That trick with a zip tie to hold brake calipers while you bleed them

I was fighting a stuck caliper on a 2005 F-150 last Saturday and remembered seeing a guy online use a zip tie to keep the piston from popping out while bleeding the line. Took me 15 minutes instead of an hour of cursing and fishing for dropped parts - has anyone else found a random household item that saved a job?

3 comments

3 Comments

brooke44814d ago

Is it really that serious though? Brake jobs are messy but I've never needed a zip tie to keep a piston in place, just a block of wood and some patience. Feels like a solution looking for a problem when most of us can just close the bleeder screw and work the piston back in by hand.

lucashenderson8d ago

Sounds like you never had one launch across the garage." Zip tie costs a dollar and saves the headache, why not just use it?

logan27114d ago

Gotta ask, have you ever actually had a caliper piston pop out on you mid bleed? Because I've been there, and a block of wood does nothing when the thing suddenly shoots out and you're scrambling to catch it while brake fluid is everywhere. Zip tie trick is literally just a cheap insurance policy, not really a fix for a problem that doesn't exist.