Brake line replacing

[dubbprince 0]

hi guys...and minimal girls.

Slight problem and making me think twice about this certain corrado i bought!

since owning the corrado from november when i turned 21 i've done the following:

 

November- i paid £90 for a full engine flush and oil change.

in december i had a slight crash into a curb due to no grip on front tyres...RESULT:

1 bent wishbone and bolts to match £50.

 

january- I crashed again, this time in snow into a BMW, then 2 weeks later into a Vectra GSI which just bent his centre section as my bumper pushed his exhaust off its brackets and under his car! RESULT:

pranged passenger wing. Replacement bought from BettySwollox (cheers!) £30

Spray job will be £50.

Then centre section for Vectra: £110.

 

February- Replaced all 4 tyres using a mate of a mate. 2 Avons and 2 falkens! £100.

 

March- Went in to have following done:

1. all discs and pads replaced.

2. 2x handbrake cables replaced.

2 2x rear wheel bearings.

3. 1 seized caliper replaced.

COST: £310.

 

MOT this week FAILED!

RESULT:

all 6 brake lines need replacing due to corrosion.

1 ball joint on passenger side has excessive play (maybe due to crash into curb).

COST: £150

 

That on top of buying the car for £2800...its just pure bad luck i swear.

rant over...

 

Basically i dont have £150 and MOT is booked in for next week.

I'd like to replace all brake lines myself. and the ball joint i can do myself i hope too.

 

Any suggestions or how to go about this work?

Anyone have copies of the certain bentley manual i could use please?

Thanks and sorry...once this work is done, the car should be mint!

:roll:

Sanj. :D

[Scott 0]

Most of the problems have been down to accidents therefore you cannot blame the car....

 

The other faults are simply the symptoms of buying a 13yr old car....

 

Stick with it - I had a few problems with my old 16V for the first year I had it then it sailed through the next THREE MOT's without a problem and was mega reliable....

 

People forget when buying an older car such as the Corrado that there will simply be some work needed doing and to budget for it.... or take it out of amount of cash you have to spend on car.

 

Replacing the brake lines and the ball joint is easy enough although mucho swearing will result from doing the brake lines yourself!!!

 

Grab a Haynes manual that covers the 16V MK2 Golf and get stuck in :D - should cost you about £50 then for parts.

[dubbprince 0]

where do i get the brake lines from. My dad told me they are mild steel ones, whereas i was thinking they'd be the rubber hoses that come out of the caliper...The ball joint i can do, but is there a nut at the top of it...because i can't see it.

I can see the two nuts and bolts that hold it onto the wishbone.

 

I'm blaming the car anymore...its my fault i know, if i drove slower or had the work checked out i'd be ok. I just didn't think of budgeting on top of what i paid for the car, i just presumed the car would be pretty mint for that much...as my mums rocco has had 2 previous owners and her car hasn't cost anything to run! just 1 tyre, cambelt and rear brake shoes thats all in the whole 6yrs my mums had it.

 

Does anyone have a diagram or a step by step on how to remove and refit new brake lines please??

If its too difficult to do on here, i'm on msn as mailto:'[email protected]'

 

Anyone know where to get them cheap?

 

Cheers scott!

Sanjay.

[andycowuk 0]

hi guys...and minimal girls.

 

What about the more generously preportioned or even athletic girls?

 

i recomend u get your brake lines from Pitstop performance....the ones steve gets made up are better quality than the more expensive goodridge ones IMHO.

 

I can see the two nuts and bolts that hold it onto the wishbone.

 

 

There are 3 bolts in the bottom ball joint......is this the source of your excessive play? or did the tester specify the joint was worn out?

Where the b/j goes into the hub there is a bolt and nut that go perpendicular to the ball joint, you need undo the nut, slide the bolt out, and then as Mr Haynes would say...it just eases out of the hub.

 

The flexi hoses are not so easy....specially the left rear one...iIt is a total pig to get into.

If the union nut comes away from the old flexy nicely, then u are laughing, What I sometimes do if the union nut is in bad shape, is cut the flexi in half, so you can rotate the flexi rather than the union nut which often bonds itself to the copper. Once the flexi is out the way, u can work on freeing the union nut from the copper more easily.

 

Enjoy

 

(as I have been doing other stuff at the same time as writting this, I bet some one else like Henny or Kevhaywire have updated the post, you have done the work and had your car mot'd)

 

** Edit - I was first!

[Henny 0]

i recomend u get your brake lines from Pitstop performance....the ones steve gets made up are better quality than the more expensive goodridge ones IMHO.

 

I think that the 6 pipes that the car's failed on are the steel ones, not the rubber flexi hoses... :? Is that correct Sanjay?

 

If it is, then the pipe and ends can be bought from most good motorfactors and a tool for making the flanges on the end of the pipes to hold the ends on isn't expensive either...

 

Be warned though, they can be a pig to do and to get looking nice and straight as the metal pipe comes in a roll... 8)

 

Also, you can now get a non-steel pipe which means that once you've replaced it, that's it, you never have to do it again 'cos it won't corrode... 8)

 

(as I have been doing other stuff at the same time as writting this, I bet some one else like Henny or Kevhaywire have updated the post, you have done the work and had your car mot'd)

 

** Edit - I was first!

 

I've been out working in Liverpool since 4:30 am... sorry to have let you down! ;)

[andycowuk 0]

I think that the 6 pipes that the car's failed on are the steel ones, not the rubber flexi hoses... Is that correct Sanjay?

