cleaning brake pipes for mot

ChrisR

RMS Regular
Messages
4,796
Drives
MK3 Leon 1.4tsi
I cleaned the ones on my wifes car up for MOT at the start of July. Used WD40 to give them a good clean then put some black grease on the connectors.

Went through no problems thankfully!
 

gizmo98

RMS Regular
Messages
6,360
Drives
Vrs Octavia
I mot'd a jeep last year,cleaned them up and put a slight bit of grease on them,tester passed it but told me no to put anything on them again(he was a knob) did it before and after on numerous cars and never been an issue
 

Coog

Admin
Messages
47,514
Drives
GTI
This is my main use for poundland paint. Never had an issue with cleaned lines with a dusting of black paint. As long as it's not clobbered in thick paint or grease it seems to be dead on
 

j2112

RMS Regular
Messages
1,152
Location
Co Down
Drives
BMW F36
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.

Failed mot at Ards tonight for rear brake pipes - corroded/pitted :worried:
Is replacement straightforward? Need to change the fluid too I guess, so might find someone to sort it for me ;)
 

Ghisallo

RMS Regular
Messages
5,581
Location
Castle Anthrax
I was surprised to find how cheap it was to have new pipes fitted, £45 or something. That said I think I got a cheap deal because the mechanic turned out to be my neighbour and the pipe work was not particularly beautiful. I thought the replacement pipes would run the same path as the originals but they just took the shortest A-B route
 

j2112

RMS Regular
Messages
1,152
Location
Co Down
Drives
BMW F36
Interesting. I'll need to make some enquiries tomorrow, though I imagined it was something like this (on ECP website) rather than the whole 'run'
IMG_0647.PNG
 

gizmo98

RMS Regular
Messages
6,360
Drives
Vrs Octavia
Not sure I'd like to take the risk for another £18 or whatever the retest is :-#

Yep better to change them now,you will have to eventually,shouldn't cost that much depending on the run of them
 

j2112

RMS Regular
Messages
1,152
Location
Co Down
Drives
BMW F36
I had a quick look underneath and it does seem to be the vertical part where they drop down to meet the flexi hose. Can't help but feel that there should be a joint in that region to make replacement easier though?
 

NI_Volvo_Nut

RMS Regular
Messages
4,846
Location
Ballynahinch
Drives
Volvo's!
If you can get the pipe flair tool to put a joint in there it will be accepted but very few manufactures put joints in the lines.
 

j2112

RMS Regular
Messages
1,152
Location
Co Down
Drives
BMW F36
Yes, makes sense. It was just a thought. When I first looked at realoem I thought there were several breaks (no pun intended!!) but I guess not!
 

ace275

RMS Regular
Messages
4,964
Location
Belfast
Drives
Legacy SpecB
Bump

Taking my car for MOT soon. Had the rear subframe out to do bushings and cleaned up the copper replacement brake pipes whilst I was at it, but noticed the copper is pitted in areas. Didn't think copper done this? They were replaced 5 years / 20k miles ago by a previous owner.
 

ace275

RMS Regular
Messages
4,964
Location
Belfast
Drives
Legacy SpecB
Never seen copper pit

It's not as strong a colour as copper usually is, but does have a slight copper colour to it. Certainly it's the first metal I'd suspect it being. Certainly not kunifer though. I suspect the pipe is a mix of metals and was just cheap crap to be honest. 5 years old and pitted! It's fairly easy to bend still and definitely isn't original

Edit - and I cleaned it back as it had went green like copper often does with age, but a dirty green colour, not the 'city hall roof' green lol
 
Top