cleaning brake pipes for mot

[bigboybora]

my 24 yr old escort is up for mot soon and the brake pipes need cleaning, just wondering how i go about this and do i need to paint them after i clean them?

 

[elmo7]

You can use anything from wd 40 to paint thinners to clean them even a wire brush. i usually just give them a coat of white grease to finish.

 

[PhilG]

yea i clean them with thinners on a rag, then any rusty bits get a dose of rough sandpaper and lick of hammerite black paint

 

[RMS_CLK]

WD40 i always used, but do not leave them wet or greasy, as MOT inspectors come from the school of "if its wet, its leaking"

 

[elmo7]

WD40 i always used, but do not leave them wet or greasy, as MOT inspectors come from the school of "if its wet, its leaking"

I have never had a prob with grease it covers everything and they dont seem to care.

 

[brucie]

i got a brake pipe cleaner in work, a corrosion removal tool its called by the manufacturer,
(blue point, snapon) about the size of a normal screwdriver with a hook at the end witha bevelled edge for scraping away corrosion, used it before works a treat and as mentioned above a rub with grease or the likes and that would do it
if you need it your more than welcome

 

[Coog]

Light sandpaper then a light blast of hammerite stone chip paint which smooths over the rougher stuff. Doing my own tomorrow. Grease would also work I'm sure, though I'd be afraid of the tester thinking its leaking tbh

 

[davey-dimples]

bump - failed MOT on Saturday on rusty rear pipe (not pitted/bubbling just seems a bit of surface rust) and handbrake efficiency was 14% (limit is 15%)

Would they be happy enough turning up again with a pipe if its clearly not new and just cleaned?

@NI_Volvo_Nut ?

Managed to tighten the handbrake myself which isnt as handy on an E90 as with most cars with normal handbrake tightening operations!! effing star wheel

 

[Phil_EK9]

bump - failed MOT on Saturday on rusty rear pipe (not pitted/bubbling just seems a bit of surface rust) and handbrake efficiency was 14% (limit is 15%)

Would they be happy enough turning up again with a pipe if its clearly not new and just cleaned?

@NI_Volvo_Nut ?

Managed to tighten the handbrake myself which isnt as handy on an E90 as with most cars with normal handbrake tightening operations!! effing star wheel

A couple of my cars have gone back in with cleaned brake pipes and where fine.

 

[Antoin]

MOT tester failed mine on being dirty around the union. I missed it to be fair and it was caked in road grime.
Went back for the retest and the tester asked if I had changed the pipe. I just told him I cleaned it up, bit of sandpaper and some black grease and it passed no problems.
Provided it isn't badly pitted or at the point of bursting it should be ok, however it will probably depend entirely on which MOT tester you get.

 

[davey-dimples]

MOT tester failed mine on being dirty around the union. I missed it to be fair and it was caked in road grime.
Went back for the retest and the tester asked if I had changed the pipe. I just told him I cleaned it up, bit of sandpaper and some black grease and it passed no problems.
Provided it isn't badly pitted or at the point of bursting it should be ok, however it will probably depend entirely on which MOT tester you get.

I knew as soon as I saw the guy it was a fail for some reason or other ... looked like he was about to murder someone and no craic at all - didnt even respond to me when I spoke to him in the car several times

 

[Antoin]

I knew as soon as I saw the guy it was a fail for some reason or other ... looked like he was about to murder someone and no craic at all - didnt even respond to me when I spoke to him in the car several times

Fella I got in Coleraine one evening could not have been nicer, chatted away like a good'un. Wished me all the best as he handed over the pass sheet. Luck of the draw I suppose.

 

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

bump - failed MOT on Saturday on rusty rear pipe (not pitted/bubbling just seems a bit of surface rust) and handbrake efficiency was 14% (limit is 15%)

Would they be happy enough turning up again with a pipe if its clearly not new and just cleaned?

@NI_Volvo_Nut ?

