jimlab

Has anyone coated their "raw" stainless braided brake lines? I considered trying to use some sort of heat shrink tubing, but of course it would ideally have been applied before the ends were installed. Then I considered some sort of protective coating like the cans of "goo" used for dipping the handles of tools which dries to a rubberized coating. Any ideas? I've got a couple cans of the black goo... just wondered if anyone had done this before and how well it turned out.

OC_

the 'stainless' should be a key word here...

DamonB

Some info here , Jim.

Personally I think heat shrinkable tape would be easier and more robust.

jimlab

Gee, ya think?

Except when stainless braided hose gets a lot of road grit in it and starts sanding itself to death... I'm not worried about it rusting. I'm worried about protecting it from abrasion, and protecting the finish on my JIC shocks, which don't have tabs for mounting the front lines.

jimlab

Thanks Damon.

7racer

Jim,

that was my old link. Had the car on the lift and took a quick look at the lines and the coating has held up well.

I used the clear, hoping to keep some of the "bling" factor

but the coating still dulls it somewhat, FWIW

jimlab

Thanks for the tip. Where did you get the clear spray from? I've never seen the spray for sale and have only seen red, yellow, and black dip (I have two cans, thanks to Santa, for another project).

reza

I don't coat mine. I think the SS braided line is good enough as it is. The only worry I have is the effect of twisting on the line to its ends. I think a lot of the failures happened at the ends.

This is what I did to prevent it from hitting the Coilovers.

jimlab

Thanks Reza, but you've probably seen pictures of my car. The zip-tie trick won't fly...

I'm going to tape off the front lines and use a cut-off wheel to eliminate the middle fitting, then I'll probably try to track down some clear Plasti-dip spray. I don't really care about the bling, but if you paid for stainless braided line, you might as well still be able to see it.

80-CU.IN.T

Jim - I have used shrink tubing on many applications and the tubing held up quite well. 2 pieces can also be used. The plastic dip or spray process is more durable but I have never been able to make it look as nice as I wanted it to. Rubber coated hoses are available but expensive. They look very nice.

7racer

Jim,

I got the clear at the local hardware store. Like you and reza I have the JIC-FLTA2 and I have my lines "free floating" and not zipped...doesn't seem to be a problem. Also, in regards to the clear, the only problem I had was telling when I had enough of it on since it was CLEAR! So some areas had more coating then others.....

jimlab

I tried the clear Plasti-dip spray tonight, and it looks like ***.

It's milky, not clear, didn't cover very evenly and has bubble-like pitting in the surface in some areas which I assume was caused by solvents evaporating or something. I followed the directions precisely and applied 5 coats, waiting one hour between coats. After going on their web site, they said that it might turn milky if the humidity is too high. Great. Should have bought black.

Looks like it's time to try plan B, whatever that might be...

Cheers!

There is self adhering silicone tape... i'm not sure how silicone tape would hold up in the area of hte wheel well though... i guess if u never see snow it shoudl be ok.

jimlab

Cold shrink (self-fusing) tape would work. It's supposed to be waterproof and work in temperatures down to -65° F and up to 500° F. I'd just have to order some or find some place local that carries it.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

Mcmaster lists a 'Polyolefin Color-Coded Thin-Wall Tubing', available in clear. 2 to 1 shrink ratio.

Nothing on if it's 'crystal clear' or 'milky clear' though. Cheap to order however.

http://www.mcmaster.com/ page 708. Here's a direct link to the frame:

http://www.mcmaster.com/asp/DisplCtl...olMultiPageNav

jimlab

Unfortunately, I think the fittings on the ends are more than twice the diameter of the line. I'd have to check, but they're currently masked from spraying the Plasti-crap.