Rotten Steel Brake Lines

wyldside · Post by **wyldside** » June 5th, 2006, 3:41 pm

I've got a serious problem on my GSR. The steel brake lines running from the front to the back of the car are all rotten and cracked. Brake fluid is pissing out everywhere but mainly from right below the driverside door. I've been to two shops now. The first one said that it's a pain because the lines are all completely rotten and need a complete replacement. Speedy Brake simply said that they won't touch it because of the labor time involved. It would involve removing part of the front sub-frame and the fuel tank. I was quoted $700 from the first place, so I'm almost concidering on doing this myself. Does anyone know if Mazda or anyone else sells pre-bent / pre-fabricated lines. If not I will probably have to go somewhere to get this done.

fieromx3 · Post by **fieromx3** » June 5th, 2006, 4:13 pm

go to mazda and ask them..call arounf ur local auto parts store..its almost time for me as well as there rotten so lemme know what u dig up! if there isnt prebent u will have to get straight lines and get a line bender and make ur own

wyldside · Post by **wyldside** » June 5th, 2006, 8:38 pm

Not too many places around here work with metric lines (which is really stupid. The whole world uses metric as it main measuring system). Anyways, Mazda didn't seem very helpful and just said to check around town for someone to bend the lines and do it. Most places are quoting me around the $700 range because of all the labor involved. I think I will just have to suck it up and dish out the dough. I will try to save a little on the labor costs by cracking open any of the siezed nuts and bolts ahead of time and putting anti-sieze compound on them. I'd do it myself but I don't have the proper tools and knowledge. Would need a bender, and something to flare the ends.

happyclown · Post by **happyclown** » June 6th, 2006, 8:31 am

I just replaced a section of line on my other new car (95 talon tsi awd) and it was the line that runs to the rear passengerside. To replace that whole line I was too told that I would have to drop the whole subframe! Then I found out about replacing sectoins....

Go to you local Napa or whatever where you can rent tools and ask them to show you how a double flang tool works. What you do is buy a section of steel line (60 inches was 5 bucks for me) and it comes with special threded ends on it and a double flanged end, you go and cut out your section of bad pipe out (kit should have a mini pipe cutter) and use the double flange tool to flange your lines (make sure you put the special thredded things on first

) then you thred on a special double flange joiner and you mate both sides of the replacement section.

Its kinda a pain in the a-- workin the tool in such a tight place, but you'll be able to bend the line away from the car a little bit to help.

My kit came with a pipe bender, which makes nice smooth bends, but if your careful not to kink, you can bend it with you hands.

If your able to cut out the rotted part and still have enough room to mate a new section this works very well. You'll have to bleed the breaks aftwords then check for leaks. Call a friend and it will be no problem!

wyldside · Post by **wyldside** » June 6th, 2006, 6:29 pm

The problem is that the whole entire line was crap. Not just 1 but all of them. The crack and splits in the outside of the line is just terrible. I had to suck it up and get the work done. I had Midas do it for around $555. Better than the first place but still a lot. Hopefully this isn't something that ever needs to be done again. Better stop driving this car in winter and fix all the bloody rust.

Cy · Post by Cy » June 7th, 2006, 12:56 am

wyldside wrote:The problem is that the whole entire line was crap. Not just 1 but all of them. The crack and splits in the outside of the line is just terrible. I had to suck it up and get the work done. I had Midas do it for around $555. Better than the first place but still a lot. Hopefully this isn't something that ever needs to be done again. Better stop driving this car in winter and fix all the bloody rust.

Underbody Coating / paint... it's like Tar.. and it ROX

wyldside · Post by **wyldside** » June 7th, 2006, 7:39 am

Yeah, I'll have to put some new stuff on, once I fix the bad rust.

wyldside · Post by **wyldside** » June 11th, 2006, 10:49 am

Well after getting the car back from Midas, the rear passenger side wheel was making a terrible grinding noise over bumps and acceleration. I thought maybe they through something out of alignment and my wheel was hitting my struts or something. I finally got around to having a look and you'll never guess what I found.

One of the repair guys dropped their heavey-duty pliers into my suspension and left it there. After some fighting I managed to pull them out. Got rid of the bad sounds, and scored a nice pair of pliers.

Cy · Post by Cy » June 11th, 2006, 11:17 am

goto minus and demand a free oil change voucher

wyldside · Post by **wyldside** » June 11th, 2006, 11:37 pm

I'd rather not let anyone else touch my car period.