i installed front and rear rotors on the x. drilled & slotted took away lots of noise and vibration when stoping.

however now when i stop there is a very noticable ticking sound that goes with the wheel speed when brakes are applied. i hade a garage look at it they suggest ceramic pads

so i bought ceramic pads and plan on installing today after work. i have done this before and not afraid - except, i'm not really interested in bleeding the brake lines.

what kind of problems am i looking at if i don't bleed the brake lines when replacing the front pads. i know that the rears are difficult as they move i beleive counter clockwise inorder to get the piston to move back, front is just straight back.

could i mess up anything with the abs if i dont bleed? i dont think my mechanical skills are high enough to do a brake fluid flush.

 

Fronts just press in. Go nice and slow with a $5 tool from the autoparts store but it will eventually fail and you'll need to use lock pliers to turn it. No biggie. For brakes fluid is the most important thing to keep fresh. It absorbs water over time and that leads to corrosion of the lines and calipers. It isn't hard to bleed 'em and change the fluid in them. A mitty vac makes it much easier to get it all out though and it is fairly straight forward. You just need to remember to keep filling up top. Also I use a gearactchet instead of a flare wrench simply because I don't want to break a bleeder.

 

we'll i dont know

i have spent the last .. while looking threw older posts. (this is what i do at work... i should probably produce something before i get in trouble)...

anyway.

I think i might have found the courage to do the bleeding...

please correct me if im wrong is this procedure, and answer two questions at the end

start at the rear driver side, jack up, remove tire, remove brake line, attach tygon tubing and drape from top of tire well. (i have a plunger-device instead of vac, i'll probably use that initially.) pump break a few times until resevor gets fairly low. fill up with new dot 3/4. pump brakes until the fluid color changes in the tygon tubing. make sure that there is no air bubbles in the tygon tubing, disconnect tube, reattach the brake line to the calliper.

?

repeat this process next on rear passenger, then front passenger, then driver side front.

the rear driver side will take longest to get the fluid to flush threw, rest are a easier.


now - the questions i have in mind.
What is the best kind of brake fluid to use for this
will valvoline dot 3 / 4 fluid work or should i get something better? don't know much about fluids.

am i right that the tube i need to bleed is the brake line connecting to the caliper.

i am far from a mechanic, but i read and figure things out so please let me know if i am on the right track.


thanks in advance-

jeff

 

Jeff,
The mity vac will attach to the bleeders and you pump it up then open the bleeder. Fluid is pulled out. Much easier then pumping brakes with 2 people. I just use a turkey baster to lower the level of the fluid in the resevoir then add the new. I think Jag has their own spec for fluid so I went with it over Valvoline Syth. It was a little more but not much. Shouldn't even have to pull the wheels if you can get it up high enough or are skinny enough to craw under.

 

Jeff,

You've got a couple of things wrong here.

First off, you start with the wheel farthest from the master cylinder, the rear passenger side, then the rear drivers side, then the front passenger side and end up at the front drivers side which is closest to the master cylinder.
Second, you don't remove any of the brake hoses. You loosen the bleeder screws on the calipers one at a time as you bleed that wheel. You hook a length of clear tubing to the bleeder screw. If you are having a second person working the brake pedal then you place the other end of the clear tube in a clear bottle with some fresh brake fluid in it. After your helper pumps the pedal you loosen the bleeder screw and when the pedal hits it's low point you close the bleeder screw. You repeat this procedure at each wheel until the fluid is clear and there is no air bubbles coming from the tube. If you use a Mighty Vac to do the job, ever thing is the same except you are operating the Mighty Vac to remove the fluid. You open the bleeder while pumping and close it when you done. For both of these procedures you have to keep checking the master cylinder reservoir to make sure you don't run it empty, because this will allow air to enter the system.

 

And buy an extra bottle of brake fluid, at least one more than you *think* you are going to need. Better to have extra than not enough 3/4 of the way into the job.

Throw your procedure out the window and follow what Green Machine said, unless you can get your hands on a Mity Vac. They are well worth the money, I use mine frequently in the shop.

 

Green, Chris

Thanks. I didnt start it today like i was planning (just replaced front pads, easy enough). I'm going to order some brake fluid and hopefully get to this next weekend, i'll post if i run into problems.

thanks again.

 

Good advice from the others. You did have a few steps wrong. Here's a complete how to from Popular Mechanics, including pictures that make it really clear what you have to do:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...enance/4213448

The most important things to ensure while you're doing the procedure:

1. make sure air doesn't get back into the calipers
2. make sure the master cylinder doesn't get pushed all the way out
3. make sure the reservoir isn't empty (you'll introduce air into the system and have to start all over again. It'll be a complete PITA)

As far as the brake fluid is concerned, the cap on my 2005 reservoir says use DOT 3, DOT 4, or Super DOT 4. My owners manual says use Super DOT 4 only. To be safe, I'm going to use Super DOT 4, even though hard to find locally. Make sure you only use the fluid specified for your car, or you risk having the brakes not perform as intended and/or very expensive $$$ brake repairs.

According to Popular Mechanics and Wikipedia, DOT 3 and DOT 4 are fully compatible, so you can mix them. DOT 5 is NOT compatible, so you should never mix those with DOT 3 or DOT 4. DOT 5 should NOT be used on street cars PERIOD - it's doesn't absorb water, so the humidity that gets into the brake lines can pool up and cause a sudden loss of braking. DOT 5 is intended for race use, where the brake fluids are being changed out frequently enough that water getting into the lines (a slow process) isn't an issue.