Thread: braided brake lines ?? why race use only?

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im setting up my brakes now and im wondering if anybody has a good knowledge on this topic ......why are braided brake lines for race use only ??? dot does approve they say in ads that brake pwer is incressed . i have a 32 roadster and i was wondering if all braided hoses would be bad ??

Most steel braided lines say that to aviod liability. Products that say "RACE ONLY'" to aviod being sued while you are out street racing. Any product that will endure extreme heat and 500 miles of continuous abuse will easily go 50,000 miles on the street.

Not to avoid liability, they don't want to pay the money to have them DOT certified. I wonder if there are any chaffing problems between the liner and the stainless braide that might become apparent on a high milage vehicle?

My dirt bike has a braided line for the front brake. If you want to talk extremes that is the place to look. The vibration and chaffing are ridiculous. The line is encased in a protective jacket which has worn through in some spots and the stainless braid is just starting to wear, but the line is still holding up. It's 20 years old, too.

"they say in ads that brake pwer is incressed"

Stainless braided lines will give a firmer brake pedal because they do not swell like OEM rubber lines do at higher pressures.

it would be easy for me to run all braided brake lines for my entire brake system instead on hard lines is this a bad choice for saftey ??that is my question . thanks for the replys

Over the short term there may technically be no difference. However, there is a huge difference in safety factor between the hard lines and flexible lines. But over the longer term the flex lines will have to be replaced just due to mormal useage. You would not have to replace a stainless hard line ever due to normal use or rot. Usually the braided lines are used only for joining a caliper or axle that is free to move relative to the frame, steel or stainless hard lines everywhere else.

Kitz

I'm with Kitz on this one. I use either steel or stainless steel lines on the frame, the stainless braid from the frame to the brake calipers....

I was always told that if you use braided line threw out it will affect your pedal height when braking because of the line pressure expanding the lining in the hose instead of getting all the pressure to the caliper. I personally use stainless hard line everywhere, then just a short jumper to the caliper.

Russell (Edelbrock) make DOT lines from the frame to caliper. When I originally set up my current project car brake system, I used "for race only" lines but since then have changed to DOT - if for no other reason, NY State wants to see that tag on them. The rest of my lines are all stainless hard lines with AN fittings. I would not choose to make up high pressure lines out of flex material as I really have no way to effectively swage the fittings to satisfy myself. AN fittings will hold the hydraulic pressure but I am more concerned with pull out from the fitting as happened to me when the local Aero-Quip dealer made one up for me in an "emergency" when I didn't have time to wait for a mail order replacement. (Syracuse NSRA Nationals, 1995) Juice jar single reservoir master cylinder, no brakes = an exciting drive (major brake mods after that trip)

I was able to sell my unused non DOT lines at a swap meet for about what they cost me.

In research several years ago, I came across information that indicated that there is a DOT "whip test" that is part of the DOT certification process. Certain fitting designs do not allow for strain relief at the junction of the fitting to the hose and therefore do not pass. For a race application, the number of cycles that the assembly sees is extremely few compared to the life of a daily street driven car...how many cars hit 100,000 miles at drag strip only use?

As the last post said, you can buy DOT braided fittings and the price is almost the same.

Ken is right, just like you dont run 100% hose for fuel line, you dont want to run all hose for brake lines...although the braided hose expands less than rubber hose with no braid, it expands more than steel lline.....potential sponge for the pedal.

mike in tucson

im looking into the ss brake kit from speedway has anybody used that ? ive been thinking it over for a while and it doesnt seem like i can get away with spending less then 300 bucks on brake lines , just seems too pricey for what it is ..

Take a peek at what Russell sells

http://www.russellperformance.com/au...ni_brake.shtml

Originally Posted by godspeed32

im looking into the ss brake kit from speedway has anybody used that ? ive been thinking it over for a while and it doesnt seem like i can get away with spending less then 300 bucks on brake lines , just seems too pricey for what it is ..

I believe the Speedway setup has a roll of tubing - and you can never get it straight. Mine came from Inline Tube (http://www.inlinetube.com/ )

I gave them a call, told them what I wanted to do and a week and ~$300 later I was ready to start bending to fit with all the fittings and six 6' lengths of tubing.

braided brake hoses dont have rubber...they have a teflon liner

you can buy the braided teflon hose and make your own if you're the adventuresome sort

I make all of our lines here. It's not that difficult as long as you have a good source for the correct ends for the braided and nuts and sleeves for the rigid. Just like anything there are tricks to doing it right and saving yourself problems down the road. I'm sure if you do a search somone has explained it, if not I can tell you what I have learned.