Anybody buy a roll of the 3/16 stainless brake lines and flare their own?
If so, any tips?

Thanks

 

Yah, don't use stainless - it's hard and too easy to blow the flares on.

Use the copper-nickel brake line that is a lot easier to bend and flare, and a lot more rust and corrosion resistant than even stainless.

Here's one possible source, but there's a lot of others: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B015VCZN80

RwP

 

Yep, I did exactly that....flared every end, and not a single crack or blown flare. Bending was easy too as I used a tube bender and zip tied the lines to the old ones as a template. I'll disagree with Ralph a little here, as the stainless was neither difficult to bend or flare. Use the OEM in line flare tool, not the clamp style. Didn't mess up a single flare. I over tightened one and cracked it, but with the OEM tool I repaired it without removing it....easy peasy.

Here's a link to the tool on sale: https://mobiledistributorsupply.com/...ABEgLOLvD_BwE#

Summit has it too, but for $20.

 

All new lines front and rear proportioning

 

I used Nickel Copper to completely reline my truck and my dad's Silvy and my brother's Buick and it was fantastic to work with. I used a cheapish flare tool and in all I only had a single flare on the Buick that wept fluid and needed a loosen & retighten. I only used my tubing bender for very sharp bends.

I've never used stainless but from what I've read about it and my great experience with nicopp, I probably never will. Not knocking anybody who does, it just seems more difficult to me for the same thing. Stainless does look sexy though.

 

I'll just add another thought I had. Using stainless on these trucks probably wouldn't be so hard (same as robertmee explained) because there are very few sharp bends in the lines. On the other hand, on my dad's Silverado, there are tons of very sharp bends and compound bends (particularly in the rats nest of lines to the ABS module on the frame rail...eek), which were a pain even with Ni-Copp. Now, you never have to duplicate OEM bends and routing exactly, but I prefer to try, and in some cases the only way to route the lines safely is to copy the original.

 

Hey guys,
Thanks for the input. I am not sure which way to go..... But I had read where stainless is harder to work with.
Thanks again