SS Brake Hose... Racing vs DOT Options

[Slick914]

What's the difference between the racing SS brake hoses and the street ones?

My car has the racing ones on right now, but I do have the street versions on standby.

[DBCooper]

Sorry, but how is that relevant? You've deformed one with side cutters, but how would that ever happen in automotive use? No automotive hose that is the correct length will be put into a position that it can be flexed to the point that it "kinks" the way you indicate. If it's possible to do that with the hoses on your car it means they're too short, and that would be misuse. You cut the other with a high speed wheel, the way it should be cut. I really don't understand the comparison or your point.

If you have the correct length brake hose it should never be put into the position where it can be extended so much that it's stressed. Certainly never stressed longitudinally as much as the NHTSA tensile test. The only thing a correct length hose should ever see in automotive use is movement, and NHTSA "whip" test is intended to be an extreme case of exactly that. Both braided stainless hoses and standard rubber hoses pass that test.

Do you know of any formal test data that indicates that teflon hose, covered or not, has flex performance that's inferior to rubber? If so, how much? That would be relevant.

By the way, the NHTSA test mentioned above was released in April of this year, 2008. So it's a brand new standard. And further the NHTSA database (it's on their website) shows no investigations of any brake hoses from failures in use. IE no complaints. Zero. So if you've had a catastrophic brake failure I'd request that you do every automotive enthusiast a favor and register that with the NHSTB so nobody innocent dies. Their complaint number is (888) 327-4236.