Gravity bleeding is an old trick that generally works well. When you open the bleed nipples to gravity bleed, I'd suggest opening them by hand the absolute minimum you need to start a drip every couple of seconds. The slower the drip the better. I normally do at least an hour if gravity bleeding after the changing lines or otherwise having the lines undone. Just set something to catch the fluid and use a countdown timer to remind you to check the fluid level in the master cylinder every 15 minutes or so.

One other trick to try is to exercise the handbrake a little every so often with all the brake nipples shut. Normally the handbrake should be fully off during bleeding of course. The rear calipers and lines on most Hondas are somewhat more prone to having bubbles trapped. Exercising the handbrake sometimes helps on problematic cars.

Finally, if you're still having problems, unbolt each caliper in turn and support it as high as you can on the flexi line with the bleen nipple uppermost. Then if you're on your own gravity bleed (you should be able to open/shut the bleed nipple with your fingers once it's cracked). It's a pain to do that though.

BTW I've found that bleed order has far less impact on a successful bleed than technique. All the order is doing is aiming to pause between which ends of the diagonal split you're bleeding. Only seen it help if a two-man bleed is being done with other enthusiatic pedal pumping which can froth the fluid while there's air in it. Lots of small bubbles being harder to persuede to come out.

-Brian.

 

You might find you are adding aerated fluid too.
Make sure you pour it in very carefully, and make sure the bottle has not been disturbed, let it sit overnight before use for example.
This why you often see an improvement after the car is stood and you go around the nipples once more. And just a reminder that silicone race type fluids are not compatible with regular DOT stuff!

 

I did the gravity thing. I probably did half an hour per corner as it's so damn slow.

I'd say it's a slight improvement over how it was yesterday (and better than Honda could manage), so I suspect I'm worrying over nothing.

Thanks all.

 

Good to hear Dembo

 

FWIW, I had braided hoses fitted just before Rockingham. A mechanic friend of mine did them, so I assume he bled them properly (changed the fluid at the same time to Millers).
When I got back into the car and drove it for the first time I also felt the pedal was spongey to start with. I reported this back and his response was press a little harder and of course the brakes then worked great.

Dembo, I think I have the same discs as you (EBC Turbogrooves) and use Ferodo DS2500 pads.

At Rockingham they worked a treat on a circuit that's hard on the brakes, although I suspect (it being my first track outing) I was a little more gentle than lower and Chilled who both managed to crack their discs.

So, I think I'd say what you are feeling is "normal" given the setup you have and you were worrying unduely.

 

Yes I'm sure you're right.

Lower and Chilled were both running drilled disks IIRC, which I would never do. My EBCs I've had for over a year, done about 15K miles, 3 trips to The Ring, several other trackdays, and I'm always hard on brakes, and show no sign of cracking or much wear.

 

I was running spoon drilled discs that had already seen a bit of use and had some cracks round the holes already. I was surprised that they cracked the way they did, but i don't blame the pads for that.

Chilled was running OEM's so i was suprised when they cracked.

 

So was I.

Still not sure what to do with my brakes prior to going to the ring. I've still got a rumble at motorway speeds from my brakes.

 

You probably didn't get the chance to heat cycle the discs before using them full on.

I'm getting my oem's skimmed for now.

 

I did heat cycle them. And I didn't use them full on for the rest of the day. I was practicing looning about sideways