Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

Thu 19 Jul 2012 22:34

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - grimep

This is a question of cost/quality I guess... I need to get brake wind-back kits for the rear calipers on my Focus and the Mrs's Scenic. There's a Laser wind back tool for around £20 which will do the scenic, and an adaptor for the Ford for another £9ish. Those blow-mould cases with a left and right-handed tool along with a set of adaptors tend to cost £60 upwards making them a bit uneconomic for DIY use. However there are plenty on eBay starting around £20 which look like the pricier ones.... anyone tried any? I'd rather get one if it allows me to cover more vehicles, but I don't want to waste money on a poor quality set with useless-sized adaptors.

Also, hand vacuum pumps. I was thinking of getting one to have a go with brake bleeding. I know you can't beat the 2-man method, but it's worth a try I suppose. Again on ebay you can start around £17 and go up to £80. Surely they're all much of a muchness?

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Fri 20 Jul 2012 08:37

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - Chris M

Personally I'd buy the Laser products and stick them on ebay once you have finished with them. Very cheap tools are more trouble than they are worth.

Have to disagree with the two man method being better. I've had an Easibleed for years and it works well.

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Fri 20 Jul 2012 09:50

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - Simon

The basic £20 Laser one is quite cheap, cheerful and handy. Plus it did my Focus ST170 rear brakes without another adapter contrary to 'advice' that I found online.

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Fri 20 Jul 2012 13:06

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - grimep

I think the ST might have different size calipers to the standard car.. I'm under the impression i'd need laser 1314 and a 4342 adaptor....

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Fri 20 Jul 2012 13:04

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - grimep

Eezibleed - people seem to love them or hate them. My spare is a space saver at 61psi, I guess if I drop it to 15psi it should work?

Ive got a vizibleed lying around somewhere which I'm not too keen on as a one-man solution, you need to be at the caliper in order to see what's coming out.

Hence wanting to give a hand vacuum a try....

plenty of anecdotes online of people who either swear by eezibleed, or it is a disaster, not many from people using a vacuum to draw fluid through at the caliper end..

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Fri 20 Jul 2012 13:14

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - Chris M

" you need to be at the caliper in order to see what's coming out." Isn't that the idea? You want to see when the clean fluid or lack of air bubbles is coming through.

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Fri 20 Jul 2012 13:28

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - grimep

Yeah, Im talking about vizibleed now... the pipe with a non-return valve at one end. The idea is you fit it, open the bleeder, then pump the brake pedal. So you won't be at the caliper while using it. I might give it a whirl using a video camera so I can see what's going on. Or get an Eezibleed. Or a hand vacuum (which would possibly help bleeding my diesel after a filter change). Or the Mrs... but obviously that's the last resort!

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Fri 20 Jul 2012 15:03

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - madf

I have an Easibleed but a non return valve after the bleed nipple and a piece of wood to wedge teh brake pedal down are cheaper, easier and quicker. They also produce just as good results.

Why spend £20 when £5 worth of pipe and return vale is as good.?

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Fri 20 Jul 2012 17:20

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - OG

Have you tried local tool hire places for the wind back tool?

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Fri 20 Jul 2012 17:47

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - grimep

Not aware of any hire places locally.

Right, here's the plan.. I'll take a risk on a cheapie wind-back set off ebay and report back in case anyone's interested. How can something that simple go wrong??

And I'll start with the vizibleed, if I dont get on i'll try an eezibleed or maybe the hand vacuum pump ... and the last resort is the Mrs on the pedal, lets hope it doesnt come to that....

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Sat 21 Jul 2012 15:39

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - Simon

I've got an Easibleed kit and find that the best way to use it is NOT to put fluid in the Easibleed bottle. Instead just fill the cars brake reservoir up to the top, connect the Easibleed kit 'dry' and bleed one caliper at a time, keeping your eye on the master cylinder level. It works for me and is the least messiest way of using the kit.

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Sat 21 Jul 2012 15:55

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - grimep

I didn't realise you could do that, the least appealing aspect for me about doing it the Eezibleed way is the bottle full of fluid feeding the reservoir. I might give it a go, thanks.

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Sun 22 Jul 2012 23:31

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - Robin the Technician

Hi,
I bought a wind back kit off e-bay last year to do my Son's Mazda 6 rear brakes. Came in a snazzy box with about 30 different parts to cover most cars. Cost was £16.99 plus post which was about £4.00 - and it was a brand new!!!. Brilliant bit of kit and well worth it - it even looks good quality. The kit worked well and did exactly what I wanted it to.

Hope this helps
Robin the Technician - I fix, therefore I am

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Tue 24 Jul 2012 14:56

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - glowplug

I don't know what others think but on old cars I don't think it's a good idea to plunge the pedal to the floor when bleeding brakes, could the seals be brought into contact with a usually unused and possibly corroded part of the master cylinder damaging them?

I've used both Eezibleed and Vacuum. Eezibleed has less chance of drawing air into the system.

Steve.

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Tue 24 Jul 2012 20:34

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - dadbif

I have always used (still got it in the shed) a piece of rubber hose that is a tight fit over the bleed nipple, blank off the other end with a bolt of a suitable size, then using a sharp knife cut into the tube at an angle of roughly 45 degrees until you just cut into the bore of the hose, this acts as a non return valve and allows one to pump the pedal and collect the old fluid in a jar, you can pop out and have a look at what is coming out withou the need to shut off the nipple or risk air being drawn back into the system. Works every time, costs nothing. QED

Edited by dadbif on 24/07/2012 at 20:35

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Fri 27 Jul 2012 03:10

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - 1litregolfeater

I did try a vacuum bleeding kit once, it was rubbish! It just peed out brake fluid and sent it as an aerosol, could have been employed as a chemical weapon.

I've never heard of a brake wind back kit. Is it an allen key or a spanner.

Anyway, I don't care as I'm not going to buy one.

Sounds like a rip-off to me. I'll grind the caliper down with an angle grinder before I ever buy one.

Anyway, I just popped in to say, Have rightful fear of bleeding brakes and ever getting them back again, without a huge amount of work and expense. What they say about disturbing brakes is right, when you pump them you rub the old seals against loads of rust and filth which destroys the seals.

With this in mind, I haven't disturbed my brakes for 14 years, known to me. No brake fluid changes for 14 years. Now the ABS light has come on, so it's time for a change.

Didn't expect the car to last this long.

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Fri 27 Jul 2012 14:33

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - BenG

Bought an Easibleed a few years back and every time I tried using it it has invariably ended up peeing brake fluid out of the reservoir, even with minimal pressure applied. It does not form an airtight seal against the brake fluid reservoir.

Total waste of money!

Maybe using it 'dry', with no fluid in the bottle, as has been suggested here, would stop the overflowing problem...

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Fri 27 Jul 2012 20:46

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - focussed

So it could be a 1 Litregolfleaker that you are driving then! 14 years-! You should be arrested for neglect occasioning actual bodily harm to a braking system-Totally irresponsible.

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Thu 9 Aug 2012 02:47

Any - Cheap brake wind back kits and vacuum pumps - 1litregolfeater

Yes it is rather long I must admit, but there we go, time goes by. I think a seal might have gone, there's a sort of little "berdumf" now and again.

It will be most interesting and most educational to see exactly what comes out. Whether it is discoloured fluid, still serviceable, or evil filth poised to wreak havoc and kill pedestrians, like they want us to believe.

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