Life of SS Brake Hoses

A

Al Seim

Well-known member
Just saw a thread on another forum that got me thinking -

Should stainless steel braided brake hoses be considered a limited life item? And if so, is it hours/cycles/years that kills them?

Sounds silly, I suppose, since I guess most things do not have unlimited life, but honestly I've never thought about it. The combination of teflon inner and SS outer sounds pretty durable....

In the other forum thread, someone mentioned dirt/grit getting inside the metal braid and wearing through the inner line, not sure how likely that sounds to me. If the hose is overflexed or kinked I can see that killing it but that could happen in 5 mins.

My race car was first raced in the '90s and I'm sure it's on the original SS hoses dating back to then. OTOH it just started its second logbook so has not been raced a zillion times..

My street '84 GTI still has stock rubber hoses but I just bought new ones, they do look kinda old at 28 years....

Al Seim
HP VW Scirocco
 
I've got about 125k miles on a set of lines on one of my street cars. And of course the underside of that car is diiiirty.
I wouldn't worry about it on a race car, as long as you don't stretch the lines and cause fatigue damage at the fittings.

I have ruined one line once, but that's because I was welding some washers over slotted Mcstrut holes to lock in the camber settings. my ground clamp touched the brake line and the welder decided it liked the brake line ground path better than the bare metal bolt I clamped to. It melted the teflon liner inside the hose and caused a nasty mess. of course that was the night before a race too. fortunately I had enough spare parts in the garage to build another line.

Also, the newer SS lines come with a plastic/urethane coating on the outside of the hose which prevents intrusion of dirt and chemicals. I suspect that should greatly lengthen the lifespan of the hose in regards to dirt intrusion/liner wear.
 
I think the plastic outer lining is to make the aftermarket stainless brakes lines DOT compatible for street use.

Would replace the stainless lines every 5 years or so. We take good care of our racers. But, we do spend a lot of time working around the front & rear suspension. I would be concerned about simple cumulative wear and inadvertant damage as a result.

I have had GT1 hi-speed break failure, don't want that ride again. On the same car, different weekend, have also had steering box mounting ear (1 of 3 ears) break going into T1 at Road Atlanta. The car had a mind of its' own, regarless of my steering instructions. Moved a lot of the tire wall on the outside between T1 & T2.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top