I’ve been tinkering with cars and bikes for a long time and have amassed a large tool collection ranging from basic hand tools to air and electric power tools, modified one off pieces, and occasionally used specialty tools.

 

It’s been my experience that most of the time you get what you pay for. That’s not to say cheap tools don’t have their place. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for a casual enthusiast to drop $249.99 on a professional quality brake line flaring tool from Eastwood when the local auto parts store has a manual double-flare tool on the shelf for just a few dollars. The cheaper tool will get the job done, just not as quickly, easily, or consistently as the pro unit. I had to remind myself of this recently while flaring brake lines on the project Fairmont.

 

Once I did get all of the flares right and fittings tight on the Fairmont’s new brake lines I had to go about bleeding the system. Years ago I picked up a supposed “one man brake bleeding kit” that consisted of a small hand held vacuum pump, tubing, and a variety of fittings. The kit proved to be troublesome and after mixed results it was retired to an old toolbox.

 

There are a variety of different one-man brake bleeder kits on the market ranging from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. I find myself bleeding brake or hydraulic clutch systems a few times a year. Certainly not frequently enough to spend a large chunk of money on a tool when I have a wife and kids in the house willing to stab the brake pedal a few times while I work the wrenches. Still, it would be nice to have a tool to ease the job on the frequent nights I’m in the shop and everyone else is in bed.

 

As they say, there are exceptions to every rule. I wasn’t expecting much when I bought my new one-man bleeder, (link is similar to mine, not exact model) but I was intrigued by it’s simplicity - a plastic cup with a magnetic cap, a tube and a fitting.

 

I’m amazed at the efficiency of this thing. Stick the magnetic cap on the car in a place that is higher than the bleeder screw, stick the tube fitting snugly in the bleeder, open the bleeder, pump the brake, and let physics go to work. Once moving, fluid and air travel up the tube into the cup. When the bubbles stop and it’s all fluid coming out, close the bleeder and move to the next wheel.

 

Sometimes you don’t get what you pay for. Sometimes, you get a little more.