Anyone tried speedbleeders on their X5?

[jac]

Hi,

A friend of mine who owns a Mazda parts company and who races cars recommended I purchased a set of speed bleeders so I can quickly and accurately do my break jobs.

They can be found at: Speed Bleeder Bleeding Brakes Bleeding Motorcycle Brakes Automotive Bleeder Screw Brake Bleeder

My friend seemed to like those little devices. Going through the website and the vehicle application chart, I did not find the BMW X5 listed. So I wrote to them and I am awaiting their response.

Anyhow, does anyone here have any first hand experience with these?

[cobra94563]

I have them on my porsche and they work well, but how often do you bleed the X5?

[m5james]

I don't see why you're looking for a specific brake bleeder application for the X5. Just as long as you get the bleeder in the correct size for your calipers, you should be fine. Most of the time cars are generally only 2-3 different sizes anyways. $7 isn't bad at all for them, but 3ft of clear silicone tubing probably costs .50 and you can still do it yourself.

When I've bled brakes by myself, I simply put the wrench on the nut, the tube on the nipple and make sure that the fluid flows upwards before it drops into a bucket/bottle below. The reason why I have it go up first is so that when I press the pedal, it fills and stays filled w/ fluid going upwards, but everything going downwards just drops into the bucket below. With that uphill flow, I'm guaranteed to not get any air bubbles back into the lines. Just as long as you don't have any solid materials in those speedbleeders they'll work, but if something gets lodged in there, you're screwed. You'd be suprised how sometimes even a little piece of something can still come through the lines, but w/ the tight passage between the checkball in the speedbleeder, things might get trapped and cause you other problems.

[jac]

Yeah, you guys are probably right. I dont do the brake changes that often and I can just use the good old fashioned two people fluid change... Thanks.

[m5james]

They're only $7, but I still like my clear silicone tubing technique better. I can tell for sure I'm not sucking in air and w/ the fluid in the line I can visually see when it's truely running clear. The speedbleeders are a cool idea, but you're still going to need silicone line regardless or else you'll be squirting fluid all over your suspension. 9 times out of 10 I've had to do by myself, and I just do it the way I suggested above just fine w/o any help. The only time I messed up was when I was pumping the pedal too many times and ran the resevoir low.