Do Stainless Steel Brake Lines Actually Help?

MFE92 said:

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.

Click to expand...

MFE92 said:

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.

Click to expand...

MFE92 said:

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.

Click to expand...

Noobz347 said:

This got me thinking a little so bare with me:

I have a 2001 Suburban that I pull a 33 foot camper with. This camper BARELY falls into gross towing weight of the Suburban when it's loaded with the items necessary for a weekend away. There are a couple of things that I had to do to the Suburban to make the entire affair a one-hand on the wheel affair when connected to the camper.

1. Replace OEM hitch with Reese hitch rated for more than the truck is.
2. Air bags in the rear-end coil springs (tongue weight on this camper is more than previous 31' camper but overall weight is roughly the same).
3. Install stainless steel brake lines because over-time after a good brake workout, I could get the brake pedal near or to the floor while braking going down hill.

Now I searched the interwebz for a bit of time about increasing braking power over stock. After all, the Suburban is just a half ton truck.

The hitch was peace of mind because I don't trust the OEM to be strong enough. There were reports of the OEM hitch breaking off between the hitch frame and the receiver. Versus taking chances, I spent the $180 ish dollars for a hitch that will never be THE issue.

The airbags made a night and day difference when cruising down the road. No more hitting the bump stops, no more rear end sway, no more nail-biting lane changes. Just a nice easy cruise and an overall well mannered rig.

My brakes and rotors are not that old and the process of going larger was more involved than swapping rotors, pads, and calipers. I'd seen a few folks talk about SS lines and stock brakes and most raved about the difference. I can tell ya.... It made a significant difference when putting the woes on that camper. The pedal now stopped way above the floor and the feedback was a lot more precise. What's more is that now I could lock up the brakes and the best that I can tell, it locks them up at the same pedal height each and every time.

This MUST translate into some similar effect when riding and braking the car very hard.

As a final precaution on this upgrade, I flushed out all of the old brake fluid and replaced with new. I had visions in my head of the brake fluid boiling due to water content and hard braking.

My test bed for the brakes was a very steep, winding road coming from Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas. I nearly chit myself while coming down that hill the time that the trailer brakes were maladjusted. The truck didn't have the braking power to bring the camper to a stop on that hill by itself. I ended up using the hand brake switch on the controller to bring everything back into line. The after effect on the same hill is that it is still a chore to slow everything down. The difference is that it does slow everything down and I can get the rig to come to a complete stop going down hill without trailer brakes.


I think there's more to it than just a placebo effect. Though we're talking about a huge difference in weight, I can't imagine that expanding brake lines on even a 3200 lb car means nothing at all especially when that braking system is tasked.

Click to expand...

Mustang5L5 said:

HOWEVER, i just bled the brakes on my daily driver this weekend and noticed the same result.

Click to expand...

elarm1 said:

Those who say it doesn't make a difference are seriously mistaken. They do work. I just did a ss line upgrade on a motorcycle. Went from whole hand slow stops with NEW fluid to two finger indos. Same with my everyday 07 Camry v6. Went from mushy pedal even with NEW fluid to firm quick braking. They work... Do your research

Click to expand...

MFE92 said:

You're right, none of us have done any research at all LOL.

Click to expand...

MFE92 said:

Bingo! You just hit on why people feel like stainless lines make for stiffer pedals. They bled the brakes in the process.

Now let's bring some tech.

First, just for a frame of reference, pad material itself can compress between 2% and 5% of its thickness depending on how hot it is. If you have 0.25 inches of pad, compressing 5% under load, that's .0125 inches of compression at the pad. Translated through the pedal at the SN95's 3.5:1 pedal ratio means pad compression alone can easily be worth 0.044 inches of pedal travel. 44 thousandths of movement is hardly perceptible in the human realm, but it's there.

Now, a while back, VintageVenom on the Corral was kind enough to contact some brake line manufacturers, get some info from them, and do some calculations, which check out with anyone who cares to duplicate them. tldr version: The difference in pedal travel of .014 inch between stock rubber lines and braided stainless lines, at the highest panic-stop pressures. That's 14 thousandths, which is less than a third of what's there just due to pad deflection alone, and there's not a human on this planet that can correlate such a minute difference as improved pedal feel. Placebo effect, confirmation bias, call it what you will, but the braided stainless lines are hardly contributing anything to brake feel all by themselves.

http://forums.corral.net/forums/9748994-post12.html

Click to expand...

elarm1 said:

Those who say it doesn't make a difference are seriously mistaken. They do work. I just did a ss line upgrade on a motorcycle. Went from whole hand slow stops with NEW fluid to two indos braking. They work... Do your research

Click to expand...

90lxwhite said:

We should track down an old motortrend and see what stock 60-0 times were off the showroom floor and then one of you fellas with stainless lines, hawk hps or rival brand, and slotted rotors but with stock calipers can do.

Click to expand...

MFE92 said:

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.

Click to expand...