Steel Braided Brake Hoses

[Malc_R]

Guys

It has been suggested to me that a relatively low cost way of improving the feel and effectiveness of the brakes is to fit steel braided hoses in place of the regular rubber ones - " You'd be amazed how much they expand when you brake hard " , said my workmate, a former 'Jap' Tuning Works owner currently working on a Lexus Soarer Supercharged LPG project with Sky TV...

Do any of you guys have experience of replacing brake hoses on an XKR? Are there set bleed points , or a bleed sequence, and how might the ABS system be affected by tinkering with the hoses and fluid ?

THanks in advance

Malcolm R

[BestGear]

Hi Malcolm

Yes, is the short answer!

The XK with brembo brakes will (should?) already have braided hoses, so an upgrade for any lesser model will be a big plus.

The improvement you will see really depends on the candidition of existing hoses. Any hose over 3 years will have deteriorated significantly, especially if the car has done miles.

If you get a friend to pres sthe brake pendal when you grasp a brake flexible, you can usually feel the swelling! Obviously this depends on the wear...

Long and short of it is that its worthwhile upgrade. You would be best to time the work when the brake fluid gets changed, and perhaps upgrade the fluid too so that the next change will be a bit further off as better fluids have longer lives.

Fitting is no problem - just make sure you use the correct banjo bolts and new copper washers. These are often all in the kit.

Hope that helps.

David

[Malc_R]

Hi - Thanks for that. Interesting that you mention the brake fluid - the same guy suggested putting 'Racing' brake fluid in - something about the composition of the molecules in racing fluid having zero or minimal water content...so you don't lose any braking power through compression of the water molecules - I thought it was a load of old tosh at first, but there may be something in it !!

I see that there are Goodridge brake hose kits on eBay for XJRs and XKs with Brembo's , but cant find any for 'standard' XK brakes.

Cheers

Malc

[BestGear]

Hi Malc

I would not get suckered into any silicon brake "racing" fluid as notrmal DOT 5.1 is often synthentic (usually) and is less attractive to water overtime. Even Halfords will sell 5.1 at a cheap enough price -circa £10 a litre.

All DOT fluids are apparently backward compatible apart from silicon based fluids.

It is certainly worth changing the fluid anyway, unless you know it has been done reciently - its a two year reccomendation.

The brembo hoses will not fiit std calipers.

There arre plenty of places (check Demon Tweeks for one) that will supply hoses... and even make them up for you.

You can buy hoses directly from Goodridge too, so thats a last option.


David

[doug424]

Hello everybody,

Recently fitted a braided brake hose set to my "standard" XK8; these were supplied by HELperformance.

The rear hoses and rear caliper banjo bolts in the kit did not fit and after some confusion eventually got hoses which fitted. The quality of the hoses is excellent and the brake pedal is notceably firmer.

If the customer service had been a bit more enthusiastic, the experience would have been first class, still got there in the end.

Doug Barrass,
Ashford, Kent.

[BrizzleJag]

Have ordered braided hoses from Hel performance £79.98 for the kit, will let you know the outcome when fitted.

[BrizzleJag]

Braided hoses now fitted by Swallows Jaguar. These make a big difference to the pedal feel, a lot firmer, less pedal travel and inspire confidence. A fairly inexpensive upgrade and well worth doing.

[mike020150]

Yes, it's always been a good upgrade to improve the pedal feel of the non-Brembo equipped cars which come with (different) braided hoses as standard. Enjoy the result! Mike.

[BrizzleJag]

Thanks Mike
Having upgraded, discs, pads, hoses and fluid, I think the brakes are as good as they can possibly be without changing to the Bremo set up.