Pale Rider
Legendary Member
Mine, of course, is so old it's AF.
It has two ends, but if I recall one size was almost universal.
Brake pipes on cars.
- Thread starter davidphilips
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Mine, of course, is so old it's AF.
It has two ends, but if I recall one size was almost universal.
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
Brake pipe spanners are still needed for changing calipers or flexible brake lines, even if you never touch the rigid brake lines. Normal spanners make it too easy to round off the nuts.
D
Deleted member 26715
Guest
Metric 10mm one end, 11mm the other, Imperial 7/16th one end 1/2inch the other, the 11mm & 7/16th are near as damn it the same size.
But the one that really gets to me is the size of the bleed valves, why to they make them so small, 7mm some of them, they also make them out of cheese, I invariably get the blow torch on them now even before trying to open them, get them hot, tap them with a hammer then try to open.
Illaveago
Guru
- Location
- Chippenham,Wiltshire.
Years ago my Cavalier failed it's MOT on rusty brake pipes . I was working in a garage at the time so I cleaned them up and applied grease and took it for a re -test. It failed . I took it to another MOT station who passed it on the brake pipes but failed it on the power steering rack moving ! I was getting a bit angry by then but had a look . They were right ! When someone turned the steering I could see the bulkhead start to move ! The spot welds on one side of the bulkhead where it joined to the inner wing had broken . I had to remove the power steering rack , interior trim and weld up the bulkhead. It passed its MOT but I never replaced those rusty brake pipes and I had the car for years . I'm glad I took it to the other garage as they had found a serious fault .
I have owned brake nut spanners, essential in some situations, having repaired things for a living most of my life, I have cut slots in substantial ring spanners to make the same type of spanner for similar purposes.
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
The tester at our place used to clean surface rust of a section of pipe just to reassure himself the rust wasn't any deeper.
Different times in that nearly every MoT customer was a relatively long term customer of the garage, which meant the tester knew the car already.
KneesUp
Guru
This is all well and good if you can see the rust. One of the pipes on one of my cars came unclipped out of sight, and the clip wore away the protective coating, so the steel pipe had rusted.
I found out about it when it burst when I had to slam the brakes on. Fortunately it had leather seats so the interior clean up was relatively straightforward ...
It was taken to a local garage by the RAC and had a copper replacement fitted.
I found out about it when it burst when I had to slam the brakes on. Fortunately it had leather seats so the interior clean up was relatively straightforward ...
It was taken to a local garage by the RAC and had a copper replacement fitted.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
In around 45 years or more of driving, I've never had an advisory for brake pipes let alone needed to fit any.
That said, I'd have a go
That said, I'd have a go
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Which on the face of it seems sensible, yet testers are not actually allowed to do that.
They can use the approved corrosion assessment tool - most definitely not a screwdriver - to assess structural corrosion, and that's it.
Landsurfer
Veteran
We used to make brake pipes to pattern for any one that would visit our trade counter .... We had the skills and the latest equipment .... then one day a customer sued us for poor quality brake pipes after a brake failure and crash of his car .... This actually went to court !!
The driver never mentioned he was drunk when he crashed , and yes the brake pipes where broken as a result of the crash ... the Police report showed we where not to blame and we got our costs from the idiot, rich idiot.
We stopped doing them, the annual income did not make the risk worth while .... not our loss, just all the local guys doing their own maintenance ...
The driver never mentioned he was drunk when he crashed , and yes the brake pipes where broken as a result of the crash ... the Police report showed we where not to blame and we got our costs from the idiot, rich idiot.
We stopped doing them, the annual income did not make the risk worth while .... not our loss, just all the local guys doing their own maintenance ...
Ah so they did rust. Always wondered, had 2 205s for 3 years each. The first after it's warranty ran out I took for servicing to a non main detailer garage and was told the brake pipes needed changing
The second always went to the main dealer and no mention made.
Fastpedaller
Über Member
- Location
- Norfolk
Want cupro nickel brake pipes.......... Best supplier I've found https://www.automec.co.uk
Fastpedaller
Über Member
- Location
- Norfolk
Wow! That was fortunate........ the best time to find a brake fault is when the car is stationary
Illaveago
Guru
- Location
- Chippenham,Wiltshire.
I keep reading the title as Bag pipes on cars ! 
