Brake Hose Options

[bmweerman]

Was riding home last night and when coming off the freeway rear brakes went pedal to the metal with no effect.

 

On arriving home found there was no discernable fluid in the system...filled her up and as I was pumping the fluid in I noticed a growing puddle on the garage floor. Turns out rear brake hose has a nasty leak right where the fitting goes on the caliper end.

 

Called AS cycles for a part...they were busy...never called back as they said they would. (typical unfortunately)

 

The ever trusty folks at Bobs BMW looked for the part and said there were none in the US...no worries they are going to get me a stainless after market hose...rockin!

 

Here's the question...my RT is a commuter and the fams life gets pinched when I have the truck...anybody know of a temporary fix to keep me on the road while I await the arrival of the shiny new part?

 

Thanks

 

Cameron

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

I went to Spiegler stainless lines front and rear a couple of years ago, and I still have the original lines in a box somewhere in my garage. They've got prolly 70K miles on 'em, but still worked fine when I removed them.

 

If you're interested in the rear brake line, PM me a shipping address.

[Eckhard Grohe]

Mitch:

Are the Speiglers worth the effort?? Do they improve the feel? Do they last longer than the rubber variety? Any issues installing them?

 

Thanks.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Are the Speiglers worth the effort?? Do they improve the feel? Do they last longer than the rubber variety? Any issues installing them?

 

I replaced everything between the hard ABS lines and the calipers, front and rear. Had a problem with fitment on the short lines between the front calipers and the junction block on the front fork. Each of those lines was too long by about 3/4"; the problem seemed to be the banjo fitting on the end of each line, which had a very long inflexible neck. I sent them back and had them shortened. They fit OK afterwards, but you've really got to flex/stress the lines when removing the calipers for a tire change. When I posted about this a couple of years ago, someone else had this problem, and another person did not; I'm not sure what all that means.

 

They do improve lever feel, once you get done purging/bleeding the new lines (which was a lot of work). I don't know whether they last any longer than stock.

 

If I had it to do all over again:

 

-I would not bother replacing the rear; it's got a stiff enough feel with the stock line.

 

-I would not bother replacing the short lines to the front calipers. A lot of hassle for not much gain in lever feel.

 

-I would just replace the two long parts of the front brake system: lever to ABS-in hardline, and ABS-out hardline to front fork. This would give the best rate-of-return on your money and effort.