Replaced most of the rear brake lines with SS last year. Car spends most of its time in a garage, and never goes to the ocean. Should I have coated the ends, that's a good bit of money to be that rusty.

That's not right, they look like raw unplated steel and are going to be a problem when you take those back apart. Are they cheap no-name e-bay or something? If not I think you're due some money back from someone.

That's a real safety concern. Please disclose the brand so others will feel compelled to check their own fittings if they're running the same.

Suck!

Looks like you have got SS lines with steel fittings (and not very good ones at that). That's BS.

The "lines" are stainless, the fittings are not. Pretty much BS. The different metals will create galvanic corrosion. Pretty much destined to fail. Let me guess URO?

Yep and the brake fluid makes for on helluva electrolyte

some time the cheaper price isnt the best value,,bummer,,but learn from it
MikeC

URO states that these brake lines are not from them. They also claimed that Mikey914 is "a competitor of ours on some 914 products and is just trying to throw us under the bus, ...." I see that 914 vendors are as skeptical of each other as many of us are of them. These brake lines are a perfect example of WHY we have to be so careful in finding replacement parts.

You may be able to buy cad plated line nuts, cut and reflare the tubing after sliding the new nut on the line if you have enough line to do it. Just be careful with the line if you do - the stainless can be brittle if it's a cheap knockoff....
Good luck!

Why doesn.t the OP just tell us where he got them.

I don.t agree with the above statement.

Hello Everyone,

Just to clarify, URO does not currently offer brake lines for the 914. We do offer period-correct reproduction 911 brake lines that are zinc plated for those doing high-end restorations, and need them to look exactly like the originals.

It's a shame when companies misrepresent their competitors products instead of simply promoting their own products.

Here's a photo of our 911 brake lines detailing the color and finish:

Hi all, at the moment I'm only 99% sure of the company. I contacted them and waiting, hopefully I'm still in there system. Out of respect I'm not blurting names, I really was just waiting for someone to tell me i spilled brake fluid on the fittings or needed to add an extra coating but one year still would be a short time for total desinagration I'm thinking?

I just looked at the two SS rear caliper lines I received from PMB but have not yet installed. The fitting on the PMB lines do not have the gold colored plating like the ones shown, they appear to be stainless as are the lines.

Were the ones you purchased pre-bent? I do not think there are many places even offering SS brake lines for the 914??

Don't have to throw them under the bus when they are laying in the road
So ..... whose are they?

I saw Mikey914 ask if they were URO. I assumed that was because URO is a common supplier. If that was taken as being thrown under the bus, it raises a whole bunch of new questions. Why is URO on the defensive? Is there a history I'm not aware of about their rep?

From the OP pic, it just looks like the nut is the problem. Which raises the point of how important it is to have the right hardware to finish the job, not just stainless lines.

Uro stepped on their dicks in a huge way when they announced a new part that competes directly with one of Mikey914's. Ever since then, Mikey spares no opportunity to badmouth Uro up, down and sideways, lol. As a running joke it was entertaining for awhile, but not exactly professional.

Kind of like our current presidential race...

Read up on Uro on this forum...

--DD

Besides the fact that most URO parts are junk.

Mikey's been a stand up guy for as long as I've been around here. I buy parts from him when he does a run and offers it out, sometimes even when I don't need the parts. He's the only parts supplier I buy from just for the hell of it. I know he's an enthusiast.

The parts business isn't an easy one. People are bitchy. Clearly, this thread is not about being bitchy but is about a very scary part that NO ONE would want to have on their car.

And yes, we all need to know where it came from.

Strange you don't know who they are and you have contacted them ,these are raw steel unplated fittings period,I smell here.

Those fittings are NOT "unplated steel". Look at the pic again. The fitting has a yellow chromate zinc plating on the threads. The plating is gone from the hex, allowing the rust to form.

Remember that zinc is a sacrificial coating. It corrodes faster than the steel, but when it's gone, the steel goes.

Wow, think a little, I just said I was 99% and I contacted them thinking I'm still in there system.......so I don't have to try to find my old receipts. No conspiracy no B.S. I only posted this to see if there might be some other reason besides bad quality that would make my pre bent SS brake lines rust that bad in that short of time. I don't want to be one of those people that go off speculating and blaming that's all, I'm not much into bullshiting. Just trying to get your guys expert opinions cause I'm no expert. Thanks

Yah, the lines were stainless with zinc coated fittings they were perfect when I installed them. I couldn't believe it when I was pulling my trans/engine and look up. The other line fittings are great just 3 of the 4 fittings that are the caliper to hose lines????

