dougholck said:
Anyone had issues with the rest of the brake system after installing stainless brake lines?
Overheard a discussion where it was NOT recommended to install stainless lines as increased pressures generated strain other components.
The OEM rubber lines flex/expand to soak up these pressures.
Kinda makes sense or is it a Myth?
I installed a set of Speigler brake lines on my Beemer and I was very unhappy with them. Mechanically, the Speigler brake lines work fine, however, after less than a year of use the color had badly faded. What had once been a nice bright red set of lines faded to become the most nauseous looking faded pumpkin orange color. It is horrible.
I contacted Speigler and asked them to warranty the nauseous lines. They refused saying that they do not guarantee their brake lines against fading or nausea. After multiple complaints, Speigler agreed to give me a 10% discount on a replacement set of lines. That was the most I could get out of them.
I paid about $350 for the lines, however, it cost me over $500 to have them installed (including flushing the brake fluid and bleeding the ABS system ... all of which is required in order to install the brake lines. It cost me about $850 total to buy and install their junky lines and the best they would offer after they faded was to discount the purchase of a new set by $35. Of course, even if I had taken them up on their offer and purchased a new set of lines I would still have had to pay another $500 to have them installed.
My recommendation is that if you want to install aftermarket Speigler lines in place of your OEM lines YOU SHOULD TOTALLY AVOID THE COLORED LINES. Go with the stainless steel lines with the clear plastic cover and you should be OK. Also, you will probably be happiest if you go with the chrome colored fittings instead of the colored ones. I purchased red fittings for my nauseous orange lines and they faded in less than a year. (fortunately, the metal fittings only faded to faded red as opposed to nauseous orange so if you don't mind having faded metal fittings on your bike they may be OK for you.)
All in all, I would recommend not buying Speigler brake lines. Why would you want to buy from a company that will not honor its warranty? I was particularly offended by their offer of a mere 10% discount, rather than a 100% replacement, based on their contention that their warranty does not cover cosmetics. I mean, the primary reason that people purchase their product is for cosmetics. How could they refuse to honor warranty claims for cosmetic defects?