[s-cars] Confirmed: Braided brake lines don't age well

[Mike Claire]

Teddy:  I understand, and I'm not concerned about imminent brake failure.
I'm still driving the car 100 miles a day.  Haven't slowed down a bit :)

Although they're not coming off today, or this week, I don't think anybody
on this list would let them stay on the car indefinitely.  These lines look
like they ought to be condemned.

The sheathing material was not up to the task for an all season daily
driver.  They're yellowed and brittle.  It has lost all ability to flex, so
the lines only flex where there are breaks, potentially pinching and kinking
the braid.  It seems possible that it could restrict the flow.  Was I was
naive to expect better?  Maybe.



Mike

On 12/10/06, Theodore Chen <tedebearp at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> the brake lines look OK to me.  what you're seeing is the deterioration
> of the plastic sheathing.  the braided steel jacket of the brake line
> looks OK in the picture.  that's braided stainless steel, which is pretty
> tough stuff and almost always ends up cutting through whatever is rubbing
> against it (including mild steel).
>
> the abrasion of the yellow plastic is probably from tire rub.  you
> should fix that by rerouting the lines so they don't rub.
>
> my brake lines don't have any plastic sheathing.  the most i did
> was wrap them with electrical tape, and i'm not really convinced that
> does much.  the ones on the '92 S4 are 3 years old and have about 35k
> miles on them.
>
> the ones on the mustang go back to '97, but that car doesn't get driven
> in bad weather much.  those lines probably have about 40k miles on them.
>
> unless the braided steel hose is abused (through kinking, pinching,
> or abrasion of the braided steel jacket), the failure mode is rarely
> catastrophic.  grit may get through and abrade the teflon liner.  then
> you get a brake fluid leak, which you'll notice as the brake pedal
> starts sinking and the brake fluid level starts dropping.  but unless
> it's a huge leak, it's unlikely to result in sudden loss of brakes
> because the braided steel jacket is keeping the teflon lining from
> blowing apart.
>
> if the braided steel jacket is damaged, you must replace the line
> immediately.
>
> i assembled my lines myself from reusable hose ends and bulk hose.
> it's probably not a bad idea to rebuild my brake hoses soon.  just
> have to buy some more hose and compression sleeves, and i can redo
> all the hoses for a few bucks per corner.  maybe this time around,
> i'll try dipping them in liquid vinyl to coat them, but i doubt that
> stuff will last very long.  i suppose i could run them inside some
> fuel hose.
>
> -teddy
>
> --- Mike Claire <mike.claire at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > A few months ago there was discussion about running braided lines on the
> > street.  Lots of opinions on both sides, but it changed my mind about
> street
> > use.  I figured I'd eventually put OEM rubber lines back on.
> >
> > My ECS braided lines are only 3 years and 12K miles old, with very
> little
> > winter use.  I didn't bother to inspect them at the time.  I figured
> they
> > had to be fine for now.
> >
> >
> >
> > Have a look:
> >
> >
> http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=319038483&size=o&context=set-72157594414349733
>
> >
> > The other side looked just as bad, except without the strange abrasion
> that
> > wore through the thick yellow plastic in the middle of this one (still
> can't
> > figure that out).
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Mike
> > 93 'S4, soon with OEM rubber line lines
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> >
>
>
>
>
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