MTB Brake bleeding

[Philip in Pretoria]

I changed the pads on my SRAM Level TL brakes and in the process the piston on the front caliper came out slightly - a few drops of brake fluid dripped. I managed to push it back with a tyre lever, cleaned the caliper with a soft cloth, put in the new pads and the brakes appear fine. Test driven it and no softness or lack of braking power. Should I be careful and have both brakes bleeded by my LBS? 

[BMXER]

The sram brakes are honestly one of the easiest to bleed. The two syringe approach is fast and doesn't mess.

 

Moving from shimano (oil), using Hayes brakes (dot4) in years gone I was not looking forward to playing with brake fluid on sram. But it realy was simple.

 

If you lost fluid then I would bleed, but I am like that. Some will probably say ride and go by feel.

[RobertWhitehead]

Hang on, you replaced the pads and during that process the piston came out (i.e. the piston closed the gap between the two pads where the rotor slides into). But during that time brake fluid dripped out of the caliper side? 

 

I have two questions / observations here: 

• If you replace the pads why is there a need to fiddle with the hose connectors to allow fluid to drip out? 
• If you did not fiddle with the hose connectors and fluid dripped out then your caliper is leaking and this will cause issues down the road. That brake will then constantly contaminate the pads. 

 

I changed the pads on my SRAM Level TL brakes and in the process the piston on the front caliper came out slightly - a few drops of brake fluid dripped. I managed to push it back with a tyre lever, cleaned the caliper with a soft cloth, put in the new pads and the brakes appear fine. Test driven it and no softness or lack of braking power. Should I be careful and have both brakes bleeded by my LBS? 

[BaGearA]

 

Hang on, you replaced the pads and during that process the piston came out (i.e. the piston closed the gap between the two pads where the rotor slides into). But during that time brake fluid dripped out of the caliper side? 

 

I have two questions / observations here: 

• If you replace the pads why is there a need to fiddle with the hose connectors to allow fluid to drip out? 
• If you did not fiddle with the hose connectors and fluid dripped out then your caliper is leaking and this will cause issues down the road. That brake will then constantly contaminate the pads. 

 

he pulled the lever while the pads were OUT of the caliper and ONe of the pistons moved enough to pop out of its socket and that's where the leak occured.

 

 

 

OP most brakes have some type of reservoir for brake fluid at the lever end , and that extra fluid should hopefully have filled the gap of the leaked fluid when the piston returned back past the point in the lever where it's usually sealed when the lever is not pulled 

[DieselnDust]

if the lever isn't spongy then you don't need to bleed it. One drop of brake fluid isn't going to cause a problem