p5 brake swap

[Damkid]

Flex line is the rubber brake line that bolts to the caliper..... For what its worth, hofficergrover got his aspire swap with the calipers on the wrong side and he just put them on the same way assuming it was right

I'm just thinking that maybe IF and only IF this happens to be your case, could it potentially point the bleeder screw upwards like you need them to point?

[Justin2129]

how does it make a difference though, as long as they hook up? again, not trying to be snotty, just trying to understand and learn

[Damkid]

Well in hofficergrover's case,the flex lines were almost being stretched where when driving down the road all the suspension travel could put too much stress on the lines potentially ripping the line off the caliper etc.

In your case, IF this happens to be whats going on, it could help you get you brakes working again, by switching the calipers to the opposite side of the car, in a sense flips the calipers upside down, so if your bleeder screws are now facing the ground, if they were mounted on the opposite side of the car, the bleeder screws would face upwards

Again, you may have them on correctly, i'm just trying to give a different idea to look into to try and help you get your car back up and going

[Gomez]

I wonder what it matters that the bleeders point up or down. The brake lines do a 2 foot drop before they go to the rear of almost any car. Lots more air to be caught in there than an inch or two at the bleeder.

[neanderpaul]

I wonder what it matters that the bleeders point up or down. The brake lines do a 2 foot drop before they go to the rear of almost any car. Lots more air to be caught in there than an inch or two at the bleeder.

That's what I'm thinking.

[Damkid]

My guess would be that the brake lines are narrow making it easier for fluid to push the air through unlike calipers where there's a pocket of fluid where air can move more freely and not go where you want it to

it'd be like trying to drain air out of the bottom of a half full cup of water

[Justin2129]

the lines arent pulled really tight, I'd guess it's about the same as the stock lines were. so does it matter then which side they are on?

The shop said they were backward, but i was told by others that the side didnt really matter. the only bad part about switching the sides is that we'll have to have another adventure getting the e-brake cable to fit right

[Damkid]

The flex lines are obviously different then a festiva/aspire so if yours are on backwards, the flex lines could most likely work either way and not be stretched like hofficegrovers was

if i had the money to do the brake swap myself, i'd go by the parts so i could first hand see what you guys are seeing and be able to get a better insight as to whats going on there :lol:

[Justin2129]

so stretching is the only thing that would affect it if they were reversed?

[Damkid]

lol no no, i think your flex lines are just fine and no need to worry about them being stretched, i was only mentioning it as an example lol

[Justin2129]

lol so you still think the calipers being reversed could be the issue, even if the lines aren't stretched?

[Damkid]

i think so, by not having the bleeder at the top of the caliper, i think there could be an air pocket thats trapped inside the caliper thats not able to get out because the bleeder screw is lower then the air pocket

by switching the calipers around, the bleeder should be at the top of the caliper allowing all the air to get out which i would think should solve your issue

[Justin2129]

so what if we just unbolted the caliper and bled it in the right position, then put it back how it was, so that we don't have to re-route the e-brake? do you think that would work?

[Damkid]

the problem with that would be with the caliper off of the rotor there would be nothing to stop the piston (the part that pushes on the brake pad) from coming out of the caliper when you press the brake pedal

[neanderpaul]

Could we put and secure something a little bit thicker than the rotor in the gap of the pads? Then remove it and reinstall?