Brake line corrosion

[malluboy77]

My 2012 S204 went in for service and the garage picked up OSF brake pipe corrosion. Is this a full brake line replacement?

Thanks

 

[Sicario]

No mate, get some emery cloth on it, gently, not too rough, it will clean up good as new, once you`ve done that get something on it, grease, copper grease, spray wax.

 

[malluboy77]

No mate, get some emery cloth on it, it will clean up good as new, once you`ve done that get something on it, grease, copper grease, spray wax.

Thanks!! Good that I didn't spend £500+ at the dealership.

 

[Sicario]

Honestly ive no idea where some of todays garages get the freakin prices, they`re all in cuckoo land, i got quoted £250 to replace £10 worth of brake pipe, you can ordered ready made up pipes on e-bay from £5.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

That does actually look quite bad in the picture.

You want at the very least to clean this, check just how bad the corrosion is then treat it with a rust inhibitor (FE123 perhaps).
Be careful though, you really want to make sure it is only surface stuff, don't just try and cover it up as if it does fail the consequences are worth a lot more than the cost of repairing it properly.

One of the main reasons why a good wheels off clean underneatch saves a lot further down the line.

 

[Petrol Pete]

As 'normal' as this corrosion is on an 8 year old car these days it is still shocking that such an important part of the car (not just MB) can knowingly be made from materiel that will rot out in an hostile environment , granted a car made in Germany that has spent 20 years in Arizona will not have had the same 20 years life as one that has driven here in the UK (salt etc) but brake line corrosion is something that should be history by now.

Made 'down' to a price etc etc, I know it makes no financial sense for every car that comes off the production line to have rot free brake lines when most will be going to places that use no salt on their roads. It would not be so bad if the rotten part was easy to change , but on some cars it is a major job. ££.

 

[BlackC55]

No mate, get some emery cloth on it, gently, not too rough, it will clean up good as new, once you`ve done that get something on it, grease, copper grease, spray wax.

Please dont do that. We see a few pipe failures because people can't be bothered to get them fixed. Brake pipe failure is not a good thing!

Get it replaced properly. Its an easy job on a 204. Takes about 3 hours to make it neat.

 

[Trickythemerc]

I think a gentle wire brushing will reveal a knackered/weakened pipe that needs changing ASAP.

 

[BlackC55]

Honestly ive no idea where some of todays garages get the freakin prices, they`re all in cuckoo land, i got quoted £250 to replace £10 worth of brake pipe, you can ordered ready made up pipes on e-bay from £5.

£10 worth of brake pipe, plus unions and the flaring of the pipe does mount up. Have you seen the location of the rear brake pies on Mercedes? Some require the subframe to be lowered and this takes hours.

A decent flaring tool costs a few quid too but it is essential if you are making pipes up to a high standard. Brake Flaring Tool Kit - Hydraulic | Part No. 4850 | Part of the Brake Pipe/Flaring range from Laser Tools

 

[Sicario]

When a brake pipe shows signs of failing they tend to swell due to the walls of the pipe becoming so thin due to corrosion, ive seen pipes that look 10 times worse than the OP photo brush up like new, and once youve cleaned the pipe back to clean metal you simply cannot leave it bare to tackle the elements.

This is just my opinion, you are all entitled to yours, but that pipe in the picture does not look bad at all, it looks a lot worse that it actually is.

In my opinion.

 

[saff]

Why take chances on brakes? Get them replaced. Even a few hundred quid is cheap compared to the worst case scenario of miss-judging the perceived severity of the corrosion. Just my opinion.

 

[TheSaint]

New member here so hello to all

If you need to replace any brake lines do not use the all copper lines.
Use copper/nickel lines instead since they can stand a much higher pressure and they are silver in colour

 

[BlackC55]

When a brake pipe shows signs of failing they tend to swell due to the walls of the pipe becoming so thin due to corrosion, ive seen pipes that look 10 times worse than the OP photo brush up like new, and once youve cleaned the pipe back to clean metal you simply cannot leave it bare to tackle the elements.

