[A4] Brakes & Rotors Update

[Robert A. King]

At 04:19 PM 11/25/2006, you wrote:
>I really can't wait to get it back on the road and see how much better it
>is!  :)
>
>I don't really want to break the seal on the brake lines and installing
>stainless lines would do that.

Huh?  Are you worried about screwing something up?  No worries -- all 
you'll need to do after installing the lines is bleed the brakes.


>   I've also heard that the stainless lines
>actually wear out faster because of the braiding.  Anyone have any
>experience with them?

Heh -- yep.  I've been building and using braided stainless lines for 
over 10 years.  Brake lines don't "wear out".  Rubber lines WILL 
deteriorate over time (ozone and UV light break down the rubber 
jacket.)  Not so with braided stainless steel hoses.  Rubber hoses 
will also wear if something (anything?) rubs against them.  I've lost 
hoses on my race car because of this.

Stainless steel hoses are made of a Teflon tube wrapped by a jacket 
made of stainless steel wire.  Teflon is not subject to deterioration 
over time and will not deteriorate substantially over time.  The 
stainless steel wire is VERY tough.  If anything rubs against it, 
chances are very good that the wire will wear slower than whatever 
rubs against it.  It makes for a fairly good file or saw!

About the only thing that can damage a stainless steel hose is 
physical damage to the hose.  The Teflon hose will kink if bent too 
sharply.  If kinked, it WILL cold-flow, leaving two weak spots in the 
hose, which WILL fail at some point.  If the hose gets kinked, or if 
you THINK it's been kinked, its junk.  Kinking is most often seen 
right at the hose end, usually then some moron hangs the caliper from 
the brake hose.  The Teflon can also be damaged inside the hose end 
if its pulled on hard enough.  Again, this happens when the 
aforementioned moron hangs the caliper from the hose.

On the street, barring physical damage, a quality stainless steel 
hose should be pretty much immortal.  I ran my stainless street hoses 
for about 10 years.  On the race track, I change them out yearly.

Once again, If I even suspect that a hose has been damaged, the hose is junk.