Braided brake hoses?

[Chill59]

Does fitting braided stainless steel brake hoses make much difference to pedal firmness?

[geoberni]

Should be no reason for any difference.
A braided hose is for durability, resistance to external abrasion etc.
It's not there to stop the hose bulging, which is the only thing that could influence pedal pressure, that's all a product of the internal fibres in the walls.

[Biggles1957]

A lot of people do report a firmer feel after switching to braided hoses because there is nothing like the expansion that rubber hoses allow. More noticeable on motorcycle brakes etc I think.

[mowogg]

I have fitted both at different times. What I would say is new hoses in either form can make a very big difference to the pedal feel and I would argue performance.

I was certainly guilty of not replacing them sooner when they become spongy. I go down a reasonably steep hill quite regularly and the new hoses made it a much more comfortable experience. The hoses I replaced looked fine and passed the mot test but I felt the brakes were spongy.

I now have braided hoses as I felt it would be an improvement. They give a nice feel to the pedal

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Something to be mindful of is that you cannot see the rubber underneath, and being able to inspect the brake hoses is desirable.

[Biggles1957]

Most braided hoses are not rubber inside - they are a polymer (often things like PTFE for example) so there's no degradation as there is with rubber

[geoberni]

Even companies selling braided lines basically take the line that if you're working the brakes hard, like racing or track days, they're a good idea, but that aside, good quality standard hoses are just fine.

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/what-t ... ey-better/

Fitting braided hoses is not going to compensate for poorly bleed and maintained brakes.

[kevin s]

I fitted them to my Elan and they seemed to firm the pedal up under heavy braking, didn't bother on the minor though and it seems fine.