Wheelyneat

I'm about to replace the calipers on my 2002 and I've decided to keep the rubber lines rather than switch to braided ones. Is it foolish to reuse the existing lines (13K miles, only street use on the car) or should I spring for new OEM hoses? What is the expected life span of the rubber hoses under "normal" street conditions? Thanks.

vsocks1

The rubber hoses are fine to reuse if they are in good shape. I also have a set from a 7500 mile 03, that I took out to install stainless lines. Stainless lines are really not that expensive, and I like them!

The Wrench

They are built pretty rugged. The outer sheath will begin to crack and split, that's when I replace them immediately. There are plenty of cars out there with 25-year-old hoses (and fluid) but I'd say 10 years on the hoses is certainly time to replace them, even if they show no visible issues.
And do the fluid every 2 years. They are, after all, brakes.

DG

EStreeter

I put SS lines on my 03 last year - car had about 40K on the clock. The stock lines looked fine but they seemed stiff - no cracks that I could see. I was upgrading to a better pad and changing the brake fluid to DOT 4 so I thought I would change the lines at the same time. Check out the link below from Goodridge - page 10 talks about life expectancy.

http://www.goodridge.net/usa/pdf/all...s_v_rubber.pdf

I bought Goodridge SS lines. They fit great and the install was easy.

I think if you drive your car the way it was meant to be driven, you wouldn't want a brake line to let go.

Wheelyneat

Thanks for the input. I decided to go ahead and replace the flexible hoses with new OEM rubber ones. My car has low miles but it is almost seven years old and I figure it is a false economy to replace the calipers and leave the old hoses in place. I realize they deteriorate from the inside where you can't see what's going on, and since I don't know how often (if ever) my fluid was changed (just bought this car in January) I'd rather have the peace of mind that comes with new hoses