StopTech stainless steel brake lines

[Eric Le Baron]

Anyone who installed these?
I have them here ready to be installed as well as 4 SportStop slotted rotors and Axxis ULT pads.

The brake lines come with some parts like washers but no drawing showing where to put the parts.
Another thing I want to know is how to install them without getting air in the brake system.
Think they should have added these instructions with the brake lines...

[DZeckhausen]

Originally Posted by Eric Le Baron

Anyone who installed these?
I have them here ready to be installed as well as 4 SportStop slotted rotors and Axxis ULT pads.

The brake lines come with some parts like washers but no drawing showing where to put the parts.
Another thing I want to know is how to install them without getting air in the brake system.
Think they should have added these instructions with the brake lines...

The washers prevent the chassis-side fittings on the stainless steel braided line from pulling through the brackets on the inner fender. They slip over the end of the fitting on the new flex line before you connect it to the BMW hard line.

StopTech lines are designed to be routed and installed just like OEM lines. So you can figure out what to do by observing the stock lines. However, additional instructions and photos may be found in the StopTech installation instructions for X5 big brake kits. Except for the fittings on the caliper side, the BBK installation instructions apply to the installation of stainless lines on stock brakes.

See: http://tinyurl.com/299jza for front lines. Check out page 8 for factory rubber line removal. See page 18 for installation of the StopTech lines.

See: http://tinyurl.com/2ddevq for rear lines. Pages 8-9 show how to remove the stock lines. Page 21 shows how to install the StopTech lines.

Both manuals include bleeding instructions, or you can check out the instructions on my site: http://www.zeckhausen.com/bleeding_brakes.htm

[Eric Le Baron]

Thanks for the explanation and the links Dave!
My suitcase was rather heavy going back to Europe

[DZeckhausen]

Originally Posted by Eric Le Baron

Thanks for the explanation and the links Dave!
My suitcase was rather heavy going back to Europe

About 87 pounds heavier, by my calculations. Yikes! Probably the first time you were happy that the rear rotors on your X5 are so small.

Be grateful you don't have a Dodge Ram SRT-10. A set of rotors and pads for that vehicle weigh about 150 pounds.

[Eric Le Baron]

Installed the StopTech rotors, Axxis Ult pads and brake lines in 2 days.
First day the front brakes, next day the rear brakes.
Took me about 2,5 hours per day including a thorough cleaning of the calipers and readjusting the handbrake.
Bleeding the brakes was done using a Motiveproducts Black Label European Powerbleeder.
Used about 3/4 liter of DOT4 brake fluid.
The links given by Dave Zeckhausen and the email response from StopTech were used.

Some remarks for those who want to perform the same job:

When re-using the brake pad wear sensors be carefull not to loose the small metal clip holding the sensor in the pad.
It's not fixed to the sensor and really easy to loose...

On my car, a 2004 X5 3.0D, the rear-left (brake line #3) is clipped in a plastic bracket in the wheel well.
When disconnecting the brake hose (#9) it came out of this bracket.
It's only after installing the new SS brake line that I saw this and I had to disconnect the brake line again to get the #3 brake line back in this bracket...

Carefull when connecting the StopTech SS brake line to BMW brake line.
Although you want to do it quickly as you loose some brake fluid (and my wife was calling me that dinner was ready), make sure to make the first turns by hand before using a spanner to prevent destroying the screw-thread if it's not perfectly alligned.

Depending on the amount of fluid lost during each brake line change you might want to check the fluid level of the brake fluid reservoir.

I was lucky that one of the rear rotors came off easily which gave me the opportunity to see how to adjust the brake shoes using adjusting screw #9
Did it on the other side using a flat-headed screwdriver through a hole for the wheel bolts and a small flashlight.
50% chance that you are turning it into the correct direction right away...

After installing the rotors and before installing the caliper/pads I degreased the rotors with brake cleaner.

Bedding the brakes was done using the instructions here.
After near-stop #4 the brakes started to smoke a bit.
At near-stop #7 the brake pedal got soft and after that I cruised another 15 minutes without using the brakes to cool them down.
Don't know whether it is psychological but I do have the impression that the brakes feel better although the replaced brakes still looked pretty good.
Used to have brake shimmy at most speeds which is completely gone now.

All parts available at zeckhausen.com
Some really interesting articles about brakes as well on their site.
Rotors and SS brake lines are from StopTech
Here is a reply from StopTech:

We do not include vehicle specific instructions for each line kit unless
there is something unique between our lines and the factory lines. The
parts should be self explanatory for an experienced mechanic. Presume
the brake lines follow the routing of the stock lines and would be
installed essentially as outlined in a factory service manual or
equivalent. One thing that might not be noted is the small rubber caps
are intended to go over the end of the hard line when the stock brake
hose is removed to keep fluid from dripping out while the rest of the
installation is being done.

From the rotor part numbers, it appears you have an X5. The front lines
should be p/n 950.34009, the only unusual thing being a grommet on the
line that should mount to a matching location on the suspension. The
rear line, p/n 950.34516, has no extra parts beyond the banjo bolts,
crush washers and rubber caps. The torque for the Banjo bolt into the
rear calipers is about 14 lb-ft, but we typically use that value as a
reference and tighten by feel of the copper washers sealing and the line
not moving when installed. That low a value may not be accurate on a
larger torque wrench and we do not want to strip anything.

Changing lines WILL introduce air into the
system and the calipers will need to be bled; there is no way around
that. If you are not experienced in bleeding the brakes, please have an
experienced technician do the installation or find someone with
experience who can help you. Bleeding the brakes is straight forward,
but if you mess it up, you may be paying a tow truck to take it
somewhere to get the air out of the system.

Please let us know if you have any other questions-

[ljnlaw]

Dave Z I am going to need some new pads and rotors all the way around for my 4.6is what do you recommend these days...I do not want to spend a lot of $$$ on a big brake set-up. Do you sell any good slotted or drilled rotors for the 4.6? Any new pad combos or should I stick with the Axxis and Porterfields? Don't worry you will be getting the order.

[DZeckhausen]

Originally Posted by ljnlaw

Dave Z I am going to need some new pads and rotors all the way around for my 4.6is what do you recommend these days...I do not want to spend a lot of $$$ on a big brake set-up. Do you sell any good slotted or drilled rotors for the 4.6? Any new pad combos or should I stick with the Axxis and Porterfields? Don't worry you will be getting the order.

We've finally got Centric Premium front rotors in stock for the X5 4.6is and 4.8is. Those things are huge, at 356x36mm and 32 pounds each. I'm waiting for Centric to get back to me on pricing for the StopTech SportStop slotted version of these rotors. (Centric is the parent company of StopTech and PowerSlot.)

Axxis Deluxe pads are in stock and remain the favorite choice among owners of the "beast" X5, at a fraction of the cost of the Porterfield R4-S pads.

I expect to have the slotted rotors in 2 to 3 weeks.

Still nothing for the rear of the X5 4.6is and 4.8is. That's the same vented 324x20mm rear rotor that's used on the later X5 4.4i. There are sets on order at Centric, but it may be months before they become available in Premium and then another few weeks later in Slotted.

I'll update the site when the new parts become available.

[ljnlaw]

As always thanks Dave.

[STALKER]

Informative thread.