Brake bleeding is a maintenance procedure performed on hydraulic brakes to remove air bubbles so that your brakes can perform safely and effectively. Most experts recommend bleeding your car brakes every 2 to 3 years to keep them in a good condition.
The braking system needs bleeding when changing brake fluid or any other part associated with the braking system of your vehicle. A brake bleeder kit is a specialized tool for bleeding brakes.
As a car owner, you can choose to bleed your brakes professionally or bleed brakes by yourself as long as you have the right bleeding kit and know how to bleed brakes. Here’s a short guide on how to bleed brakes.
How to bleed your brakes.

- Reach the bleeder screw by jacking up your vehicle and going underneath.
- Pick the brake bleeder wrench that fits the screw, and loosen the screw.
- Place a small piece of flexible hose over the end of the bleeder screw and place the other end of the hose in the jar.
- Then fill the jar with brake fluid to cover the end of the hose. If you don’t have anything that fits over the bleeder screw, just keep the jar near the nozzle so that any fluid that squirts out lands in the jar.
- Get someone to help slowly pump your brake pedal a few times. Have them say “Down” when pressing the brake pedal down and “Up” when releasing it. After the pedal is being pumped a few times and being held down, open the bleeder screw, brake fluid will squirt out. If there is air in your brake lines, air bubbles will be in the fluid. Before releasing the brake pedal, tighten the bleeder screw. Failure to do so sucks air back into the brake lines when the pedal is released.
- If you have a power bleeder kit however, the above step is unnecessary. The power bleeder will provide the pumping pressure that you need, and so you can bleed your brakes alone.
- Open your master cylinder and add more brake fluid until the level reaches the “Full” line.
- Bleed it at the point where the brake lines attach to the cylinder or at the master cylinder’s bleeder nozzle.
- Repeat this process with each brake until the air is out of each brake line.
- Always add brake fluid to the master cylinder after you bleed each brake.
- After you bring the brake fluid level in the master cylinder back to the “Full” level for the last time, drive the vehicle around the block. At this point the brake pedal should no longer feel spongy when you press it. If it does, the process should be repeated.
Conclusion
To bleed your brakes, you need a good brake bleeder kit. However, getting the appropriate bleeding kit can be a bit of a problem considering the wide variety available on the market, hence this guide. In this article, we reviewed some of the best bleeder kits you can find online.