Do Stainless Steel Brake Lines Actually Help?

The companies that sell them claim they are for more than looks........I guess because the rubber can bulge as opposed to the others. They do look nice.

i dont know on cars, but on bikes, they give a lot better feedback and modulation of the braking. but those are small systems and the front brakes are modulated with a finger or two. my big ol' leg would probably not know the difference.

but it would be a good upgrade if your old lines look like poo. even new rubber lines would probably help in that regard.

just my ramblings.

I just got through installing them on my car this weekend. I noticed a definite difference in the firmness of the pedal. You can modulate pressure more easily. However, given your description of your braking problems, I'd guess you have something else wrong with the system. Either air still in the lines or a fading master cylinder if the soft pedal comes and goes. I wouldn't mess around with that - even if you have to borrow money, get your brakes fixed.

On racers (real racers - without ABS; couldn't resist), the lines are essential because if you're gonna threshold brake, you have to be able to 'feel' what the tire is doing through the pedal. The stainless lines provide much better pedal feel. On the street, they're nice to have, they improve feel (if all else is working correctly) - but you won't stop any quicker. Given that mine had 22 year old rubber lines on it, mine needed to be replaced anyway. And the stainless lines weren't that much more than new replacement lines. Just be sure you understand what you're doing on the install. All kinds of air will get in the system on a brake line install. Further, if you're not careful - you can run the master cylinder dry - which is a big no-no as many can only be bench bled (off the car). So whatever you do, don't let the master cylinder fluid get to the bottom of the resevoir. I had to get some bolts of the right size to use as temporary plugs to stop the leaking while I switched lines over. And mine's more complex anyway as the car has 4-piston calipers on the front and a safety braking circuit which means that I have 2-stainless lines on each side.

I've got a pic of them on the car - shoot me an email address and I'll shoot you a pic.

well rubber hoses do expand more than steel braid. the logic is there. if u got the brakes goin off. minus well spend the cash if u got it. if anything u got nice looking break lines

Anyone else have any info on the stainless lines, I am wondering if they are worth the money for a street driven car?

Will you notice a firmer pedal at all times, or just during hard braking?

Man - this is an old thread...

Michael Yount said:

I just got through installing them on my car this weekend. I noticed a definite difference in the firmness of the pedal. You can modulate pressure more easily. However, given your description of your braking problems, I'd guess you have something else wrong with the system. Either air still in the lines or a fading master cylinder if the soft pedal comes and goes. I wouldn't mess around with that - even if you have to borrow money, get your brakes fixed.

On racers (real racers - without ABS; couldn't resist), the lines are essential because if you're gonna threshold brake, you have to be able to 'feel' what the tire is doing through the pedal. The stainless lines provide much better pedal feel. On the street, they're nice to have, they improve feel (if all else is working correctly) - but you won't stop any quicker. Given that mine had 22 year old rubber lines on it, mine needed to be replaced anyway. And the stainless lines weren't that much more than new replacement lines. Just be sure you understand what you're doing on the install. All kinds of air will get in the system on a brake line install. Further, if you're not careful - you can run the master cylinder dry - which is a big no-no as many can only be bench bled (off the car). So whatever you do, don't let the master cylinder fluid get to the bottom of the resevoir. I had to get some bolts of the right size to use as temporary plugs to stop the leaking while I switched lines over. And mine's more complex anyway as the car has 4-piston calipers on the front and a safety braking circuit which means that I have 2-stainless lines on each side.

I've got a pic of them on the car - shoot me an email address and I'll shoot you a pic.

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How many miles were on the old ones you replaced?

I'm a fan of Russell and Patton.

By the way the Julian date today is 292 if y'all are unfamiliar w the term Julian date, do a search. Now as for brakes:
New performance enthusiast listen up! When you read a review on "performance" brake components such as pads and stainless lines, try not to buy into too much of the hype.
If your desire is to build a performance street car and you're not upgrading the parts that actually provide the clamping force go the local parts store and purchase some ceramic pads and get some oem lines. Before y'all start in with the whole less fad and better pedal feel etc hear me out. Say you go on X performance parts website and you look at a set of popular brand x pads and you decide to read a customer review. It'll probably read something like this, "these are a great improvement over oem pads." But here's the thing they replaced old worn out pads with new pads and the same applies with the stainless brake lines, old with new. Of course it's going to stop better, they're new parts vs the old pads and more than likely 20+ year old lines.
Now for the brake fade rebuttal: To those of you who've recently had a brake job who's experiencing fading? C'mon guys you're not going to be going 0 to 100 to 0 stop light to stop light. Even if you have a weekend warrior street/strip car you're more than likely not going to be pulling in the reins at 180 mph and even if you were your brakes will more than likely be cooled off by the time it's your time to line up again. If you're not changing the calipers etc the car is still going to grab the rotor with the same force as before. When you step up to a "performance" pad all you're doing is going to a coarser material and that coarser material really isn't going to give you any real world noticeable difference vs a new set of oem pads. If you autocross or do road courses the "performance" pads might help some but I doubt all that much. I'm guessing that if one is serious into road course racing upgrading to a bigger brake kit, calipers and such is a must.
So the moral of the story is while performance pads, stainless lines, and I'll even throw in fancy slotted rotors, look cool on forum signatures and in person, they really aren't worth the money if you're trying to make your car stop faster. Maybe just maybe if one was to compare a new set of house brand pads vs a new set of brand x performance pad you'd see a couple feet shorter and I kinda think that's being generous. If you're not changing the calipers get a set of parts store replacement pads, if you don't like dust go with ceramics. Nike's won't make you run faster and jump higher if you're using the same ole pair of legs. K&N used to claim up to 25 hp gain with their drop in filter.Use logic when buying parts not whats popular or what manufactures claim.

So my Nike shox werent an upgrade?

madspeed said:

So my Nike shox werent an upgrade?

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Nah, but they did make my wife taller than me.

90lxwhite said:

When you step up to a "performance" pad all you're doing is going to a coarser material and that coarser material really isn't going to give you any real world noticeable difference vs a new set of oem pads. If you autocross or do road courses the "performance" pads might help some but I doubt all that much.

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Don't quit your day job. There's a hell of a lot more difference in pads than just "courseness", and true performance pads make a HUGE difference in a true performance situation, where lots of heat is involved. Like the difference between sailing through the gravel trap at 90 mph or making the turn safely instead. So there are big differences in fade resistance and rotor-friendliness, and beyond that, they have different coefficients of friction, and even different levels of initial bite and release that can be used as a tuning aid.

That said, the thread is about braided stainless lines, and the best thing about them is abrasion resistance, for when they rub against tires or wheels. Any change in brake pedal firmness is practically a placebo effect, and there is absolutely zero stopping distance gain to be had from them.

I have them on my car but couldn't tell you if my "better" brakes were from the SS lines or the 04 Cobra calipers I installed. IMO they are doing their job damn good. FWIW, I ride motorcycles and the first upgrade I do is upgrade the lines to SS. Definitely an upgrade over stock for the bikes so why wouldn't they be an upgrade for the car? But wuddoIknow