 

The solid hoses on the c (at least mine anyway) were copper, and there are 8 of them, abs unit to front flexi, abs unit to bias adjuster, bias adjuster to beam, beam to caliper x2

 

The new stuff you are talking about is much harder than the steel or copper ones, and is a bugger to flare and bend. The ends from vw are £2 each, but seem to be a harder metal than cheap ones from the motor factor.

[dubbprince 0]

ok sorry for the late reply. After reading all of your posts...I believe the pipes that need replacing are the ones Henny is going on about and the rest of you guys...its the mild steel ones that have corroded.

I take it halfords would just have the relevant brake lines in a roll? or mcganns, motorcity or motorworld?

 

Not sure what these lines are made of, but they do seem very stiff...would anyone have a picture of the joints and do they just come undone easy and i buy the ends from VAG?

 

As for the flexi brake lines, i'll check out pitstop...but i saw some on http://www.rallydesign.com, theyre about £30 for the golf mk2 16v kit (6 flexi s/steel hoses).

 

i'll check out the ball joint...all that the MOT paper said was "Excessive play in near side front bottom ball joint"

When i replaced the wishbone, the joint looked new still and that was literally 3months+ ago..i'll check the bolts haven't come loose, but i may replace it as its only £6 from GSF.

 

Its says "NEAR SIDE AND OFF SIDE FRONT PIPES CORRODED"

"FROM LIMITER VALVE TO NEAR SIDE AND OFFSIDE REAR FLEXI HOSE BRAKE PIPES CORRODED"

 

what do you guys think to that?

Thanks.

Sanjay.

[andycowuk 0]

u can get the solid break lines and the union nuts from dealer. they are not overly priced. You will also need some little spring clips.

 

The golf front flexis are too short, you will need a corrado kit. The seat on the goodridge hose kit was wrong too.

 

I got my flaring set from machine mart.

 

When you take the old pipe off, try not to bend it, then you have a guide to shape the new one. I also recoment having a heat gun or small blowtourch, just to heat up the end of the pipe prior to flairing, makes it a bit easier.

[dubbprince 0]

so equipment needed:

 

ball joint breaker.

ball joint and bolts.

 

pipe flaring and bending kit, piping and fittings from VAG?

If i want to change flexi hoses for stainless steel ones then which ones can be bought cheap enough and bolt straight on?

Also a brake bleeding kit and brake fluid too (any ideas on which DOT version)

 

Spanners, adjustable and blow torch etc i have already...pateints i dont ahahha.

Its great that you guys are adding me to MSN, its really good to know theres ppl out there that can spare the time to help. :lol:

Cheers!

Sanjay.

[bigtimeg60 0]

hi sanjay its andy. I was talking to a tech guy from vw motorsport based in milton keynes and he seems to rekon puting on the braided brake hoses with drilled vented discs and he did say which pads but really cant remember hes gonna do the work for at the workshop on the qt if you know what i mean so ill let you know if it makes abig impact so you or anyone else can give it a go :lol:

[GazzaG60 0]

i did mine a few weeks ago for the MOT

 

the lines are not available from VW. they make them when they need them for a job.

 

i had to replace the rubber hoses and the 2 rear brake lines to the wheels (basically all of the back section.

 

you need the pipe flaring bit that you put in the vice to make the hoses. the fittings are more or less standard for all cars theres 2 or 3 sizes.

 

i did a full set of braided hises at the same time. the most time consuming bit is getting the old ones apart and bleeding up.

 

you need i think 10,11 and 13 and 14mm brake spanners. some are in a bitch of a place to get to too.try to tighten slightly to brake the seal before trying to crack them open or they easily round.

 

shape the new line around the old one once its off. make up a straight line of 760mm for both sides.

 

i did the manual pump for the brakes. i had no pedal feel for a day or 2 but now its better tha it used to be. i also bought a brake bleeder from automotiveproducts in the US the uk kits are poo and you dont need lots of pressure around 10psi.

 

i am yet to try the powerbleeder as my brakes are good but i will have a go and see if i get any improvements.

[h100vw 0]

The lengths of teh pipes you need are liste don ETKA. If you have someone local with it you could get them made up and save the expense of buying the tool. Thing is next year you'll have to do the rest.

 

Personally I would get a set of new flexy hoses, braided or new rubber ones. Make up a full set of rigid lines and be done with it.

 

I have had to do 2 cars this winter for MOTs and its not that bad. If you have new flexy hoses bought, you don't have to be so careful taking the old ones off.

 

Also it looks good at the test station when you go back. If you do the lot. Unfortunately not cheap but by buying a few tools as you go along, with the money you save not paying a garage, you will learn loads and save in the long run.

 

Gavin

[andycowuk 0]

I have had to do 2 cars this winter for MOTs and its not that bad. If you have new flexy hoses bought, you don't have to be so careful taking the old ones off.

 

lol.....The week before the scottish rr day at star, in about -5 deg at midnight, I was wearing about 15 layers of clothes in a lockup, while it was snowing really heavy outstide, I was replacing the lines that go from the rear beam to the bias adjuster. I was a total pig to do in the dark.....took for ever.......and as for flaring the hose - it was near impossible. :mad:

 

I was glad to get that job done 8)