I have a 05 E46 and have a little money left to spend on the car as it goes in for a few new upgrades and found SS clutch lines on a few sites at a surprisingly low cost. But unfortunately the descriptions failed to adequately answer my questions about the effects of the lines. For those that have installed stainless steel clutch lines, do these make a difference at all? What does the difference feel/perform like? Also is this a difficult part to install? I won't be installing it myself and I am friendly with my mechanic but I don't want to pay $100 for the install on a $25-$30 part. The car will be having other parts installed when it goes in. Im doing a few new upgrades including a BMW Performance SSK with Redline MTL and I want to get the most out of my new parts. Thanks for the help in advance.
I can't imagine that it makes a noticeable difference. You don't modulate the clutch release pressure like you do your brakes. It is always the same and is probably well within the design parameters of the OEM flexible line. Even on 20-30-year-old BMWs with upwards of a half million miles, I have never ever heard of one breaking or failing in any way. That said, it should be a no-brainer to install with the car on a lift. Spend your money on something that matters ... like KaleCo's cross-drilled brake lines: (Click the pic)
Haha, oh KaleCo, so funny. I wonder why companies like Turner and UUC sell something with no apparent benefit. Guess Ill have to find a better way to spend some car money.
For the brakes the flexible line is also know as a "brake hose" (see realoem). The truth is that the "stainless steel lines" are really rubber hoses surrounded by braided stainless steel sheathing. The sheathing offers some abrasion protection, but the reality is that its mostly ornamental. The hoses do swell and crack over time (decades) so need to be replaced. For the brakes, there is an improvement (actually more a restoration to feeling like new) when the brake hoses are changed. Aftermarket stainless steel sheathed hoses are no more expensive than plain OEM rubber ones and they look kinda cool so people (like me) have switched to them. Like CR said, there would be no performance improvement replacing the clutch hose unless you damaged it.
Hmmm, really? Because I have seen many warnings not to get cheap ebay lines that are like that but to get the real SS lines. I thought there were two different kinds, the scams (what you are talking about) and the real thing. What you said goes against everything I have read and heard about SS brake lines. Can anyone confirm this?
http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/show_category.asp?txtsearchParamCat=Brakes#BrakeLines Maybe, but there's a bit more to the quality lines, such as the teflon lining as mentioned in Turner's description, which offers improved braking performance when the brakes get hot, as they do during track driving. Your calipers, pads, rotors, wheels, hubs, bearings (anything attached to the wheels & brakes) become part of the brake system's heat transfer and dissipation, including the brake fluid and lines. The brakes get hot, transferring heat into the brake fluid and lines. Stock rubber lines will get more flexible when hot, meaning that they suffer some swelling and some of the brake force applied ends up going into some brake line swell instead of brake piston pressure, and the feel underfoot is a spongy brake pedal. The teflon-reinforced stainless-covered lines handle the high-temperature conditions better by limiting, as best at they're able, the tendency for the lines to swell, and help to keep the brake pedal feeling firmer, longer. So, yeah, they're kinda like brake-pedal viagra. That is not to imply that if you add ss brake lines, you can't overheat the brakes; au contraire - regardless of how many improvements one adds, the brakes will start to fade if brake system temps get high enough. Doesn't take long either, you could likely induce brakes to overheat in 1/2 a lap or so on a hot day at a tight racetrack with a lot of turns requiring heavy braking and short straights that don't offer enough time for the brakes to cool between turns.
Kaleco is a gag website with fake products, take a look at their other stuff, pretty entertaining. Thanks, thats a really good description. That definitely helps my understanding of them.
I can vouch that the blinker fluid works really well! Next I am going to buy the Radiator Insulator. My radiators are loosing way too much heat.
No. In theory, the air is in equilibrium with the fluid until the fluid pressure changes. So air is only introduced when you step off the pedal and there's slight suction. However, air is lighter than brake fluid, so all the bubbles go to the top of the system, through the master cylinder, and end up harmlessly on top of the fluid in the reservoir. Really ...
So the only way for air to actually get in and stay in the system is for air to be introduced from the top, from the master cylinder side? I.E.; brake fluid reservoir empty and then topping off?
He's just messing with you. The cross drilled brake lines are fake, so is kaleco, and his explanation is also a joke thats why he said "Really..." at the end.
Don't buy that crap! I happen to know it's a cheap coal derivative by-product, not the top-quality synthetic blinker fluid that Kaleco sells. Ohioans are always tyrying to pass that stuff off in hope that the state soft coal industry can bounce back.
r-o-f-l! Well.. yeah, but! Botond, don't forget that Wisconsonian blinker fluid is diluted with soy milk even though it should be fortified with 100% Holstein moo-sauce!
