VQMaxSE

For those of you who believe in routine maintenance which includes bleeding your brakes every 2-3 years I found a product to make your life easier, Speed Bleeders.

http://www.speedbleeder.com

"Introducing SPEED BLEEDER®, the patented bleeder screw with the built-in check valve. It is truly a one-person bleeder screw. Once installed, it becomes a permanent part of the brake system. When it is time to bleed your brakes, you loosen the Speed Bleeder 1/4 - 1/2 turn and pump your brake pedal. When the pedal is depressed the pressure generated opens the check valve letting air and brake fluid out of the end of the Speed Bleeder. When you release the pedal and it returns to the up position, the check valve closes and prevents any air from reentering the system through the Speed Bleeder. When bubble free fluid is evident you close the Speed Bleeder. In the closed position it works just like your stock bleeder screw and prevents any brake fluid from leaking out. It generally takes about 5 pumps to purge each caliper or wheel cylinder. That is all there is to bleeding your brakes. If at a later date you need to bleed your brakes, the patented thread sealing system makes it easy to open the bleeder screw to perform the bleeding operation. It is made of quality materials and it is economical."

They cost $7 EACH plus $3 shipping. Part number for 84-97 Maxima is SB1010 (I would assume that newer Maxima's, at least thru 99s are the same number, but it's not listed on the site)

sinewave

Cool! Have you had any first-hand experience with them? For years, I have used a vacuum pump to bleed mine.

VQMaxSE

I ordered some yesturday...they should here in about a week. Others (ppl on other car bbs) have had good things to say about them. They are supposed to work better than the vacuum pump. I just thought I'd pass on the info because I didn't even know they existed until I did some seaching, I was originally just looking for a good brake fluid when I came across then.

I decided on the ATE Type 200 (ATE Gold) for the fluid. It's supposed to be race quality and still be able to last 3 yrs do to it's low water absorbtion. Found it for $10/L at ogracing.com, they have the ATE super blue racing stuff too. Of course with these bleeders it shouldn't be a big deal to change it more often if you feel it's necessary.

sinewave

I'm not familiar with the ATE fluid. You do have to be careful with using racing fluid on the street. Racing brake fluids have a very high boiling point but are usually very hydroscopic so they have to be changed very often.

I've been using Castrol DOT 4 LMA with good results, but I should change it more often than I do. It is amazing how much the boiling point of brake fluid drops as it absorbs moisture.

Have you ever run across any kind of device to measure the water content of brake fluid?

Kevin Wong

I heard a lot of good things about them too. I did a little research on them and apparently you get a 10% discount if you say you heard about them through the miata Club of America group or something. I'll be ordering mine soon.

[Edited by Kevin Wong on 03-07-2001 at 08:21 PM]

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

ATE is good brake fluid. i've used it for years w/o a problem. they make a gold and blue one. when you bleed your brakes you can tell what is the old stuff and what is the new stuff by color..complete brake flush w/o guessing.

the speed bleeders are great if u do your brakes a lot. it makes bleeding your brakes a lot easier. also keep in mind you'll need SAE tools to tighten them. they are NOT metric..a lot of people stripped them because they used improper tools.

jgadlage

iTrader: (1)

I plan on keeping this car for a while so I decided to get them when I got my cross drilled brake set with SS brake lines. The installation went pretty fast for my mechanics and the installation and bleeding procedure took a lot less time than doing it all manually. Brake pedal feel is as firm as ever and there are no bubbles in the brake lines to hinder performance.