Which type of brake line?

[ST2008]

Hello guys, It's me again, I just update my previous thread regarding my brake line repair and bleeding. But I have another question for you for a new problem.
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...need-brakes-specialist-helps#Post5057684

To make a story short of my endeavour, I was able to change the two rear brake lines of my beater. I was also able to crake open 3 of 4 bleeders. As for the one I had broken, it was for me way cheaper ($15) and time saving to buy another brake cylinder instead of trying to extract the stuck bleeder. It was a pain in the (edit- mod) and I also almost broke two very frozen fitting as well. In short, It was an epic battle between me an the rust and It took me almost two days to finish the job. I was so proud and happy that I was able with success to repair the brake line in a first try and I Iearn lot of new stuff.

Sadly today, another brake line had ruptured (under and in the middle of the car). This time, I decide to cut all rotted brake lines and replace them with new one. I have some tubing experience and I'm very confident that I will be able to flare the new brake line. The only problem I still need to figure out is what type of brake line I need. In fact, when I was "shopping" for the new brake line in amazon and in my local stores, there are a plethora of type of brake line. I don't need some fancy brake line for my beater. But I don't want either to buy some crappy brake line which gets rotted by the rust in 2 or 3 years. The over all condition of my beater is still "excellent' and I plan to keep it for another 5 years.

As I had mentioned in my previous thread, I'm still a noob regarding braking system. For now, the only conditions which come up in my mind regarding the brake line are the brake line must able the withstand the corrosion for at least 5 years. It must be also easy to bend and easy to flare. Finally the brake line must be also "legal". If you have some experience regarding the brake line characteristics, please share your knowledge. thx

 

[Black_Thunder]

For years and years i would just buy the Edelmann brakes at the local fleet farm in certain lengths and then just put it together with brass union fittings and never really had an issue, the new line would last at least 5 years before rotting out.


now they no longer have the same line, I believe its still Edelmann line but they are now called Rhino Hide brake lines which are coated lines that are suppose to match much longer and the pricing only changed a little bit, I have started using these lines since they got ride of the regular non-coated line so its too soon to tell how long they will last but with the coating they should last much longer obviously.


I don't know what kind of lines you are buying like the full brake lines and then flaring etc.

I haven't flared lines myself in quite some time but the the coated line i dont' think would work very well as the coating would give you issues flaring it properly etc. but I find it easier to sometimes to replace with sections of line and routing etc.

 

[Rand]

get ni-copp brake line

 

[Lubener]

For a beater, I would get galvonized or coated steel. It should last as long as your original line did.

 

[demarpaint]

NiCopp.

 

[Trav]

+3 Very easy to work with, it bends easily with no special bending tools. I did all the lines on a XL Denali in an afternoon bending with only a couple of pieces of pipe and a spring for the super tight bends going into the ABS I used an OTC stinger flaring tool which is very inexpensive and works perfectly fine with this stuff, for steel and stainless you need better tooling.
If you have Advance Auto up there they sell it cheap and keep it in stock.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

I don't know what my Brake Lines are made of, but a 'magnet' will stick to them.

When I bought my vehicle (new 2002), I coated the Brake LInes with Never-Seize.
Occasionally I will recoat with Fluid Film to keep the Never-Seize soft.

My Brake Lines are a gooie mess, but are RUST FREE.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by demarpaint
NiCopp.


+1 -- easy to work with, never rusts.

 

[cronk]

The last brake line I use was called "poly armor" it is a plastic coated line and is some sort of alloy and bends very well without special tools. Very tight bends, I just usec a peice of pipe to bend it around to avoid kinks.
It flared just fine also.
poly armour website

 

[eljefino]

Your choices are bare steel, poly armor, and ni-copp.

I bought ni-copp from Advance auto locally, it was a buck a foot. But it worked beautifully, bent into tight radii, flared, was awesome.

I bought more on ebay, it was like it was ni-copp coated steel line. It flared and worked like regular steel, which is not impossible, but is harder. After a winter the line looks tarnished/ fuzzy already. Makes me wonder if I got "the real stuff".

One benefit of "ebay line" is you can find a kit with a bunch of line nuts for pennies more than bare naked line by itself. They're good to keep around as "shop supplies". You can also get lucky and clean your old nuts up, sometimes.

