Right so a trip to Halfords later and I have a bottle of brake fluid and a brake bleeding kit.
Since I've never done this before, could someone confirm that this is the right way to do it?
Attach the tube to the bleed nipple
Open up the master cylinder
Pump the front brake
As the level drops fill up master cylinder with new fluid
When new fluid comes through at the bottom close off bleed nipple
Repeat for both sides of calliper and then the other calliper.
I bought 500ml of fluid, will that be enough?
I also have a jam jar for the excess fluid.
How do I allow for the wear on the brake pads?
Thanks
I'm glad you got all that stuff but first things first- before worrying about bleed nipples and tubes and undoing stuff try this-
Do NOT drain out any old fluid!
Unbolt the callipers from the forks and remove the pads,
Clean all the pistons but do not push them back in, then put the pads back in,
Undo the brake reservoir cap up by the lever,
Make sure the fluid at least covers the hole to the hose (which I'm assuming it already does)
Now slowly push the pistons back in by using the pads, hopefully you have a couple of adjustable pipe wrenches.
The idea is that any air in the system should be up at the top, probably trapped in the banjo attached to the master cylinder- pushing the pistons back in would continue to push the air up and into the reservoir, its easier this way than using the brake lever to pump air down through the fluid!
I only suggest this first because it uses physics as a friend!
Now, after doing this if you want to you can attach the hose to the bleed nipple in order to swap out the fluid for your new stuff.
Even with these specific one person brake bleeding hoses I have issues, but as far as I know before opening the bleed nipple make sure you put brake fluid in the jam jar and the end of the tube where the old fluid will come out is fully submerged in the fluid, this stops any air getting back into the system.
When you do open the bleed nipple do it very slowly as if you open it too much again air can get into the system!
You'll see when the new fluid comes out instead of the old stuff.
If you've done it this way then as the pistons are fully pushed in you can fill the reservoir to the max line, close everything off, cross your fingers and pump the lever to get the pads back to the discs.