Wow! All I asked for was some advice on rusty caliper bleed nipples!!!    

 

See what you started?

Everyone has an opinion when it comes to nipples 

 

Yup. Mine are Titanium!

Update:

 

After a few hours of repeated Plusgas application then gentle use of heat I finally managed to loosen both bleed nipples. Phew!

 

A few things. These were 11mm socket fitting. M10x1 thread. Comparing the replacement parts to original there were a few differences. The new ones were longer and had a 10mm socket head. Most notably the shaft part below the thread and above the "cone" was 1mm smaller on the new set. This gave the impression the taper was different. Made me unsure if this would seal properly so I cleaned up originals as best I could, lightly copper slipped threads and reused. They seemed to work OK.

 

See pics for comparisons:

 

 

 

Thanks for all the help and advice. Most appreciated.

 

Front brakes finally bled after I can't remember how many years. Thing is the fluid looked just as clear and fresh as the new fluid I was putting in. I recall old Golfs I had with fluid coming out dark dark brown/black-ish with added tadpoles etc.

 

Done now till next Spring :-)

 

 

 

 

 

The new nipples would have worked just fine, if you look at the top of the old one you can see the witness mark where it's been sealing against the caliper, it's concentric and a lot smaller than the OD, the new one would have sealed just as effectively despite being slightly smaller. Good to get it done anyway.

Yes it used to be quite satisfying seeing the initial "burst" of maybe shredded seal material followed by slightly darkened old fluid then the obvious change to clean new fluid!  Now I find even when replacing the fluid every 2 years, I just go by volume of fluid collected per wheel as the old fluid looks as clean/clear as the new stuff!

 

Edit:- I'm guessing that you refitted the rubber caps on these nipples?

Edited 18 September, 20169 yr by rum4mo