Someone on the forum mentioned the SpeedbleederSpeedbleeder. I looked up the product and was impressed w/ the concept enough to try them out. I purchased 4 last weekend for my 97 2.5TL and they arrived promptly on Wed. or Thurs.

I attempted installation today and found there was some distance between a good concept and a good product. Following are the problems as I found them:

1) Bleeder nut tolerances and finish
I found numerous steel slivers on the exterior and got some stuck in my fingers. The nut tolerances seemed loose (too large) and did not fit 10mm closed end wrench well.

2) Thread Sealant and Bleeder Material Problem
The bleeder material is too soft and combined with the thread sealant which substantially increases the installation torque, you can easily round off the nut, which I did. I used a tubing flare nut wrench to try to overcome the tolerance issue, but still could not fully tighten. When I checked for a firm brake after bleeding, I got more bleeding fluid. I decided to extract the speedbleeder and stop further installation.

Maybe I gave up too quickly, but I could see a situation where you might have to remove the caliper to extract a twisted off speedbleeder. Not something I would look forward to!

One good thing. They have a nifty 3-ft length of silicon tubing ($3) which is very flexible and handy for installing over bleeder nipple to capture drained fluid from the bleeder and direct to a catch bucket. I used a cut-off top, gallon detergent jug and direct the tubing end down the hollow handle to hold the tubing end in place.

I completed manual bleeding and replacement of old fluid w/o problems w/ the help of my wife.

I have asked for a return authorization.

Regards

 

Thank you for the write-up. I was also interested in it, but I'm glad you've posted this. Sorry that it didn't work out, though.