What would be a fair price to flush and fill your hydro brakes?

[DBordewisch]

What is fair or how much do you pay for a hop to flush out the old fluid. Then replace with new Shimano/SRAM fluid. Would you expect to have this done when changing pads? I'm interested in what others are or might pay around the country. Trying to decide on how much money to invest in tools and equipment for this type of repair. The shop is selling more and more hydro disc road/gravel/tri. Thank you for the input.

[dashDustin]

$25/ brake

I wouldn’t expect to have it done when replacing pads.

And I think I’d suggest new pads if replacing fluid. 90% of the work is done already. No additional labor dollars are needed.

[watchcwgo]

$40 per brake

[andrew flowers]

It’s usually part of a larger brake overhaul. Speciality tools are pretty minimal. I have a hacked up water bottle and spoke thing I use as a catch canister.

[j44ke]

So these fees are for labor only? How do shops now charge for fluid? By the bottle or $/cc or...?

[Bewheels]

I can't answer the question about cost at a shop to do this work but you allude to looking at purchasing the tools to do this yourself.
My guess is that by the time you pay for parts and labor you will pay more than picking up the tools and parts.
The obvious difference is that you are doing it yourself.

Personally I rather do these things myself. If you choice to go that route, pick up the real tools for the job. Shimano and Sram both offer bleed kits for ~$20.

If you get into swapping/shorten hose*, pick up the real tools to cut the hose and insert the barbs. It will save time and aggravation.

*If you are just looking to flush/bleed the system you don't need to disconnect anything.

There are plenty of videos about doing all of this.

[progetto]

give a man a fish and he has a meal for a day, teach a man to fish and he has a meal for a lifetime.....

[DBordewisch]

Thank you for the responses. Some more background the shop is almost all road/tri/gravel. More of mid to high end. Almost all the new bicycles sold here are hydro disc. Also close to half of all incoming repairs are disc. Trying to justify if an electric brake pump would be worth the money and time saved. Pluses are quick a full flush should take 10 minutes for everything from start to finish. Flushing all the old fluid and replacing with new. A bleed with, hopefully, no bubbles. Downside electric pump is expensive. The brake fluid cost is minor.

[rabo]

As a data point; My daughter has a bike where the shimano brake fluid is from the late 1990's. Brakes fine.

[Tom]

That raises a question. What would cause you to have to flush and replace the fluid? What's the accepted lifetime of an install?

OK, two questions.

[j44ke]

...The brake fluid cost is minor.

How much volume is used for flush and replace? I see Shimano mineral oil is $20/liter. And I assume you recycle the waste mineral oil. Some cost there.

$25/brake seems really low. $40/brake is more like it. But I would expect the fluid to be extra, not included in the price.

[dashDustin]

Looking at a quick google search, there is approximately 100ml of fluid in a Shimano brake system. MSRP on bulk fluid is $30. I was thinking bleed....full replacement of fluid? I’d still do $25 labor, add $10 for parts. $35 per brake.

[sk_tle]

Would you expect to have this done when changing pads?

I can't speak about the price because I've been wrenching my bicycle myself for years and live at a different place, however bleeding and/or replacing oil every pad change ? heck no.

Only pro DH riders mech do that. System should and are well sealed and if the initial bleed has been done correctly one should expect his system running without a bleed at least for 6 months and even for years on a brake installed in a city bike that will never reach boiling temp.

I used to bleed my brakes every year during an extensive "servicing" but now I have switched to 2 years or whenever a brake will feel spongy or act weirdly.

[Clyde]

not sure about the need for an electric device, a syringe has always worked well for me. lots of tapping the hoses and squeezing the lever with fluid in the threaded cup thingy.

[the bottle ride]

40 bucks to do the hydro sounds about right- it’s not hard to learn or do. I don’t do it anymore because I live in a apartment.
Maybe I need to do it once every year and half depending on how much I ride the bike??? It’s not a regular activity.

Changing pads are a low hanging fruit if you are looking for some DIY home repair.

[peanutgallery]

$35 per end, includes fluid, pad install and resetting the pistons. Most bleeds require the customer to purchase new pads...or why bother to do the job

Super suspect of older Tektro, Formula, Magura and Avids (Juicy and Elixir) holding a bleed. If those things are janky, service and parts gets you close to a new one and a smile on the customer's face. Before bothering to bleed, inspect everything closely for leaks and make sure the pistons and plunger operate and do not leak. Usually replacing stuff rather than rebuilding a caliper, not worth the labor $ when a new one is so cheap...and better. The road systems cost a lot more at the moment, suspect we'll soon be doing more brifter rebuilds etc with those as they age

I don't think anything more than the assortment of basic fittings or syringes are needed. The electric do-bob will not speed up bleed time as you will still have to do all the same set-up/prep for a bleed (that is where the magic happens), the bleed itself takes mere moments. If you're handy, get a bleed kit - if you struggle to put string in your weedeater, pay someone. If you're bleeding the same system multiple times per year...you need new setup

[j44ke]

not sure about the need for an electric device, a syringe has always worked well for me. lots of tapping the hoses and squeezing the lever with fluid in the threaded cup thingy.

I could definitely see it in a pro-shop - or a mid-to-high end shop where most bikes sold have discs or the area riding suits disc use - where this procedure would be a daily money maker. Same or next day service on brakes? That would be a good way to sell the service at a higher price.

[mmoore]

knowing your costs is essential to knowing what a fair price to charge is.

[dashDustin]

I'm curious how an electric bleeding device works. I was doing some Tarmacs last night and space is tight at the rear end. And that was with a hose that wasn't cut during the build/ fit, so I had extra room to play with.

I wish someone would just come up with a threaded fitting for Shimano bleed ports.

[rsl]

After about 6 months or so on a new Sram Rival 1 set up (my first and only disc brake bike) my brakes felt spongy with more movement in the lever than I was used to. My shop did a bleed, without new pads, and charged $40.

Brake felt better after the bleed, but the Sram brakes generally feel mushy to me. I often wonder if that’s just they way they are or if I need an additional servicing.