Rusted brake lines, anyone?
 

I had the drivers side underbody cover off this weekend to change the fuel filter and noticed that the brake lines were rusted. I was pretty shocked considering that they are pretty well protected from moisture. Unless the covers underneath the vehicle are trapping moisture.

Has anyone had any experience with this? Wasn't there a recall of some sort regarding brake lines?

A poster here reported them; from fading memory, he had to pay to have them replaced and they weren't that "old"; again, from memory.
I can't find the thread via search and can't recall who posted it. Remarkable to me how that very important "line" would be so susceptible
to rust for a fairly new car. Penny pinchers at work, imo.
GL, mD

That's strange. I always thought brake lines were made of a non corrosive material. Never saw that before, not even on my high mileage vehicles. But they are not BMWs.

That's what I would think. But these have a lot of corrosion. You'd never know it either because the bottoms of these X5's are covered up. The driver's side cover has all those plastic push-in body plugs, so if you decide to take a look and get the cover off, be prepared with many new plugs; the old ones break.

Go with braided stainless steel brake lines (stoptech)...

I had mine replaced a couple of months ago BMW picked up the labor and the Dealer sold me the parts at cost.

These are the rigid brake lines that run the length of the car to the rear brakes. Not the flexible lines in the wheel areas.

#6 and #3 in this diagram:
RealOEM.com BMW E53 X5 4.4i Rear brake pipe DSC

I have not seen that kind of corrosion and any of my BMWs. I highly recommend a cleanup with a soft metal brush and then apply CorrosionX. I used this on all my cars and works fantastic. Just a light coat and wipe. My friend uses it on his plane (Piper Lance) and works great.

If I find any rust I treat it with Kurust and paint over .
use copper pipe if you replace pipes .

Never use copper pipe. There is a copper alloy available, which is safe. Safe in that it doesn't burst, but it isn't as strong as, and also does expand more, than traditional brake lines.

Brake lines have been corroding for ever, I think the issue here is just that most BMWs under discussion aren't old enough that it should be an issue yet.