jimmy
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2002
- Messages
- 2,316
- Location
- Northamptonshire
- Car
- Discovery 3 TDV6, Discovery 300TDi - Plaything!
I had a busy weekend and spent most of Monday doing jobs on the car. I changed the front brake discs and pads but before I removed the old ones I painted the calipers with Hammerite very high temperature paint as they were looking a little tatty.
I used the black paint and any overspray did'nt matter as I was changing the discs and pads anyway.
I also changed the brake fluid in the whole system as I am not sure if it had ever been done. It is quite an easy job, you bleed each caliper but keep pumping the pedal to remove the old fluid and keep topping up the resevoir with new fluid. I borrowed one of those one-man bleeders that makes the job very easy. I used synthetic DOT4 as I have some in stock and it is supposed to be better than mineral DOT4.
Brake fluid absorbs moisture, mostly through the rubber flexible hoses that connect to the calipers, this moisture then affects the braking performance by lowering the boiling point and makes the brakes feel spongy. The moisture also corrodes the internals of calipers and wheel cylinders.
The fluid that came out of the front calipers was very murky so I think it was well worth doing. Altogether I used 3 Litres of fluid, probably much more than I needed but at least I know it has been done properly.
I used the black paint and any overspray did'nt matter as I was changing the discs and pads anyway.
I also changed the brake fluid in the whole system as I am not sure if it had ever been done. It is quite an easy job, you bleed each caliper but keep pumping the pedal to remove the old fluid and keep topping up the resevoir with new fluid. I borrowed one of those one-man bleeders that makes the job very easy. I used synthetic DOT4 as I have some in stock and it is supposed to be better than mineral DOT4.
Brake fluid absorbs moisture, mostly through the rubber flexible hoses that connect to the calipers, this moisture then affects the braking performance by lowering the boiling point and makes the brakes feel spongy. The moisture also corrodes the internals of calipers and wheel cylinders.
The fluid that came out of the front calipers was very murky so I think it was well worth doing. Altogether I used 3 Litres of fluid, probably much more than I needed but at least I know it has been done properly.