braided brake lines Options

[firstknight13]

ok what's the deal oh the braided brake lines could one of you 914 experts tell me the way to go on this??? i like the look of them but i don't want to have problems. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif)

[Cap'n Krusty]

QUOTE (jgiroux67 @ May 2 2005, 05:50 PM)

I never knew there was a problem with steel brake lines. Why would you have to change them every year and rubber ones only every 10 years? I would think that the steel braided lines would be much longer lasting.

Well, they're NOT steel. They're teflon with a braided stainless steel cover. The "better" ones have a pliable costing over the SS to help reduce the possibility of damage to (or by) the SS cover. The big problem is in the way the ends are attached to the teflon/SS part. That's where they most often fail. I can honestly tell you that far less than one percent of the cars I've serviced in the last 32 years of P-car wrenching for money have had them, yet I've seen ONE rubber brake line fail at the join between the hose and the end, and FOUR SS braided lines fail there. Think about it, and do the math. It is generally suggested by racer suppliers that the lines be inspected before/after every race, and replaced every 1 or 2 years. And those cars see what, a few dozen to a couple of hundred miles a year? I've gone on day trips that were longer than a race car goes in 2 years .............. Finally, the failure mode of OLD rubber (OE) brake hoses is cracking outer skin, swelling internally causing a failure to release and/or a pulling to one side. The failure mode of SS braided teflon lines is sudden, absolute, and total loss of braking. You pick........ Looking good (a matter of opinion) or living long ........................................... The Cap'n