I'm cheap but haven't bought bare steel bulk line. Not worth it to me. I may have bought pre-flared steel line with the nuts on it, don't remember. That stuff *is* convenient the few times you can find one the right length with the right ends on both ends.

 

[Trav]

Yeah the Chinese are always doing things like that, copper plated garbage aluminum wire is another good one.

 

[andyd]

The Rat has 7 yr old steel hard lines . It was the remains of a 25' coil my BIL bought. I hand formed new lines, just hand bending. Flaring isn't rocket surgery Simple tools are required. You must secure as you go to keep runs tidy. Probably took me a week of spare time to do brake lines. But I work at a snail's pace.since I turned 60

I went through 2 qts of DOT 3 because I didn't want involve ABS. Every time I opened the system, I topped off the MC constantly. Get some 3/16 end plugs for when not working on.

 

[eljefino]

There's a certain size nail that stuffs into the end of 3/16 line too.

 

[Dave9]

It doesn't really matter if you don't need a longer 2nd tour of duty than the first, except each has a few qualities that stand out.

Bare steel, cheapest and fairly easy to work.

Coated steel, 2nd cheapest, easy to work, much improved corrosion resistance. It's what some OEMs have switched to.

CuNi, easiest to work, further improved corrosion resistance, probably the best choice for someone doing one or only a few vehicles and is new at it.

Stainless, (depending on grade) best corrosion resistance, hardest to work, not for someone who doesn't have good bending and bench top or hydraulic flaring tools. Don't even bother trying to flare this with the typical autoparts store butterfly style flaring tools unless you're a masochist.

If you just want cheap and good enough, get whatever is cheapest at you local auto parts store to avoid postage, or free on Amazon with Prime, etc.

Fake stuff on ebay (or even amazon these days) yeah avoid it. Once you involve shipping cost it can't be much cheaper unless there is a good (meaning bad) reason.

 

[Driz]

Yeah the Chinese are always doing things like that, copper plated garbage aluminum wire is another good one.


You can say that again. You gotta be really careful these days buying wire off places like Flebay / Amazon. That copper clad🤥 crap is showing up all over the place and it's garbage.

Brake lines on beaters? Why bother with good stuff? Grab a roll and some ends at the nearest parts store. Heck it's gonna outlast the car anyway. Spray paint it even if you feel it'll help. The worst thing about it is how hard it flares . I always need to do 3 or 4 flares a practice to get one that's decent.

 

[eljefino]

Best thing you can do for your new lines is to stuff grease in the "far end" of your tubing nuts after it's all together. Otherwise salt will get in that crevice.

You'll notice when you take the old ones apart, that is where the weak spot is.

 

[eljefino]

10-month old ebay "nicopp" line:

 

[Trav]

Fake plated NiCopp. I use the stuff from AA which is AGS and Cunifer from Fedhill, after 10 years it looks slightly darker but that's all, no corrosion.

https://www.cunifer.com/

https://agscompany.com/product-category/brake-fuel-transmission-lines/nicopp/

 

[Lubener]

Originally Posted by Trav
Fake plated NiCopp. I use the stuff from AA which is AGS and Cunifer from Fedhill, after 10 years it looks slightly darker but that's all, no corrosion.

https://www.cunifer.com/

https://agscompany.com/product-category/brake-fuel-transmission-lines/nicopp/

The next owner will sure appreciate it.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by Driz

Yeah the Chinese are always doing things like that, copper plated garbage aluminum wire is another good one.


You can say that again. You gotta be really careful these days buying wire off places like Flebay / Amazon. That copper clad🤥 crap is showing up all over the place and it's garbage.

Brake lines on beaters? Why bother with good stuff? Grab a roll and some ends at the nearest parts store. Heck it's gonna outlast the car anyway. Spray paint it even if you feel it'll help. The worst thing about it is how hard it flares . I always need to do 3 or 4 flares a practice to get one that's decent.


I guess it depends how long you think your beater will last. If I you use the same logic towards undercoating and don't bother because it's a beater that line could rust through in 2 years.

The only line on my 83 Caprice (beater) that looks like it needs attention is the only one that has been replaced. The replacement exhaust wore through it over the axle and the previous owner had to replace it the week before he sold it to me. The only thing that got it so far was my yearly undercoating done by myself.

The original lines look fine because they were much better quality than typical aftermarket stuff. I've had the car 10 years now and probably will another 5-10.