Dealer Brake Bleeding - Wheels On?

[bikerdave]

Hi all

Does anyone know if it is possible to bleed the brakes on a MK7 fiesta with the wheels on? My question is aimed at the dealer procedure as I know you can't do it without a ramp which most of us don't have at home!!

It does look like you can providing you have fairly small fingers and a very flexible hose to fit on the nipple.

My reason for asking is that I recently had the brake fluid changed at my local Ford dealer and yesterday I had to remove the front wheels which were stuck on the hub with corrosion so badly that it took fairly hefty measures to remove it. IMO if the wheels had been off in the last 2 months the wheels would not be stuck on like that!!

Many thanks

[DieselPig]

Yes you can, I had exactly the same problem as you. A service in November then a week later I put my winter tyres/wheels on and the alloys were stuck on.

[bikerdave]

Thanks for reply Dieselpig

Glad I found out this way rather than at the roadside with a puncture :) All now correctly lubed for the benefit of the Ford tech who no doubt will personally thank me!!

[iantt]

yes you can, wheels dont come off on the 1st ,3rd,5th services etc.wheels off at 2nd,4th,6th etc

you shouldnt have a problem getting wheels off if dealer done there job properly as at 2nd service wheels would have been off and hub centres and wheels should have been cleaned and greased so to prevent wheels sticking on.

[bikerdave]

Hi Ian

Car has always been serviced at the same Ford dealer so somebody didn't do their job last time

[iantt]

sounds like it,

[troy45]

Usually wheels go through a greasing operation before being fitted in the factory so hub corrosion shouldn't be an issue. Obviously not in this case.

For dealer brake fluid changes I have this sneaky feeling they do it by draining and refilling the reservoir rather than going round the car and bleeding the brakes at each corner?

If the brakes had been bled all round, as evidence you could well spot signs of brake fluid having weeped from the bleed nipple threads while they were backed off and retightened, or wet fluid under the rubber caps.

When done thoroughly they should bleed fresh fluid through the clutch circuit in addition to the brakes.

[iantt]

ive never seen any grease when taking wheels off from new, all models of fords with alloy wheels tend to stick on, esp the fiesta though for some reason.

i hope your snecky feeling is wrong or thats just plain fraud on the part of garages