Managed to tighten the handbrake myself which isnt as handy on an E90 as with most cars with normal handbrake tightening operations!! effing star wheel

No problem cleaning them as long as they are not pitted. Cover in a smear or grease or lightly paint them, if they can't be seen they may be failed again. Handbrake probably needs adjusted on the shoes rather than the cables, they are shiote on 5 series

 

[davey-dimples]

No problem cleaning them as long as they are not pitted. Cover in a smear or grease or lightly paint them, if they can't be seen they may be failed again. Handbrake probably needs adjusted on the shoes rather than the cables, they are shiote on 5 series

Grabbing some rust ex and hammerite from Halfrauds later and will give it a blast ... probably be same price to just replace the pipe by the time I pay for all the stuff but need it back on the road ASAP

Ill get all the lines checked and replaced if necessary with the next service while Im on hols at the end of the month.

I did adjust the shoes ... not sure how you do the cable on these though

 

[Bryan]

I knew as soon as I saw the guy it was a fail for some reason or other ... looked like he was about to murder someone and no craic at all - didnt even respond to me when I spoke to him in the car several times

I get that type of person all the time. My camper went in a few weeks ago and even though it had only done 1155 miles since last year they absolutely slaughtered it. Poked 10p sized holes in areas that were of no significance whatsoever and should not have been a fail. He even tried to say that the rear brakes were "binding" because he couldn't get it out of the rollers - this was because it has a dog leg gearbox and he was trying to use 2nd gear to get a 3 tonne van out of them. The guy who did the retest in Lisburn was dead on though and it passed.

 

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

Grabbing some rust ex and hammerite from Halfrauds later and will give it a blast ... probably be same price to just replace the pipe by the time I pay for all the stuff but need it back on the road ASAP

Ill get all the lines checked and replaced if necessary with the next service while Im on hols at the end of the month.

I did adjust the shoes ... not sure how you do the cable on these though

Generally if you do the shoes you shouldn't need to do the cable. It's under the centre console from memory. Black spray paint is all you need, hammerite will be too thick and probably result in another fail.

 

[pablo]

Cable seems to be an auto adjuster on my e92 anyway. Much to my annoyance as there is some slack in the handbrake before it starts to engage.

 

[genman]

i used to just use a wire wheel on a drill to clean the brake lines after unclipping them from the body...worked great at cleaning the joints as well.
Good old drum brakes...likely glazed shoes..pop the drum off and give them a good clean and scuff the surface of the shoes a bit to remove the glaze...then a few good hard pulls on the hand brake in a suitable quiet area from 30mph or so to bed them back in.

 

[davey-dimples]

Wire brush, some rust to metal paste and a spray of black Paint done...

If anyone has friends at mallusk who will be on duty tomorrow 6.45pm put in a good word for me

 

[56oval]

First time i took my van for mot over here i went over the solid brake pipes, cleaned the rust up and sprayed them with white grease.

Failed me on pipes not being visible lol.

Cleaned them up again and sprayed them with some silver i had in a can and it passed.

Every year i check them, rub them down with a foam sanding pad, drop newspaper behined them and spray them with wheel silver rattle can. Takes an hour but never failed since.

 

[Ghisallo]

First time i took my van for mot over here i went over the solid brake pipes, cleaned the rust up and sprayed them with white grease.

Failed me on pipes not being visible lol.

Cleaned them up again and sprayed them with some silver i had in a can and it passed.

Every year i check them, rub them down with a foam sanding pad, drop newspaper behined them and spray them with wheel silver rattle can. Takes an hour but never failed since.

Similar thing happened to me at Ards MOT centre

Failed for rusty pipes. Told to take off rust, so cleaned them down to the metal.

Retest failed - pitted. Told to cover pipes up, so painted them with a plastic coating.

Rest failed - Pipes not visible.

Fitted new pipes - passed.

 

[davey-dimples]

Similar thing happened to me at Ards MOT centre

Failed for rusty pipes. Told to take off rust, so cleaned them down to the metal.

Retest failed - pitted. Told to cover pipes up, so painted them with a plastic coating.

Rest failed - Pipes not visible.

Fitted new pipes - passed.

This does not fill me with confidence lol

 

[Ghisallo]

This does not fill me with confidence lol

It was few years ago. Maybe they didn't like that each time I brought it back it had 300 additional miles on the odo!

 

[davey-dimples]

Failed.

****

 

[Coog]

Probably looked like they were being covered up.