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The thing about braided stainless lines on the street is that they can fail catastrophically. Rubber lines, as they age, swell internally or bulge externally, but they generally give you a fair bit of warning before they let go completely (which can take 10s of years to happen) by cracking externally or going all mushy at the pedal. Stainless lines, as they get dirty, work dirt into the braid which starts to wear at the inner Teflon line. When the inner line goes, no brakes (on single circuit systems). The dirt will often work its way into the region where the line connects to the fitting, accelerating the process. I have seen this happen, and it's happened to me. The line simply parts internally, and the pedal drops to the floor. In my case, I simply sailed through an empty intersection, and had to use the handbrake to get home. The DOT version of the lines has a plastic collar that inhibits dirt from getting into the area near the fitting, and also prevents the line from being bent too far at the fitting (which will badly stress the inner Teflon line). The DOT test is really a "whip" test which requires the lines to be stressed very substantially at the fitting w/o failing. On a racing car, the stainless lines aren't much of a problem, as they tend to run far fewer miles between inspections. On a road car that may go 10K miles or more before you get around to looking at the lines, it's more of a problem. I used to wrap all stainless lines in plastic tubing, slit lengthwise, to prevent dirt from getting into the braid. This also protects everything else around the line from being abraded by the rough braid. Some stainless lines are completely plastic wrapped from the factory. Braided lines can offer a small performance benefit in pedal feel, but for me the big benefit has always been that it's far easier to make your own custom lines using the correct line and fittings from Earl's or Aeroquip, than it is to make up rubber lines correctly. jamesm --- John Fessenden fess <fess-vwtype3.org@fess.org> wrote: > > On Feb 9, 2005, at 12:35 PM, Iturzaeta , Joseph > wrote: > > > Does anyone know where I can get some stainless > steel braided brake > > lines for a 71 square? > > CIP1? > > http://www2.cip1.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1197 > > I found the listings a little hard to interpret, as > they don't > specifically > say type III on all the parts, but I replaced the > way too long ones > that were on my '67 square when I got it, > and To be sure I measured a set of stock lines, and > checked the ends. > > Jim says they're just for bragging rights, > but I swear they make the brakes feel much more > solid. > [ my subjective opinion. ] either that or I'll have > to find > someone who isn't jim to brag to. *grin* > > --fess > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | > mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/maildemo