Long time lurker on this great sight. I'd like opinions on what I think is a lazy and procedure to bleed brakes. While I generally do my own brake jobs, I was in a hurry to sell a car and I went to the local chain shop. This was with a low miles vehicle that admittedly had gone about 4 years between fluid swaps. The shop said they couldn't get the bleeders loose but sprayed them with penetrant. They went ahead a put on new rotors and pads. They said bring it back in a few days and they'd see if the bleeders loosened up. I got the car home and decided to check them myself, and they were easy to break loose. I immediately went back to the shop and asked them to finish the job with the fluid flush on the fronts. They seemed none to eager to finish the job. The tech put the car on the lift with the wheels on, loosened the bleeder screw, and had another tech pump the brakes, with the fluid running down the wheels. No effort was made to collect the old fluid with a bleeder hose and collection bottle. When I asked them about the mess they were making all over the shop and lift (not to mention my wheels), they said they just hose everything down at the end of the day and it goes into the grease trap. I'm concerned this practice will result in damage to the wheel clear coat as well as any other painted surfaces of the car it may splash on once the wheels start spinning. I've never seen such a sloppy practice. Is this common? Opinions please.
Last edited:
