fitting new brakes

Daymo

Low and Slow..
Jul 22, 2008
428
0
Scarborough/Sheffield
right ive never really touched a car before, so im learning as i go,

am i right in thinking that when i put some cupra brakes on the front, i just do one side at a time with regards to bleeding?? i.e. just unbolt my old caliper, take the disk off, attach new caliper and connect the brake line back up, then proceed to bleed the brake.

then move round to the other side and repeat the same process, and is there any special tools that i will need to do this, bearing in mind its bigger discs and bigger callipers/carriers.

and can anyone advise me on a decent brake fluid??

any help would be greatly appreciated :)
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
8,111
1,125
South Scotland
I don't want to be judgemental, but you'd be better getting someone that is already "good" with cars to help/show/watch over you as lots of these car areas like brakes can end up being life threatening if altered by someone who is trying to self teach themselves.

One other thing, in my mind, you have made a bad choice of "first" car to work on as Haynes does not tend to cover Ibizas often, if you had a Polo etc you could have a Haynes repair book to help you as you clearly are keen to learn but will need some back ground referance document to "bale" you out now and again. There is a lot of commonality between Ibiza and Polo but I think that you would need to buy two Polo Haynes books as the Ibiza ended up being a bit of a mongrel - based on two models of Polo.

There is nothing wrong with the Ibiza, and anyone coming across from Polo and with "good" car fixing knowledge would "walk" it, but as a "trainer" car - not so good - sorry.
 
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Daymo

Low and Slow..
Jul 22, 2008
428
0
Scarborough/Sheffield
yeah i know what you mean, ive bled brakes before on mountain bikes and the such and its a similar if not easier job to do, i just wanted to see if anyone had any advise, i'll be having a bit of help from a friend aswell :)
 
I don't want to be judgemental, but you'd be better getting someone that is already "good" with cars to help/show/watch over you as lots of these car areas like brakes can end up being life threatening if altered by someone who is trying to self teach themselves.

One other thing, in my mind, you have made a bad choice of "first" car to work on as Haynes does not tend to cover Ibizas often, if you had a Polo etc you could have a Haynes repair book to help you as you clearly are keen to learn but will need some back ground referance document to "bale" you out now and again. There is a lot of commonality between Ibiza and Polo but I think that you would need to buy two Polo Haynes books as the Ibiza ended up being a bit of a mongrel - based on two models of Polo.

There is nothing wrong with the Ibiza, and anyone coming across from Polo and with "good" car fixing knowledge would "walk" it, but as a "trainer" car - not so good - sorry.

I disagree, fair enough you can use a manual for others, but the Ibiza is a very easy car to work on. There is plenty of information on the internet especially here to be able to do anything you have the confidence to do.

I will be doing my brakes soon also. Not very good with guides but I could maybe write one up for you with pictures? Still unsure when I'm doing it though so might be a few weeks...
 

Daymo

Low and Slow..
Jul 22, 2008
428
0
Scarborough/Sheffield
I disagree, fair enough you can use a manual for others, but the Ibiza is a very easy car to work on. There is plenty of information on the internet especially here to be able to do anything you have the confidence to do.

I will be doing my brakes soon also. Not very good with guides but I could maybe write one up for you with pictures? Still unsure when I'm doing it though so might be a few weeks...

yeah that would be great mate, if i do it before you though i'll stick up a guide myself cos i'll have a few friends to ring if it all goes tits up, and i'm literally within a minute of a garage if i mess up :) it cant be that hard to fit the brakes though in all honesty, i'm not a total idiot when it comes to fitting things, and id rather spend more time and save on the cost of labour though :)
 

darren_mcvicar

Guest
has anyone got any more helpful comments?? please?

the only bit i would say to watch out for is the brake flexi onto the calliper unless your replacing them just rember to wire brush all the nuts before taking them off

tools calliper are 13 mil
water pump pliers for pushing the calliper back ( not recquried as your changing them)
brake flexi iam sure is a 13 mill spanner
calliper carrier will either be 17 or 18 mil socket / spanner which ever you have
you may need an impact driver to slacking the screw on the dics

as for bleeding the brakes just make sure you have somone to give you a hand coz its a pain in the arse tryin to do it yourself just get him or her to pump the pedal all the way to the floor bout 2 or 3 times get them to hold it down while you open the bleed nipple contuie that process till all the air is out of the systym its worth bleeding the back no point in just bleeding the 2 fronts

as for fluid i would use a synthctic oil like dot 5.0 or 5.1 as it has a diffrent boiling tempreture
 
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CatB1

Full Member
Nov 19, 2003
535
1
Manchester
www.freeserve.com
Do not mix DOT 5 with your existing brake fluid, it is silicon based. DOT 3, 4 & 5.1 are all glycol based, they will not mix & will destroy the seals.
Do a search for "The Brake Bibles".

Pete
 

Daymo

Low and Slow..
Jul 22, 2008
428
0
Scarborough/Sheffield
well in total, it took a whole hour to do both sides, while encountering a few problems with non moving bolts and a snapped bleed nipple!! but there on, a bit spongy, but the stuck nipple will be removed next week with an oxyacetylene torch and a new one will be bunged in. so yeah i'm happy with them so far!!

DSC00168.jpg
 
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