GM Brake Lines
Well, my brake lines finally broke (major corrosion - I am sure the fuel lines are next). I had new rubber put on the truck yesterday, got a call saying that I had a brake line leak. They left it on...
Forum Discussion
calewjohnson wrote:
I have been doing some reading, GM has a point, proper care would go a long way, but it would eventually happen. It is silly that they just don't go ahead with stainless steel from the factory...doing that to begin with has to be cheaper than executing a recall....
Cale
Not sure what "proper care" means....we had winters in NY where it didn't get above freezing for 6 weeks at a time, and there is only so much washing you can do...GM managed to undercoat the frames very well, and also make a stainless exhaust system standard equipment....yet they cheaped out on the brake lines. Heck even coated steel like Ford uses would be better than just bare steel like GM.
Last year I installed complete stainless brake and fuel line systems from Classic Tube in NY. The fuel lines were not as bad as the brake lines, but burb has two tanks that need to come out along with a bunch of other stuff, so changing the fuel lines at a later date would have been like doing the same job twice. The pre-bent brake lines were fairly easy to install.
FYI, there is no GM part # on brake lines, the service manual considers them to be generic, like a bolt or washer. If repair is required, the dealer is expected to bend a new section of line from bulk stock, and/or use flare fittings to splice in a repair section. If you are going to ask the dealer to replace all of the brake lines you better be sitting down when they give you the labor quote.
Part of the reason (plus the stainless) that I went with the Classic Tube set...I even asked around to see if a local garage would install the kit for me and no takers, so I did it myself. I now own an official GM torsion bar removal tool and a set of GearWrench flex-head ratcheting flare wrenches....along with a bunch of new HF tools... :B
