Bleeding all four corners on an E46 M3

[mat205125]

I've managed to finally get all of my kit together to be ready to fit the AP 6-pots and discs up front, and the AP 4-pots onto the rear. The discs ended up being by far the most expensive items, however I'll not tell you how much I spent for everything as it might make people who paid RRP new prices very green indeed

I'm all ready to get the car in the air and fit all of the kit, however just wanted to check to see if anyone has bled the whole system on an E46 M3. The reason that I ask is after reading EVO's story of their TT needing to be plugged into the diagnostic to allow this to happen, I dont want to get the car in the air and not be able to drive it home afterwards .... I'll be planning to bleed AP Fluid all the way through the system.

[sjj84]

Could you not do the fronts, bleed, then do the rears and bleed again? Granted will waste a bit more fluid and obviously take some extra time, but might get you round any problems.

[mat205125]

Will having the ignition on run the DSC pump?

[Shake&Bake]

sjj84 said:

Could you not do the fronts, bleed, then do the rears and bleed again? Granted will waste a bit more fluid and obviously take some extra time, but might get you round any problems.

This, it's what Simpson MS do and they know their stuff.

[mat205125]

[quote=Shake&Bake]

sjj84 said:

Could you not do the fronts, bleed, then do the rears and bleed again? Granted will waste a bit more fluid and obviously take some extra time, but might get you round any problems.

This, it's what Simpson MS do and they know their stuff.

I think that this sounds the safest option to be honest. I'll be adding AP 551 fluid to the system, which is basically their higher performance road option, so by flushing as much as I can manage through, I hopefully wont run into any big problems ..... how hard can it be? (copyright Clarkson)

[mat205125]

In case anyone is interested, I swapped all four calipers for my APs at the weekend, and replaced all 4 calipers before bleeding the entire system.

Once all four calipers we changed, I started with the fronts, before bleeding the rears (drawing plenty of fluid through the system to get the old fluid out, and the new AP fluid into each corner).

The pedal was rock solid after a single bleed from each corner, however we bleed all four corners a second time to ensure that we were getting clean, fresh and bubble free fluid through all round.

No problems what so ever encountered, and the pedal feels better than ever. Needless to say that the power of the brakes is massively improved, however it is amazing how much smoother and quieter the brakes are with a fixed caliper and grooved rather than drilled disc.

Chuffed to bits? That doesn't even come close.

Pics to follow shortly.