Originally Posted by Hawkeye56

Thank you so much for the details. I would have never thought of pushing the pads open to drain the bores. To open the pads is it best to remove the calipers and then reinstall so they can refill or can it all be done with calipers attached.
Thanks again for the tricks to your trade.
Thanks Hawkeye56

Originally Posted by Nomake Wan

Same way as if you were going to replace the pads with new. Either use a C-Clamp on the center of the old pad to push the pistons flat, or use a pad spreader tool inside the caliper to compress the pistons. Either method requires removal of the calipers, which thankfully is a 30-second job on our cars.

Originally Posted by drcook

An old trick I learned a long time ago is to whack the caliper with a rubber mallet. If there are any air bubbles adhering to the inside, the shock will break them free and allow them to float up to the bleeder.

Originally Posted by Tom400CFI

No.

You do not need to remove the calipers to push the pistons in. You can do it with the calipers ON, one of several ways. Here are two ways:
1. You can use a C-clamp such that one side is on the "back" of the caliper, and the other runs through the piston clearance hole/slot in the front to push against the outer pad. The caliper will slide toward the wheel spokes (if the wheel were still installed) and push the pistons in.
2. You can simply use a pry bar, screw driver or some device to pry, and pry against the caliper to either slide the caliper "outward" -toward the wheel spokes, if they were on there, OR, get the device between the rotor and inner pad and simply push the pad and pistons back in.
3. This one takes some strength, effort but can be done on 'Vette and other car calipers. Simply wrap on hand around the back of the caliper and muckle on to it good...use two hands, if you can, then PULL the caliper outward hard. If you really give'r hell, you can slide the caliper out, bottoming the pistons in the process. Sometimes it helps to sort of "tweak" the caliper to the left and right to sort of get one piston moving at a time...wiggle it back and forth w/your two hands.

Removing calipers would add significant time to the "bleeding" process...so I don't do it. I compress the pistons with the calipers on the car.

Originally Posted by Tom400CFI

Why wouldn't you do it? What's the diff between using a C-clamp w/the caliper off and using a c-clamp with the caliper in place? The diff is that w/the caliper in place, pushing on the backing plate of the outer pad won't damage the pad, while pushing on the face of the inner pad, could (though it's not necessary) damage the inner pad. What am I missing?

Originally Posted by Tom400CFI

If you're not interested in spending the money or having another thing in your garage....you can do the same thing in the same time w/o a power bleeding system.

Originally Posted by Patsgarage

How ?
NVM

Originally Posted by Tom400CFI

There are numerous ways in which you can speed up the process dramatically:
1. Siphon out all the fluid from the reservoir, then fill and gravity bleed. Should only take a couple minutes for the new/fresh fluid to make it to the calipers/bleeders.
2. Pump the pedal. Open one or more bleeder, pump the pedal until you get fresh fluid to that or those calipers....wait a minute for the caliper to fill and bleed, close the bleeders. Wait...WHUT? That's right, you can open a bleeder or several and pump the pedal by yourself (no helper). Yes you'll draw some air back into the caliper on each pedal release, but over all, it's a net gain and you're moving fluid from the res, down and out the calipers....fast. When you're done pumping, there will be some air drawn into the calipers on your last pedal release...that's O.K. Wait about 20 second or so and the caliper will have filled and be bled out. Easy.
3. Compress the calipers all the way. Siphon out the fluid from the res. Fill with new fluid, w/o opening any bleeder, pump the pedal to move the pads back out to the rotors. You've just changed ~90% of the fluid in the system, fast.


Bonus (for all bleeding methods):Always compress the calipers all the way before starting. Why? Think about the volume of fluid in the caliper bore(s) (large volume). Think about that compared to the volume in the lines (small). You can bleed out the system all day long and are you really replacing all the fluid in the caliper(s)? No. The brake line typically comes in to the bore near the top...near the bleeder. So while some fluid is being replaced, most is likely not, and just stays in the caliper. Especially true in multi piston calipers. SO...push the pistons all the way back in, then bleed how ever you chose to, then pump the pedal to move the pads back to the rotor....and you're filling the bores with fresh fluid.

I do this stuff for a living, so I want the fastest, easiest, best way to do it with the least help and the least expensive tools. Once the wheels are off, I can bleed out my 'Vette's brakes in about 10-15 minutes with no help and no tools other than a 10mm wrench and some catch buckets. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by Nomake Wan

Mostly that if I'm bleeding I'm probably replacing pads too (and have a spreader tool for the calipers). Just a difference between how you've done it and when you primarily bleed, versus how I've done it and when I primarily bleed. No offense intended.

Originally Posted by Vette5311

Well, I have to respectfully disagree,
I have used/put speed bleeders on 3 cars including my 66 Corvette and never had a bit of a problem.
All worked well as advertised if the directions are followed correctly.
Turned the whole ordeal into a one man operation and got all the air out.

Originally Posted by ctmccloskey

Nobody mentioned the Phoenix Reverse Bleeding system.

Air wants to go up so why push the fluid down? The Phoenix pushes the fluid up from the caliper back into the master cylinder. It gets all the air out in one effort. I can do a whole Corvette in a half hour with this tool.

Originally Posted by ctmccloskey

I tried gravity for fun and after a day it still had not drained out of all four calipers.

Originally Posted by ctmccloskey

With the Phoenix Bleeder it is much easier to bleed all four wheels and do it quickly by Yourself. The system works better by pushing any air up and out of the system.
It works and it works better than other bleeding systems for Harry Homeowner.

I tried the gravity drain of the brake fluid on my 1968 C3 and it did not get all the air out of the calipers. With the Phoenix it is a simple operation as you put new fluid in down below and push all the old fluid up to the M/C where it is sucked up with a turkey baster.

Originally Posted by ctmccloskey

With the Phoenix Bleeder it is much easier to bleed all four wheels and do it quickly by Yourself. The system works better by pushing any air up and out of the system.
It works and it works better than other bleeding systems for Harry Homeowner.

I tried the gravity drain of the brake fluid on my 1968 C3 and it did not get all the air out of the calipers. With the Phoenix it is a simple operation as you put new fluid in down below and push all the old fluid up to the M/C where it is sucked up with a turkey baster.

Originally Posted by Hawkeye56

Using the Phoenix system and pushing the fluid in reverse, I would wonder if this system could cause ill effects in the ABS system.

I will probably do the gravity bleed as it is very close to how the manual tells you how to do it.
Thanks for your post though, I am always open to different ways to complete the job.
Thanks Hawkeye56

Originally Posted by Hawkeye56

Using the Phoenix system and pushing the fluid in reverse, I would wonder if this system could cause ill effects in the ABS system.

Originally Posted by aklim

Question I have is if you push it in reverse, IS IT POSSIBLE that you are pushing crap back into the ABS area?

Originally Posted by cv67

Tom if you do the gravity method and use a clear hose..if theres no air left and (immersed in a jar of fluid) will pumping it help things along? With my luck Id still somehow get air in there.