FocusCanada Forums

Well, I usually pride myself in driving well-maintained cars, using good parts and sticking to a regular maintenance schedule.

So when I swapped my winter tires to my summers, I do a precursory inspection of my rotors, brake linings, brake lines and suspension.

Unfortunately, I didn't see any sign of this happening ...

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So this morning, on the way home in moderate traffic on the QEW, the line blew out. Unfortunately, when I was trying to stop for a car that had locked it up ahead of me ....

I was plenty far back (10-15 car lengths), was doing about 100kmh when the ordeal started. Should have been no big deal, could've stopped with plenty of room to spare.

Well, the brake started dropping to the floor under my foot pressure, I pumped again when I heard the ABS module go off; between yanking the E-Brake and downshifting I managed to shed 85kmh.

Unfortunately I couldn't bleed the last 15 before I ran out of room with nowhere else to go....

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At any rate, the good news is both myself and the other driver are OK. My car, not so much... it'll need a new front rad support, pass. side fender, headlight, grille and new bumper skin. The A/C condensor didn't vent, but it's bent.

The other car (newer Honda Civic driven by an older woman) has damage to the lower bumper.

No charges at the time of this posting; I demonstrated to the cop my brake going to the floor and the growing puddle of brake fluid under the passenger tire. We'll have to see the verdict on the other driver's car before I decide whether to run it through insurance or not.

So if you have braided lines make sure you check them carefully. I'm sure Ken can add more information about the vendor, there is another member on here (Pat was his name) that bought through the same group buy, so if any of you know who it is you should give a heads up to him.

(06-26-2012, 04:24 AM)OAC_Sparky Wrote: [ -> ]...

So if you have braided lines make sure you check them carefully. I'm sure Ken can add more information about the vendor, there is another member on here (Pat was his name) that bought through the same group buy, so if any of you know who it is you should give a heads up to him.

When Matt called me this morning to tell me about what happened, needless to say I was glad he and the other driver sustained no injury - that's what not tailgating and having presence of mind will do for you.

Matt's ss braided line came from our spring brake group buy of 2 years ago - and besides Matt, I and another member (Pat) bought a set.

Long story short - my front is frayed too - in the same place Matt's gave out. So far that's a 66% failure rate, which indicates to me a significant problem with these lines.

The manufacturer is Techna-fit which is by all accounts a reputable manufacturer - but as Matt says if you have braided lines of any brand, you might want to take a moment and give them a thorough inspection.

Techna-fit has a lifetime warranty on their kits, so we'll see tonight when I call them if it's worth anything.

My apologies but for the life of me I can't think of who Pat is and I didn't make note of the FC member ID - so anyone who knows Pat please let them know about this thread.

crazy stuff and my buddys girl zx3 broke a stock line in the same place last year

That sucks dude...

I don't believe it's the manufacture of the lines fault at all. I chose not to place my lines in that slot on the strut due to the fact of the tight bend it has to make and the amount of movement that area has too. It still sucks tho...

I had a similar accident with a trailer hitch. Blew through the rads and the cross member and the hood was done in too. I paid for it all myself because most places were looking for $2400-$4600. And the Ford Dealer was the low end price lol.

When i wrecked I got a CB Hood and got the A/C and Coolant Rads from a 00-04 year model. It was cheaper to buy those. (Albion Autoparts) All other pieces I got from ford and had a local shop paint the cross member and from bumper. All in, with CB hood costing $550, I was $1500 roughly.

20 min tear down with a 10mm socket and about 1 hour install. It was running in 2 days instead of 2 weeks at a shop.

Good luck!! Post up if you need help

(06-26-2012, 10:20 AM)Scorcher000 Wrote: [ -> ]I don't believe it's the manufacture of the lines fault at all. I chose not to place my lines in that slot on the strut due to the fact of the tight bend it has to make and the amount of movement that area has too. It still sucks tho...

I hear what you're saying John but I've never heard of a stock OEM line blowing out because of that connection point - I think it's reasonable to assume that aftermarket lines should at the very least be engineered to that minimum standard.

And yeah Matt - anything you need from the US let me know.

The reason I took my stock lines off was because the large amount of swelling both sides had at that joint and I only had 60,000km then.

If anything the line should come from the hard line with 90 angle and the line should be shorter feeding the caliper so it clears the rim and stays free away from any part to rub against.

When Sean posted a GB to get lines I was going to say make a mod to reduce the wear issues that I noticed but I thought no one would understand want I meant and that would increase the price too.

Thanks guys. I put the stock line on for now so I can limp the car around my driveway (still have to do a proper bleed to get rid of the ABS light). Going to start tearing down the front end later this week. The hardest part will be sourcing the rad support. If anyone has a suggestion/link of where to get decent aftermarket collision parts, post them up.

For the record, anyone that knows me IRL knows I've got a few cars so it's not like I'd be driving it if anything was slightly amiss. There was really no prior warning (malfunction lights, spongy pedal, etc). If there were any signs of trouble I'd have grounded the car and drove one of my other ones. It just "went" at an inopportune time.

Which brings up my mini-rant about HOV lanes ... I usually keep an eye on traffic in it as an escape route when I'm in the left lane. It saved me the other day when I was driving home in the Stang when a transport picked up a big piece of sheet metal hurtling at my windshield. Unfortunately, I had just moved over to the left lane when this happened. So rather than swerving into a lane with unknown traffic I held the lane (didn't relish the idea of getting run over by a GO bus).. But that damned HOV lane should be outlawed IMO. Takes away the left shoulder as an escape route. :^/

True, HOV lane sucks. Unless it's raining and @ night then it's smooth sailing until you drive up on a slow-poke

Thanks guys. I put the stock line on for now so I can limp the car around my driveway (still have to do a proper bleed to get rid of the ABS light). Going to start tearing down the front end later this week. The hardest part will be sourcing the rad support. If anyone has a suggestion/link of where to get decent aftermath collision parts, post them up.

For the record, anyone that knows me IRL knows I've got a few cars so it's not like I'd be driving it if anything was slightly amiss. There was really no prior warning (malfunction lights, spongy pedal, etc). If there were any signs of trouble I'd have grounded the car and drove one of my other ones. It just "went" at an inopportune time.

Which brings up my mini-rant about HOV lanes ... I usually keep an eye on traffic in it as an escape route when I'm in the left lane. It saveer day when I was driving home in the Stang when a transport picked up a big piece of sheet metal hurtling at my windshield. Unfortunately, I had just moved over to the left lane when this happened. So rather than swerving into a lane with unknown traffic I held the lane (didn't relish the idea of getting run over by a GO bus).. But that damned HOV lane should be outlawed IMO. Takes away the left shoulder as an escape route. :^/

(06-26-2012, 11:55 AM)OAC_Sparky Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks guys. I put the stock line on for now so I can limp the car around my driveway (still have to do a proper bleed to get rid of the ABS light). Going to start tearing down the front end later this week. The hardest part will be sourcing the rad support. If anyone has a suggestion/link of where to get decent aftermath collision parts, post them up.

Matt ... I get a 25% discount at CrossCanada Parts ... my experience with them is that everything they sell is excellent quality.

Unreal. Good thing you're ok mate.