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Last year I replaced all brake pipes right up to the ABS unit under the bonnet. The only original pipes are now under the bonnet (ABS to master cylinder etc.). I got all the bits from http://www.automec.co.uk. I bought their "Universal Light" flaring tool I think it was, which was around £100 but it's a lovely piece of equipment which makes great beautiful flares on your pipes. It's a lot of money but even if I only used it once it's paid for itself. You can get hand-held flaring tools much cheaper but in my experience, the force needed to make excellent flares is too great for a hand held tool. The Automec flaring tools are used in a vice. Hand held tools allow you to do a pipe in situ though, but I don't think that's really necessary or advisable. I bought the normal copper pipe from them. Some people prefer the copper nickel as opposed to the standard copper as it's harder, but that just makes it much harder to bend, so I opted fro the standard copper. It's advisable to get a bending tool too from the same website, as although you can easily bend copper by hand, there are places you'll want a tight bend. Their basic bending tool isn't very expensive. You may want to also buy the deburring tool to clean up the cut pipe. Oh yes, you'll need a pipe cutter too. I got one from a website that a guy on here started I think. The name escapes me, but any adjustable copper pipe cutter will do. I think B&Q even sell them. My original brake pipes failed the MoT and I'm actually glad the guy did it. I really like the MoT guy who does my car. He really likes the car, squeezes us (me and my dad) in to his schedule when he recognises the car on the phone and doesn't fail it on trivia that you can't prove otherwise. When I saw the pipes I was actually shocked. Also, my brake hoses were bulging at points. If you're going to replace your brake lines and your hoses are old too, then I would just get the full set of 6. I got mine from GSF but others prefer Goodridge braided hoses. Incidentally, you've got virtually no chance of removing the unions from the old pipe anyway, as they will be corroded on. The best way to remove the old pipes is with bolt cutters. Try to catch the fluid with newspaper. Fitting the new pipes around the car is surprisingly easy. Some bits are a bit tough because you have to get it behind heat shields for the exhaust, but be systematic and it's no problem. You may have to use cable ties to secure them to places as the original plastic clips will likely have broken off. It's a good idea to 'seal' the brake reservoir with cling film, then put the lid on as this helps to minimise leakage and prevent the complete emptying of the system. Another tip is to make a sort of plug with one of your new unions and a hammered down small piece of copper pipe (flared at the union, obviously) and place this temporarily in the ABS unit for the particular pipe you are replacing. This again helps to minimise leakage and air ingress. You need to watch with the unions, as most are the standard M10 male unions for German cars, but one of them is an M12. I'm not quite sure why this is but I think it's to ensure that you fit the pipes back in the same order. So you'll need to buy M10 unions and a couple of M12 (if you want to make an M12 temporary plug too) unions from Automec. All in all, I replaced all four brake lines right back to the ABS unit, all new brass unions (lovely quality), bought a brake flaring tool, cutter, bending tool and deburrer, with new copper pipe and new flexible hoses for probably around £150-170. Something like that. Most of the cost is the tools, but you'll always have them. Also, when you make the flares up, take care to make the right one. VWs use what I think they call a single flare, whereas the tool can make single or double. Basically, just read the instruction carefully and compare your flare with those on the original pipes and you can't go wrong. It's very important to remove burrs though before flaring as they WILL leak if you don't do this. Oh, another thing. You will likely want to replace the brake pressure compensation valve which is attached to the rear suspension and reduces braking pressure on the rear as the car tilts forward (to prevent rear wheel lock under heavy braking). Mine was original and was totally gubbed and just about seized. If you're replacing all your pipes then just get a new one of these. They are not that expensive if bought on the Internet. Be careful to note which pipes went where (there are two inlets and two outlets). After bleeding the air out, check very carefully for fluid leaks. New fluid is harder to see because it's clean. I had a very minor leak which was cured by tightening it up. I was worried about over tightening them and deforming the flare. Just remembered, you might want to get a brake pipe spanner. I'd buy one from Halfords for this. The Automec one is very cheap and not really up to it. One more thing, the hardest bit with the fronts is probably getting it through the sidewall of the engine bay. There's a rubber grommet that you need to remember to put on the pipe BEFORE doing the final flare. Likewise you need to remember to put the unions on the pipe BEFORE doing the last flare, otherwise you'll need to cut the pipe again to get them on! Aligning the pipe through to the engine bay, with this grommet such that it doesn't rub and follows the rough path of the old pipe can be tricky. Lasty(!) the size of pipe is 3/16".