I'm in the middle of changing rotors, brake lines and pad to get my E3 ready for the track this spring and cannot remove the uppermost end of the front brake line. A major amount of penetrant has been used to no avail. Is there a secret? I'm afraid that I will break the hard line connection from its screw-on end. What is the correct tool for holding the uppermost connector from rotating with the brake line connector, if any. Is there a method to removing the clip from the sheetmetal mount between the two lines? I am now officially stuck and this is only the first wheel.
Let the penetrant (NOT WD-40, I hope) do its thing while you go shopping for some flare nut wrenches (Sears, Lowes, HD) . They allow you to slip the wrench over the hard line and still have good twisting power on the nut. Don't use an open-end wrench! Once the line is loose & removed, go slow when attaching the new line. They always seem to be easy to cross-thread.
+1 Flare nut wrenches work great! They helped me remove lines on my 84 a couple of summers ago with no problems. I like craftsman. Lifetime guarantee and not too expensive. I would of course prefer snap-on, but I have to limit my purchases on that truck.
Make sure you get metric, of course. Not sure about E36, on an E30 the brake line fittings are 11mm, although E36 might well be the same. Get two wrenches so you have one for each fitting you're trying to separate. Consider getting longer box-end and flare-nut wrenches in the same size in addition to the standard lengths. The extra leverage could be useful, but sometime you may need the shorter ones for clearance. If you are reasonably confident you can break the fittings free, AND you are replacing the brake line, you could cut the brake line to get a box-end on the fitting. Obvious downside is that if you can't break free the fitting, you're stuck and unable to drive the car. Well.. you could drive, you just couldn't stop... very well.
+1 re flare nut wrenches. For what it's worth, I've replaced 3 out of 6 of the brake hoses on my 318i. I've done 3 wheels, but the coupling at the 4th wheel just will not come loose. I will have to destroy the flats to remove it. I have already bought the replacement piece ($8) of brake tubing that runs along the rear subframe and I am just waiting for a few open hours when I feel like messing with the brake system (yuck) again. I can get the connection loose between the subframe brake tube and inboard brake hose so I can easily replace the tubing as well as the last outboard hose. That will get the four wheel hoses done. I tell this war story to emphasize that these things are tricky. Furthermore, I have no idea how to replace the two inboard hoses that connect the subframe tubing to the chassis tubing. They are so buried under the subframe and drivetrain, that there is no way I can get a wrench on the flats. The consequence of stripping those unions or twisting the tubing is high, because to replace the tubing on the chassis would mean having to drop the fuel tank to get access. I'm going to live with doing 4 out of 6 until I have a reason to drop my subframe (shudder).
Thanks for brake info. Thanks for all the feedback. As it turns out, I have a set of these wrences. Live and learn, now I know what they're for. My luck I won't have the right size and will make another trip to the NAPA store. Thanks again.
