Metal Braided Brake Lines

Swapping your stock vinyl brake lines for braided steel lines helps in more than one way. First a set of braided lines are less prone to get damaged by both on or off-road debris and they look a lot better than the vinyl one for you show conscious viewers. As far as performance, the difference is that a metal braided brake line will not expand under pressure. As vinyl hoses age they become brittle from the heat of the fluid and they expand as the fluid is compressed in the lines. The expansion, while minuet, is less pressure that is being applied to the caliper and disc assemblies and in effect lessens your braking ability.

Upgraded Brake Fluid

Sounds a little silly doesn't it, that a different type of fluid could actually improve your braking performance.Well, brake fluid is so advanced in how it actually works that we could write a whole article on the different types of brake fluid and their virtues, but we will save that for later. Here are a couple of items you should think about before you just go and dump NAPA's Dot 3 brake fluid into your system.There's no avoiding it, today's brakes get HOT. They get hot because of the laws of thermal dynamics. Brakes get hot when they stop the car and hydraulic systems only work if the fluid in the system remains uncompressible. It is imperative that the fluid not boil when the brakes do their intended job. If the fluid boils, it turns to gas which is compressible and the brake pedal becomes "spongy" which means the link between the pedal and the pads is broken with the boiling fluid.

Lot's of manufactures make brake fluid, but you are looking for the correct DOT type of fluid with a high boiling point both wet and dry. The WET boiling point refers to the fluid if it has moisture in it, which would lower it's overall boiling point because water (moisture) boils at a much lower temperature than the brake fluid does. The DRY boiling point refers to the fluid as it is in the can from the manufacturer

Dot 5 fluid is silicon based which is highly compressible, but will not harm paint and as a result is usually used in Military application or in show cars. Silicone based fluids are also non-hygroscopic which means they do not absorb or mix with water, which as we discussed above is very bad. Dot 3, 4, and 5.1 Fluids contain polyglycol ether which is hygroscopic and therefore allows moisture to mix with the fluid. That sounds like it's bad, but by allowing the moisture to mix with the brake fluid it increases the boiling point of the water allowing the humidity in the fluid to be less of a factor and less compressible than the water would be if it turned to steam. On a side note, DOT 5 is NOT compatible with DOT 3, 4 or 5.1 brake fluids.

Anyway, I promised I wouldn't get to far into the fluid technology but ensure you look at the DRY & WET boiling points when selecting a brake fluid. If you live in a high humidity area (Such as Houston) that WET boiling point is going to be an issue. ATE Super Blue is commonly considered one of the best brake fluids available for the every day driving but there are others fluids available. Even if you don't do any upgrades to your brake system at all, having your fluid professionally flushed on a yearly basis can improve your braking characterisics as well.