made for 14 bucks.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...-for-14-a.html

MrJlr

Clearly - to answer the OP's question....it's Motive all the way.....

C3 Stroker

Another vote for Motive.....even if I were going to use it once in a lifetime, it's worth it. No frustration, removes 100% of the air, one person operation. It just works!

7dSHARK

I ordered the phoenix system online. Threw it in the trash after several of us tried to get it to work. I know others have used it successfully but I don't know how. Never heard of any negative remark about motive. Bought the phoenix after watching Stacy use it on his car show. He used the pro model. I bought the shade tree model. TOTAL CRAP.