Braided brake lines in winter ?

[Volumetrik]

As the title suggests, I'd like to know your opinions on running braided brake lines in winter conditions. As you may have peaked in my build thread, I have quite a bit of rust from all the salt here in Montréal.
I'm changing the front rotors and pads this summer and want to change the 10yr old brake lines. It's either buy new OEM lines or install, for a small price over the OEM, braided lines from the likes of Goodridge, Stoptech, HEL, etc.

I've seen mixed opinions on Subaru forums, others in Porsche forums regarding the corrosion potential and the risk of having a brake failure. Car will still be a daily driver for 3-4 years before doing anything radical in terms of tracking.

Thoughts?

 

[M-Sport fan]

The braided part is stainless steel, but I am not sure what material each company uses for the banjo fitting and the line connection open bolt end.

I've heard mention that the braids catch and hold dirt, grit, abrasives (which I guess the salt soup could be considered as well?) which will work into the interior of the cover and contact the teflon actual hose part inside and abrade it possibly to the point of leakage.

But I am not so sure that actually happens (or can happen) on a quality set of these lines, especially not when all of the modern offerings have a protective nylon (or whatever material they use) coating cover over the braided parts.

 

[Dialcaliper]

As the title suggests, I'd like to know your opinions on running braided brake lines in winter conditions. As you may have peaked in my build thread, I have quite a bit of rust from all the salt here in Montréal.
I'm changing the front rotors and pads this summer and want to change the 10yr old brake lines. It's either buy new OEM lines or install, for a small price over the OEM, braided lines from the likes of Goodridge, Stoptech, HEL, etc.

I've seen mixed opinions on Subaru forums, others in Porsche forums regarding the corrosion potential and the risk of having a brake failure. Car will still be a daily driver for 3-4 years before doing anything radical in terms of tracking.

Thoughts?

Doing a little sleuthing turns up that for Goodridge at least, the braided lines are rated for -70C to 260C (-94F to 500F), so the lines themselves will be fine.

Generally any line you’ll want to buy will be covered with PVC sheath which may or may not handle the same temperature, but should be good to -40 degrees or so, so unless it gets extremely cold where you are, probably not worrying.

The main thing to be careful of is that after 4-5 years from UV and oxidation, the PVC liner may start to yellow and crack at which point you should consider replacing them (as soon as you start to see cracks) - the lines will be fine, but cracks can allow the stainless and PTFE liner to be exposed to salt and grit which may eventually compromise the line itself

 

[dhminer]

Doing a little sleuthing turns up that for Goodridge at least, the braided lines are rated for -70C to 260C (-94F to 500F), so the lines themselves will be fine.

Generally any line you’ll want to buy will be covered with PVC sheath which may or may not handle the same temperature, but should be good to -40 degrees or so, so unless it gets extremely cold where you are, probably not worrying.

The main thing to be careful of is that after 4-5 years from UV and oxidation, the PVC liner may start to yellow and crack at which point you should consider replacing them (as soon as you start to see cracks) - the lines will be fine, but cracks can allow the stainless and PTFE liner to be exposed to salt and grit which may eventually compromise the line itself

This. The stainless isn’t exposed to the elements.

 

[Volumetrik]

Good comments all around, thank you, I appreciate the insights. I have used HEL braided lines in the past for custom motorcycle applications and can confirm that all of their hardware is 303/304 stainless, including banjo bolts, ends, etc. They are also rated for -70c to 260c. Will definitively watch out for cracks and wear in each tire change.

 

[Dialcaliper]

304SS is not rated for salt (chloride) exposure and is actually more vulnerable to it than plain steel (despite being resistant to normal rust/oxidation in normal humid conditions)

Which is why 316 stainless exists and has additional alloying elements (mainly Molybdenum) to resist chlorides, but nobody makes brake lines out of it as it’s too expensive.

Hence the reason in salty areas that it’s rather important that the brake lines be replaced once the PVC protective layer starts cracking.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Yeah, I wish that more car stuff was made of the 'marine grade' stainless, especially the premium aftermarket exhaust systems.

 

[Volumetrik]

There is no escaping corrosion in cold, salty climates, that's for sure.