[A4] Brakes & Rotors Update

[Nicholas Stock]

Richard, buy a motive bleeder or something similar
(www.ecstuning.com), you fill the pressurized resevoir with new brake
fluid and your off to the races...it's really easy to use and avoids
balancing a semi-inflated spare tire on your manifold! Just bleed the
brake lines one by one and make sure you use decent brake fluid (ATE).

HTH,

Nick

On 11/26/06, Richard Hurt <rnhurt at gmail.com> wrote:
> Robert,
>   Great information!  I never realized the strengths and weaknesses of both
> standard & stainless lines.
>
> I don't think I'm up for installing them this time, too much $$$ right
> before the holiday, but when I do I'll come to you guys for help.  I'm kinda
> nervous about bleeding the brakes on a modern, ABS equipped, traction
> control system vehicle.  Any tips?  Can you just do the standard "start with
> the wheel furthest from the MC"?  Or do you need a auto-bleeder?
>
> On a slightly different note, I think my MC has gotten a little blow-by.  My
> petal was slowly going down to the floor before I took my brakes off.  Now,
> my _hope_ is that my brakes were SOOO bad that it had this effect on the
> petal but I'm not holding my breath.  :/
>
> Later...
>   Richard
>
> On 11/25/06, Robert A. King <gt40 at mail.ev1.net> wrote:
> >
> > 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.
> >
> >
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