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Trick to bleeding Shimano Saint M810 brakes?

ChrisRobin

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
3,346
190
Vancouver
When they work, they work! Although I'm having issues bleeding them right now. I'm using the method that was shown on Pinkbike where buddy pours in oil at the lever while pumping the lever so the air bubbles and old oil come out of the caliper. I tried that and after pushing through a full 100ml of fluid, I'm still getting all these small bubbles... almost looks foamy (that's two of the little Shimano bottles).

Is that normal indicating the system was full of air to begin with and I should just keep putting more in?

The other method I've seen (which appears more popular), is pushing oil out of a syringe at the caliper, and then using a second syringe to suck up the old oil and bubbles at the lever.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,921
borcester rhymes
Once the dirt and grime is out, there isn't a lot of reason to do the gravity bleed method. Are you putting the cover on when you squeeze the lever? Are you making sure it doesn't get low? I bled mine in a parking lot doing it moto style and they were great. Let the resi get low a few times though.

FYI, pentosin chf 7.1 is similar to shimano liquid gold but costs 12$ a quart.
 

ChrisRobin

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
3,346
190
Vancouver
Gotcha, thanks. No I didn't have the cover on when I was squeezing the lever. I was topping it up as the lever reservoir was draining. I ended up going caliper-to-lever with the two syringes method. That worked fairly well based on how clear and bubble-free the oil was coming out. We'll see how it works this week.
 

Dirk77

Monkey
Feb 15, 2014
233
48
I just tried bleeding my zee's. Everything going great, i took the pads out cause last time i got fluid on them. So i used the yellow bleed block. Got some fluid in and out, got a few air bubbles out and with the lever adjusted all the way out, i got instant stiffness against the bleed block, multiple times, nice and hard, zero squish.. I thought it was perfect.. tightened everything up, then i put the wheel back on and squeezed the lever against the rotor, the lever squishes all the way to the bar and fluid leaks out from under the lever cap... wtf? Am i supposed to bleed against the rotor?
 
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maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,140
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
If you bleed with the bleed-block, your first few squeezes when you put the pads in and wheel on will always be squishy while the pistons self-adjust to the rotor, is that what you have going on?


Order the Shimano bleed-kit with the syringe and little cut do-hockey, I've got another brand kit at the moment and it's nowhere near as good as their little cup set-up. After that, crack the bleeder, pump the brakes to get the crap out, fill the syringe with fluid, pop it on the bleeder, put the cup on the lever, push fluid, pull fluid, repeat until no more bubble come out, then do it a couple more times, close the bleeder, cap the resi. and you're done. The only trick I've found is to use a large syringe and push/pull a lot of fluid, each time you do you should be entirely replacing the fluid in the brake.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,156
Canaderp
Where do yall buy the brake fluid? Any links to some stuff online that can be purchased easily, without resorting to having 2-7 fists shoved up my rear end at a bike store?
 

Huck Banzai

Turbo Monkey
May 8, 2005
2,523
23
Transitory
hmm.. parking lot, level master cylinder and line as vert as you can get it with a rag over the caliper to catch the drip - then gravity bleed; 5 minutes and you're golden.

EDIT: I always bum my fluid at races from anyone in a big trailer. (drag my lil Shimano bottle along and beg for refills.) - cheeeeeap ;)
 
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Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
23,927
14,444
where the trails are
fwiw, back when I had OG 755s I ran generic unscented mineral oil in them for like 2 years. The only time I noticed was in the winter. I don't recommend it, but in a pinch it would work.

sandwich: I have a big bottle of Pentosin in my garage and always wondered if it would work. Have you actually tried / used it yourself??
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,921
borcester rhymes
fwiw, back when I had OG 755s I ran generic unscented mineral oil in them for like 2 years. The only time I noticed was in the winter. I don't recommend it, but in a pinch it would work.

sandwich: I have a big bottle of Pentosin in my garage and always wondered if it would work. Have you actually tried / used it yourself??
http://www.autobarn.net/ch252-0007.html?site=google_base&gclid=CjgKEAjw2dqcBRC2q-LXjpfxjnQSJAAeYF5Lvz-JougNCJQdD-rMC9Zqcb4OIghXJ1q_5cJ7OqZuz_D_BwE

Yes. I bought this stuff from NAPA for about $11. It looks like it's skyrocketed in price since then, but you might still be able to find it. It also looks like the shimano gold stuff is significantly cheaper if you buy it in a liter vs. a $15 2oz bottle.

I've used it in all of my shimano brakes. XT 775, Saint 810. I had it in my 810s for about 2 years. I haven't had to bleed my XT 785s yet. I noticed no difference between liquid gold and pentosin, except it's green. You could even swap between the two to make sure you have a complete bleed- green for pentosin red for shimano. Peter Verdone did a good comparison. http://www.peterverdone.com/archive/bikemineraloil.htm