How to Bleed Brakes
It may feel like you have no time to slow down in your busy life, but you’re always going to need healthy brakes. An important part of brake health is bleeding your brakes regularly. If you’ve never heard of this procedure, that’s fine, it’s what the service center team at Ira Toyota of Manchester is here to help with.
We’re here to educate all our friends in the Manchester, Derry, and Amherst, NH, areas about brake bleeding. We’ll go over what brake bleeding means, how often you should do it, and why it’s important to regularly bleed your brakes.
What Does it Mean to Bleed Brakes?
Although it can sound a bit violent, bleeding brakes is a very routine part of automotive maintenance. Your vehicle’s brakes function on a hydraulic system, which means they need fluid to work. However, as with the oil in your vehicle’s engine, the fluid doesn’t stay perfect forever and sometimes needs to be changed out for clean fluid.
During a brake bleed, your brake lines will be unhooked, and we’ll press the brakes until any trapped air is released. If it has been long enough, then we’ll press the brakes until all the old fluid is removed and we’ll top it off with new brake fluid.
This isn’t a complicated process, but it can take a while for it to be fully finished, which is why you should let our service center team take care of it for you.
How Often Should You Bleed Your Brakes?
Provided there aren’t any leaks in the brake lines or any other brake failures, you should only bleed your vehicle’s brakes every two or three years. The biggest reason to have this done is if air and moisture have absorbed into the brake lines, which can happen when replacing brake pads—something that should be done roughly every 30,000 miles.
If you’re not sure when you last bled your brakes—or if you’re not sure it’s ever been done—there are a few signs to watch for. If your vehicle’s brakes start to feel “mushy”, requiring you to put more pressure on the pedal but not getting as much stopping power, you can assume your brakes need to be checked.
Why Is It Important to Bleed Brakes?
The brakes are an important part of your car’s body and need special care to make sure you can stop safely.
If you don’t bleed your vehicle’s brakes at regular intervals, moisture can get into the brake lines and corrode other important components of the brakes. Air can also invade the brake lines, which, while not a direct danger to the overall braking system, can decrease the effectiveness of the hydraulic system.
Bleeding your brakes means any excess air and moisture will be removed, and any debris in the fluid will be flushed out. To be able to stop your car effectively, it’s important to bleed your brakes as recommended.
Visit Ira Toyota of Manchester to Bleed Your Brakes
Whether you’re meticulous about your vehicle’s maintenance dates or you can’t quite remember the last time you had the brakes looked at, be sure to visit our service center to bleed your brakes. The team at Ira Toyota of Manchester is committed to making sure our friends in the Manchester, Derry, and Amherst, New Hampshire, communities stay safe on the road.
Contact our service center for a brake inspection today!