How to Bleed Shimano Brakes: Complete Guide

This video is a step-by-step guide to bleeding Shimano road and mountain bike brakes. The full process uses the syringe method and gravity method, but I discuss which steps can be skipped in the process.

Video on how to center hydraulic brakes:

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[whichwayiszigzag]

Clint! What an amazing guide - this is perfect!

[thomaskuhn]

Great video, good to have both methods together in one. Also useful to see it done with road levers as I just got my first gravel bike. Thanks

[TheBaldTruth]

This totally demystifies the brake bleeding process for Shimano for me. I agree that it seems redundant to use the syringe and then do a gravity bleed, but maybe it's just a more through way to make sure that the caliper, the line, and the lever, are totally full of fluid. I was starting off with new XTR brakes but I had to trim the lines, hence the need to bleed. I've seen other bleed videos that recommend drawing out old, dirty fluid through the caliper bleed port using the syringe so you don't pump dirty fluid up through the system. That makes sense to me, too. Mineral oil is one reason I use Shimano over SRAM. The other is simply consistency across three bikes that use hydraulic disc brakes.

[mancello]

Nice instructional video as usual Clint. Calvin at Park Tools is getting concerned.😉

[tomacheteful]

Most helpful video ive watched on this process. Im gonna give it a go this afternoon.

[tinshield]

Before pushing the pistons back do yourself a favor and take the screw off the master cylinder at the lever to give the fluid a place to go. If you don't, you run a risk of popping the little seal at the end of the barrel which is not available separately. It's a rubber diaphragm that can and will rip with excessive pressure. Also, you can use a syringe but I find the gravity method much easier with the Shimano bleed funnel. Fill the funnel and pump the lever and the oil flows right out the bleed port like you showed.

[nickkent]

Great video, thank you. Far easier to follow than thdvone from Park Tools

[markmayfield]

All your instruction videos are great. Thanks!

[plumbgray]

Excellent explanation and tutorial thank you 👍

[ashevillescarborough]

Very thorough! I do prefer Shimano brakes over Sram because they seem much less fussy to bleed properly..

[markhail]

Awesome content as usual, thanks Clint!

[willyturing]

Hi Clint, from what i have gathered, a complete bleeding process includes 3 steps: 1.Gravity method/Syringe method for injecting the fluids into the system; and gravity method or syringe method are basically two different ways achieving the same goal. 2.bleed the caliper. 3.bleed the shifter. Am i missing anything? My question is when you bleed the caliper why do you need to press the lever while open and close the bleed screw, what is the mechanism of this method?

[thim]

I have all code r brakes on all 3 bikes. When they start to wear, I'm going to get trp evo downhill's. Pretty much same concept as shimano brakes.

[mattkavanaugh]

Good video! I've watched lots of brake bleeding videos and yours is terrific. I wondered about a couple of things while watching. Could you tilt the bike in the stand instead of loosening the handlebars or lever in order to get the funnel at the correct angle? I think I have done that and it seemed to work. Also, when putting the funnel in place for the syringe bleed, is it a good idea to have some mineral oil in the funnel to avoid air getting into the reservoir?

[bunny-hu]

Thanks, it is useful. It maybe a nice to see the same method with the rear break, just make sure. Anyway, what kind of mirror you using in the tape plug? I found only much smaller ones.

[litresios]

if i just do the syringe method does the lever become stiff after the oil is transferred into the system or do I need to squeeze it a few times for it to stiffen up

[newttella]

Maybe I'm over thinkng it, but I rather have all the old fluid exit from the caliper end. I find that is where the really dirty fluid is and I don't like pushing all of it through the entire system then through the lever and reservoir. My brain seems to believe the contaminated fluid sits below the mineral oil...like oil floating over water and grit.

[aarons]

How would you bleed the caliper on a caliper that has a bleed screw instead of a bleed nipple, since you can't open and close the system with the hose attached (it's always open if the screw is off)?

[lawor]

Hi Clint what are the indications/reasons for bleeding the brakes? And how often should the brakes be bled?

[yamyam]

I would never again use a bleed block that doesn't cover the whole area of the calliper pistons. I have destroyed two 4 pot callipers until I found out why. I was having trouble getting a firm brake and applying full lever pressure caused the ceramic pistons to push the bleed block at an angle as part of their surface area was unsupported. I have since 3d printed my own bleed blocks but If you are confident that you have all the air expelled then I would suggest you only apply full lever pressure after installing the brake pads.