Re: burst brake line, oh my

[Todd Young <tyoung@wamnet.com>]

Eaton Dave wrote:

> down under, the law will not warrant (mot) your vehicle if it has ss brake
> lines fitted.
>
> this is precisely due to the concern over abrasion between the ss and the
> inner causing catastrophic failure.  there is no doubt in my mind that this
> can and does happen.  most often becasue of grit/dirt becoming embedded in
> the ss braid.
>
> as you have found out.  you are lucky that the failure occured without more
> serious consequences.
>
> i've discussed this at length with the rally guys and various people and
> decided to stay well away from ss lines.  until i get a dedicated
> track/rally car that is.  with the influx of boy-racers and their hot
> imprezza's it is one of their most common mods, and one of the most common
> causes of mot-failures.  the local speed shops now refuse to do this work
> unless the car is a rally or track vehicle...
>

Sounds like we need a SS brake line, but with some sort of silicon cover over
the braided SS, to keep the dirt out. My understanding is that people convert
to SS brake lines as they don't expand like plain rubber, so you get better
braking power, but if grit gets between the braid and the inner hose, that
would definitely lead to problems (as Dave pointed out). Is this why most SS
lines are not DOT approved (for the USA guys, such as myself)? If so, maybe we
could pursuade some manufacturer to come out with a covered SS line to prevent
this type of failure. The cover could be a clear silicon, so you could still
see the pretty SS braid, but you wouldn't have to worry about abrasion failure.

--
Todd Young              WAM!NET Inc.
tyoung@wamnet.com       6100 West 110th Street
612-886-5051            Bloomington, MN 55438-2664
800-585-1133 ext.5051   http://www.wamnet.com/