Showerthought: Most hydraulic brake bleeds are ruined by air trapped in the caliper, not the lever.

After watching a shop in Portland spend 20 minutes on a sticky brake last month I realized I've been blaming the wrong part of the system for years, has anyone else found that a quick tap on the caliper with a rubber mallet saves more hassle than re-bleeding the whole line?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_taylor6914d ago

Respectfully, I gotta push back on this one. I've done plenty of brake bleeds on my old mtb and a couple cars, and most of the time the air gets stuck in the line or at the banjo fitting, not the caliper. Tapping the caliper with a mallet helps move bubbles, no doubt, but if you don't crack the bleed screw at the master cylinder or give the line a solid flick, you're just moving air around. A buddy of mine spent an hour hammering his caliper before we realized the bubble was sitting right where the hose meets the lever. If a mallet fix doesn't hold, you probably skipped a spot higher up. Have you tried bleeding from the master cylinder first instead of just messing with the caliper?

blairm3512d ago

That rubber mallet trick saved my buddy's brakes on his Tacoma last week.