Actually, my initial reaction was to ask if it was URO. If that's unprofessional, so be it. But I had my suspicions.


There is a reason PMB and may other professional shops will not carry them.

I did actually buy one of their master cylinders that lasted less than 5 miles, so.



They do have a reputation with their master cylinders. Against my better judgment, I went with the cheaper option and found that ATE was worth it because it actually will work as designed and why risk it.

I know they are working on more 914 parts, so Caveat emptor.

So call it "inadequate" plating then? Whether little or none it wasn't nearly enough to prevent that amount of corrosion to the underlying steel in just one year. So definitely inadequate. Right?

Well, the manufacturer should have done their homework. The plating is incorrect. It looks correct but should have been cad plated. As noted zinc is a sacrificial coating, you can't get Hex (at least in the US), but these didn't come from the US, but were made as cheaply as possible, Yes they may have looked pretty when they went on, but when a manufacturer doesn't know what they are doing they get a name for themselves.... you know who you are.

I note UROparts man is active in this thread. Just a screen name or are you a URO parts man?

He's a real URO parts man, and hopefully he'll explain to us why half their master cylinders seem to leak, not fit or not work.

That will be the day. I wonder what they found in thier lab?

While it is admirable that you do not want to throw the vendor under the bus, the lack of disclosure may be throwing other forum members under the bus who might be ordering these for their own vehicle thinking they are buying a quality part.

Though this rusty brake fitting thread has absolutely nothing to do with URO Parts, we’re happy to answer questions from the community.

Our 914 brake master cylinder has an actual defect rate of 0.87% for the roughly 1,500 units sold since 2011. Naturally no manufacturing process can achieve a 0% defect rate, which is why we stand behind our products with a two-year warranty. If anyone has a defective master cylinder or other item, please contact us for a warranty replacement so we can make it right.

Those are the facts, despite what Mikey914 (who is developing a competing product) has to say.

Why do all the URO products seem to feel, look and function sub par?
Is it because they are made in China?
That not "Making America Great Again" is it?

I've manufactured aftermarket parts overseas and a one percent return rate is not good. For some parts it's acceptable, but not for critical items like internal engine parts and especially not for brake parts. For comparison six sigma means three defects per MILLION. And what's odd is that in my private car I apparently had two of your roughly 15 warranty failures all by myself, thankfully leaks on first use. That may be what flavors my view of your products, but that should also be understandable.

As an aside I also used one of your Volvo S80 fuel door hinges that wouldn't pop into the holes no matter what I did, so I ended up breaking it trying to get it to fit. I then used the OEM hinge and it popped right in no problem, though I guess that's not really applicable here.

"Methinks thou dost protest too much" - Wm Shakespeare

Competing product would imply that URO is a competitor of 914rubber. You make and sell many of the same parts, but there really is no competition - 914rubber wins hands down.
URO doesn't get much love on the BMW forums either...

Dude....I wouldn.t be proud of this....and I would.nt post it if I were you....but too late now.

I was an ME many years ago when we still cared about making things

That might look good for the accountants but not on a lawyers desk.

UROPartsman -
Care to pass on your failure rate on 911 DME relays and tie rod ends?

I sure wouldn't want to be that .87% with my family in the car.

My failure rate of the URO master cylinder was 100%, but in all fairness I had 5 miles on it.

By "defect rate" I am talking about our warranty rate, which is product coming back for ANY reason. Anyone that has changed these brake master cylinders knows there are some intricacies to the installation.

1. Under each of the 2 rubber sealing plugs (901 355 9329 00) for the reservoir feed lines is a distance washer (901 355 936 00). If these washers are left out during the installation of the new cylinder, or an incorrectly sized washer is substituted, the bottom of the rubber grommet will not be compressed properly, causing leakage or a fluid feed problem to one or both of the master cylinder’s internal circuits. This can hinder or prevent fluid from entering the front or rear circuits, causing either no pressure to develop or hinder proper bleeding of the brakes.

2. In addition, these reservoir feed lines are notoriously difficult to fit into place once the cylinder is installed on the vehicle. An improperly-seated line would result in leakage out of the cylinder, possibly making someone suspect that the cylinder is faulty when in fact the lines are simply not installed correctly.

3. It is also critical that new copper sealing washers (904 355 904 00 or N 013 808 3) of the proper thickness and size are fitted when swapping the front circuit banjo bolt hardware from the old master cylinder to the new one. Failure to do so will result in a leak; again likely creating a warranty return.

These are the types of issues we saw when examining our warranty returns, but as most manufacturers do, we scrap the part, give credit, and count it in our warranty percentage.