1.9 Rear Brake Hoses.

[davemar 16]

My car passed it's MOT this morning (at last!) and the tester commented on the rear hoses being very tightly bent in to get from the caliper to the pipe. He's got a point, as the design does look a bit flaky where the hose really needs to make such a sharp bend, it can't do it much good. Has anyone tried improving this, so the hose doesn't need to bend so tightly, and also so it doesn't interfere with the inside wheel arch area above it when the car is sinking down on the suspension?

[jord294 92]

this should be how the brake line is routed

 

Edited April 3, 2009 by jord294

[Anthony 1,003]

Some later cars with the same rear arm/caliper setup (Xsara's and 306's) do away with that hose altogether, and just have a solid brake pipe going into the caliper.

[davemar 16]

this should be how the brake line is routed

 

That's how mine is routed, but it does seem to be a little more kinked than that; though it's often difficult to tell from one photo.

 

BTW, that car is far too clean!

 

So with the fixed pipe approach on the Xsara/306, does it do away with the bracket and union and go directly into the caliper? Doesn't also make the caliper harder to remove with a fixed pipe? At least with the hose you can swing the caliper out of the way if you want to remove it, but not detach it from the pipe.

[Anthony 1,003]

So with the fixed pipe approach on the Xsara/306, does it do away with the bracket and union and go directly into the caliper?

That's correct.

 

Doesn't also make the caliper harder to remove with a fixed pipe? At least with the hose you can swing the caliper out of the way if you want to remove it, but not detach it from the pipe.

Absolutely, and that's going to make several jobs harder than they otherwise should be, which is why I generally retain the flexi hose - the sharp bend isn't going to do it much good and it does seem to perish quickly on the inside radius as a result in my experience, but they're cheap enough that it's no big concern replacing them once every few years as required.

[davemar 16]

Do Goodridge or Aeroquip hoses do a better job in this regard, as they appear to be narrower (not having seen one in the flesh)?

[Anthony 1,003]

Do Goodridge or Aeroquip hoses do a better job in this regard, as they appear to be narrower (not having seen one in the flesh)?

Well, they work fine, in the same way that standard hoses work fine, but they still have a fairly tight radius bend in them.

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

An alternative way of doing it is to get a 45 deg -3 banjo fitting or swept 45 deg female swivel and make your own flexi hose up, this allows a banjo bolt fitting to the caliper, but leaves the flexible aeroquip hose pointing roughly along the line of the trailing arm, no more tight bend, and no more perishing hoses!

[SurGie 54]

Is the 309 beam like this version, its from an 89 car.