FormorAccordMan

iTrader: (3)

Interested in thoughts of those who have these on their max. Is it a worthwhile upgrade for the stock brake system? My car has decent stoping power but really hate the spongy feel that I get when I have to slamm the brakes. I would also like better pedal feel at all times. Will changing out these lines do the trick? I dont have the money for some some brake kit, but the lines can be had for like 70 bucks I think. I am assuming that anyone can just throw them on with minimal headache.

bullfrog

i put them on mine and was happy with the results. the sponginess you feel could be due to air or junk in the brake lines and so they might just need bleeding. the brake lines went on pretty easy. the only issues were:

1) the clips holding the original lines to the strut bodies were a bit hard to get off, but only because they hadn't moved in over 115,000 miles.
2) i messed up a master cylinder while bleeding the brake system after installing the lines. there are always unforseen complications to any job, and that was it for that one for me.
3) bleeding the brakes took a lot longer than it ever had before, but that was only because there was no fluid in the new lines, so it just had to work its way through. i used up a whole can of brake fluid, but that's okay. it's never a bad thing to have new, clean fluid in there.

i can't really say absolutely whether they produced specific results since at the same time, i replaced my front rotors and pads. the whole system did feel tighter and more sure afterwards, though. i'd do it again on another car.

i didn't have money for a BBK either, and these were a nice upgrade to the stock system (which isn't really half bad anyway). good luck with it.

A Flood99

iTrader: (6)

so how did you end up messing up the master cylinder, how did you identify that you messed up the cylinder and also how much did it run you to fix it?

just wondering b/c i put my brake lines on about five months ago

bullfrog

I am assuming that when a shop does brake work for you, they can bleed the brake system with some tool that doesn't require manually pushing the brake pedal. I am also assuming that this was how it was done, if at all ever, by the previous owner/s of my car. So when I was bleeding the brakes, which was the first time I had ever done it since I owned the car, I was doing it the manual way, where someone opens the bleeder screw, you push on the brake pedal, which moves the piston in the brake master cylinder, and fluid is pushed out. When you do it this way, the brake pedal travels further than it ever does under normal operation, as does the piston in the master cylinder. I am assuming that when that piston moved through the cylinder that far, it was moving through an area that had never been touched before and may have been corroded or something, so the piston seal ruptured. The result of this was that when things were tightened back up, the brake pedal could still be pushed to the floor with no real noticable braking performance at all; fluid was not being pushed by the piston.

To fix it, I just went out to my local AutoZone and picked up a new one, I think it may have been around $60. It really wasn't too hard to put in. The biggest pain was working with the steel brake lines that connect to the master cylinder. On the whole, it was an average DIY job and a big learning experience for me.

Like I have said before, the more I work on cars, the more I come to find I will never pay for labor again. ...at least as long as I have the time to do it myself. Things usually aren't as hard as they seem.

A Flood99

iTrader: (6)

interesting, because i always have wondered if i hurt my master cylinder after all the brake work i have done on my car: SS lines, new rear and front calipers....

i know i drove around with air in my lines for about 2 days, just wondering if there is any peticular thing that would make a master cylinder go out

sounds like your situation might have been that your master cylinder was on its way out anyway

FormorAccordMan

iTrader: (3)

bump :-) 10 char.

UncleMax98

To protect the master cylinder seal, never push the pedal to the floor while bleeding. Put a thick book or a piece of wood there. Make sure to remove it when done.