This is just my opinion, you are all entitled to yours, but that pipe in the picture does not look bad at all, it looks a lot worse that it actually is.

In my opinion.

I see these on a daily basis. You will never get all of the corrosion off, no matter how hard you try. If a pipe was 10 times worse than that its going to be horrific. Remember too its not just the pipe that corrodes, the union and metal end to the hose does too.
When the pipes look like the picture, the acceleration of corrosion is unreal.
That pipe will probably pass an MOT but, MOT's are a minimal standard safety inspection.

 

[johnsco]

I've wire-brushed / emery'd / and greased a few brake pipes in my time …. BUT …. I would not try to bodge that one.
It's not just the surface corrosion that you can see and disguise with grease - But it's the depth of the pitting corrosion that you can't see that's important for the hydraulic pressure rating of the pipe.
The position of the corrosion - right up against the nut - means that it is impossible to assess how bad it really is.
Just my opinion - But I used to work in a tube mill that manufactured brake lines and I used to inspect them.

 

[GP801]

I had the inevitable brake pipe corrosion mentioned on the last few MOTs on the 124. Until this year Ollie (Black C55) thought they were ok but this time he felt it had gone far enough and needed to be sorted. It wasn't helped by failing on a n/s rear wheel bearing with a huge amount of play in it although it still drove and handled normally. The bearing wouldn't come out and a new hub was needed. So given that it needed to come apart and it was 25 years old and had 181000 on the clock we (ie Oliie) suggested pretty much rebuilding the rear end. So new hub, wheel bearing, brake pipes, all rear bushes to subframe and suspension, differential seals, bushes etc, rear silencer and a few other bits I can't remember. On a positive note the self levelling pipes were fine and did not need changing. Looking at the parts removed it was amazing to see just how worn the bushes were but in testament to how the 124s were built they still performed as they should. So hopefully good for another 25 years now.
I have nothing but praise for the team at PCS who have looked after this car for the past 10 years. It now needs new tappets having started making a dreadful noise three days after I brought it back home but that has to wait until they reopen after lockdown.

 

[BlackC55]

I had the inevitable brake pipe corrosion mentioned on the last few MOTs on the 124. Until this year Ollie (Black C55) thought they were ok but this time he felt it had gone far enough and needed to be sorted. It wasn't helped by failing on a n/s rear wheel bearing with a huge amount of play in it although it still drove and handled normally. The bearing wouldn't come out and a new hub was needed. So given that it needed to come apart and it was 25 years old and had 181000 on the clock we (ie Oliie) suggested pretty much rebuilding the rear end. So new hub, wheel bearing, brake pipes, all rear bushes to subframe and suspension, differential seals, bushes etc, rear silencer and a few other bits I can't remember. On a positive note the self levelling pipes were fine and did not need changing. Looking at the parts removed it was amazing to see just how worn the bushes were but in testament to how the 124s were built they still performed as they should. So hopefully good for another 25 years now.
I have nothing but praise for the team at PCS who have looked after this car for the past 10 years. It now needs new tappets having started making a dreadful noise three days after I brought it back home but that has to wait until they reopen after lockdown.

I really enjoyed doing it. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[malluboy77]

Sorry, not checked on the thread for a few days. Thanks to all the contributions. The car will be going to Olly as there are a few other bits needing attention as well.

It is indeed thought provoking that manufacturers can't be bothered to put together parts that last, especially critical ones like brake lines. I had a W203 prior to this which had it's fair share of maintenance work but nothing as compared to my current S204 M271 which is proving far more expensive, that is not even with half the mileage that was on the 203.

 

[johnsco]

When I worked in the tube mill, we manufactured seamless brake-lines in Cunifer-10 alloy (90/10 copper-nickel).
We recommended it and guaranteed it against salt-water corrosion for the life of the vehicle.
It's specified for off-shore oil and gas and for salt-water pipelines on warships and nuclear submarines. (UK and US Navy).
The only volume car manufacturer we convinced to fit Cunifer-10 was Volvo.
We supplied them for years.
Much of our output was for the replacement market - sold in 25 foot pancake coils of annealed tube.