Wasted $200 on a 'professional' brake flush kit that was just a gimmick

I bought this vacuum brake bleeder kit online last summer because I was tired of the two-person method. It claimed to work with one hand and make flushing brakes a breeze. After three tries and still getting air in the lines, I realized the damn thing leaked at every connection. Ended up just paying a shop $80 to do it right and tossed the kit in the trash. Anyone else had bad luck with those one-man bleeder kits?

3 comments

3 Comments

robert_anderson691mo ago

Did you ever try those vacuum bleeders from Harbor Freight? My cousin grabbed one on sale for like 30 bucks and the plastic handle snapped off on the second pump. Brake fluid went everywhere, his dog started licking it up. Vet bill was another 200.

grantschmidt1mo ago

My buddy Tom dropped $180 on one of those Motive power bleeders a few years back. He was bragging about how it would pay for itself after one flush. First time he used it the cap cracked and sprayed brake fluid all over his garage floor and into his face. He said his eyes were burning for hours and his wife made him sleep on the couch because the whole house smelled like brake clean. Last I heard he just uses a $5 tube and a jar like a normal person.

the_paul1mo ago

Sprayed brake fluid all over his garage floor and into his face" - that's a real power move right there. Nothing says "I'm a professional" like trying to fix your brakes while simultaneously giving yourself chemical burns. Tom really got the full experience: burning eyes, a pissed off wife, and a garage that smells like a race track for a week. For $180 he could have paid a shop to do it twice and still had money left over for a case of beer to drink while he watched someone else do the work. But hey, at least he's got a great story to tell at barbecues now.