[s-cars] rear brake lines

[Theodore Chen]

--- Kirby Smith <kirby.a.smith at verizon.net> wrote:
> I don't know about speed-flex, but I strongly recommend you buy already
> made up hoses from Paragon Performance.  They include a kevlar
> in-between liner to keep grit from damaging the teflon.  As they cost
> only ca. $70 US, you would have to pay yourself a very low wage to equal
> them, and you would still have an inferior line set.

kirby,

speed-flex is made by earl's, and is widely used on race cars.

there was a discussion on birabrakes about six weeks ago, in which a
lister had problems with the lines supplied by paragon.  the first
time, they supplied lines for the factory S6 brakes (he needed lines
that worked with porsche calipers).  after numerous phone calls, he
got paragon to agree to build new lines with the correct fittings
and lengths.  he posted again two weeks later, saying that paragon
had again supplied lines with incorrect fittings.  he gave up and
bought the lines from somewhere else, with an admonition to list
members not to buy them from paragon.

maybe i'll buy them pre-made, but i'm somewhat uneasy about getting
swaged fittings because i've had bad experiences with them.

BTW, braided steel hoses that aren't DOT-certified probably fail to
achieve DOT certification because of the whip test.  the brake line
is attached in a rotating fixture and whipped around thousands of
times.  braided steel hoses don't tolerate this kind of abuse as
well as rubber hoses do, but it's also a pretty extreme test that's
designed to simulate the kind of abuses and mishandling that some
people might inflict on their brake lines (mostly stupid mechanics).
earl's DOT-certified lines aren't any different from the race line,
except for the addition of a spring collar at each fitting that supports
the hose and prevents it from kinking sharply during the whip test.
in effect, it enforces a minimum bend radius at the fitting.

-teddy


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