Midas Cars Forum - www.midascarsforum.com

Bleeding brakes on a Midas is personally ranked as one of my all time worst jobs to do, along with fitting front shockers top mounts inside inner wings. Third place is probably fitting the steering column to the rack.

.....I'd much rather fit an engine.

Glad to say I have removed one of these problems since converting to twins. No worries about failing servos either (or making the engine lean out because of it). A car the size of a Midas doesnt need one anyway.

Another vote for the ezi-bleed here. When I absolutely, must do a proper bleed I put the car up on axle stands with all the wheels off and remove the pads and shoes. The pistons in both the calipers and slave cylinders are squeezed fully home with G clamps and then the system is bled as per the manual.

I once stuck some shims I got from work (Ferodo) on some new pads I fitted and because the fluid couldn't get behind the pistons the brakes just didn't work despite driving around a bit to try and bed the pads in. I ended up pulling the shims off again.

Well, I've just had my brakes bled again. My man uses a vacuum device, and a fair amount of air came out, but how the hell did it get in there? Anyway the pedal is back where it should be, so time will tell if it gradually heads floorwards again.

I dont know how the air gets in on the twin line system, but dont forget that hydraulic fluid is hydroscopic......ie it collects water.

Which is why it is necessary every so often to replace fluids.

I hate to think how many litres of fresh fluid have passed through my system recently in our various attempts to bleed it!

P.S. that should be 'hygroscopic'.

Yrs truly,
A. Pedant

I had a lot of trouble bleeding my brakes as well, but that was because I did it by myself without easybleed or so. After the first flushed liter I started collecting the new flushed through oil and reused it until the bubbles were gone. Why would you throw away oil that just had gone through the servo and pipes?

i collect and reuse it too, but its not the best idea.

It's surprising how long the stuff coming out stays murky when brand new fluid is going in

Well, my feckin pedal is still going down, even, it seems, when the car has been standing unused for a week. I can see I'm going to end up replacing the whole system at this rate. Anyway, today's question is, are the rear flexis standard Metro parts? I've noticed mine look rather taut when the suspension is on full droop. I have the feeling they're not going to come off without a struggle...