Heads Up for Brake Line Check
 

One of my M5 brethren posted this up on M5 Board and thought Id pass it along for those who want to do a quick once over just in case. Want everyone safe over the holiday travel season.

How many of you own X5's also? - BMW M5 Forum and M6 Forums

Have a safe holiday!

Great info. Thanks for sharing.
I know what I'll do tomorrow.

Might as well just put some undercoat on them. I wonder if Plasti-Dip would work here.

Thanks for the heads up on this one.

That's spooky, I saw mine were corroded a couple of months back and have the new lines sat on the side waiting for me to fit them. I'm a bit tied up with valley pan and valve cover gaskets etc at the moment, they'll have to wait.

I brought my car with me from the UK where we have salt on the roads half of the year f*#king our cars up! And of course you guys over yonder have crappy weather too.. :(

I'll be checking mine out this weekend as well, thanks for the heads up!

Clean them up with wire brush and spray some of that special rust blocker spray paint and throw some undercoat on top.

Thanks for the heads up :thumbup: I will definitely have to check on mine soon. The last brake flush, I noticed both rear calipers were spewing out brown/reddish fluids, but all calipers are properly functional.

Good info, several threads about it here, thanks for the reminder though! So the ultimate driving machine may go like a bat outta hell, but may not be able stop safely when you need it to....lol!!! It's a BMW, are any us really surprised?

Well I decided to dive into this given a quiet weekend and glad I did. Definitely not what I expected with only 47k miles at all. While not bad compared to the pics in link I am definitely glad I tore into it.

BTW...what a PITA to get that splash panel off...didnt have patience to reassemble and have to do some cleaning and prep before I do anyway. Everything beyond the wire loom holder toward the back of the truck is spot clean and no issue everything in front of the loom has the calcification on it.

The panel has to be trapping the moisture, as the frame welds have rust stains as well demostrating a high moisture environment. I have added this to my own list for the X5.

This is a very odd place to rust, especially when there's a splash cover over it. Does the sunroof drain onto them?

Did mine yesterday. Only the caliper hose though as the rest of the lines were in good condition. At 120k miles old and having driven on salt-laden roads for most of its life..:rolleyes:

No. The drain spout goes through that area though.

Just finished buttoning mine up after cleaning and wire brushing the crud and spraying with protectant I am all good thanks to an extra set of hands from a fellow X5'er. Thanks man! What a fun way to break out of the cabin fever than firing up heaters and working in the garage.

Just to reiterate taking the panel (it was way longer than I thought) off is tedious, there are numerous 8mm (6-8) and (3) 10mm screws and the rocker panel trim also needs to come off as it covers some screws as well. If thats not enough there are also one time use plastic rivets so be prepared and have those on hand come reassembly time and you will also have to move the heat shield out of the way as well.

Even though mine was minor Im glad its out of the way!

Hey Everyone, I highly recommend everyone check their brake lines as viewed in the photos in this thread. I have an 05 4.4 with only 65k (garaged) and brake fluid was leaking after having completed a 4 wheel brake job. Took it back to the mechanic who did the brakes and he checked all around but couldn't find the leak. Then, he dropped the splash cover and there is was - corroded brake lines just like the pics in the thread. I cannot believe there hasn't been more of an uproar over this. It's 2014, corroded brake lines on an effing $65k SUV? Really?

BMW will only issue a recall if the costs of lawsuits are greater then the costs of a recall. Some one or a bunch of people needs to die first or get injured before BMW will take any actions.

Seeing that it takes around a decade to become an issue, and brake line inspection is included in the BMW service inspection list, no action will EVER be taken by BMW. If BMW is not maintaining/inspecting the vehicle, and repairs/inspections go undone, BMW holds NO liability in failed lines.

How do you know that is the BMW way?

Plastic shield is nice in idea (preventing damage by road debris) but it prevents metal lines from being washed by rain water or car wash by owners.

Salt used in winter floats in the air so it collects on any metal lines (Honda Odyssey van REAR AC line similar issue), even it is shielded by plastic panel.

So if one is diligent, spray some water from a garden hose in the Spring, but aim it high and through the plastic panel for good measure.

BMW (and ALL other manufacturers) recommend regular clean water chassis wash/rinses when the vehicle is used on salted roads. Did you and all POs do this?

I do this routine for all of my cars. Best time is around end of April or May. Get on my knees, aim the hose upward and spray all around.

Needs to be done on all vehicles driven on salted roads.

This is a textbook issue that keeps me away from used vehicles driven in winter weather. Dropped the cover last year, light coating of dust with ZERO rust on the lines/fittings. PO and I have never turned a wheel off road/on snow/on treated roads.

Anyone expecting brake lines to last over 10 yrs need to garage thru winter or chassis wash weekly.

Google class action law suits against BMW. Class action law suits are only initiated if BMW blow off enough people with the same problems.

it's not just winter weather, but salty climate such as being near the oceans.

Nobody can be sure of the position or conscience of BMW or what the verdict of a court or jury would be.

Personally, I don't think anyone should be surprised there is rust damage on something that is 10 years old, especially if it has been exposed to a corrosive environment that long. Nor do I think it means it is a bad design, something the maker of the product should have recalled or be weighing on their conscience.

Anyone that has spent any time driving salted roads or lived near the ocean should be well aware of the necessary precautions take to minimize corrosion.

And following BMW service schedule, the cover is SUPPOSED to be removed and lines inspected at recommended service. When significant rust is present, lines are replaced. Road salt or sea air cause is of no consequence.

Don't follow BMW service sched, and BMW recommended chassis cleaning directives, expect rust issues.

Lack of proper maintenance/chassis washes is not a manufacturer responsibility.

I had rusted lines replaced at 5 yrs on an '85 Audi Coupe GT Quattro, due to salted NJ roads.

Class action lawsuits filed or settled are not proof a company sued was irresponsible or they were "blowing off" anything, certainly not proof that is the culture or standard operating procedure of that company.

It is not unusual that class action lawsuits are filed after there has been a voluntary recall or product has been pulled from the shelves--giving the impression that at least those class action lawsuits are opportunistic---(is that an ambulance I hear?).

There are law firms that specialize in class action suits, where that firm is the initiator and then advertises for 'victims' to see if they can gather enough to move forward with the lawsuit. I'm sure you have seen the ads and commercials.

:iagree:

I replaced the Fuel Filter recently and below is the DIY:
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...el-filter.html


During the removal of the Big Cover, I realized that there are 2 holes that one can spray some water (garden hose set at medium, no pressure washer as there are fuel lines nearby) in the Spring, such as April or May to dissolve the salt from the winter.

Many people don't realize this but when salt is used, it is not just on the road, tires, chassis, but salt is also in the air and finds its way into the Big Cover and coat the brake metal lines. Then in July/August the hot months, corrosion by salt accelerates.

So every Spring, people should get a garden hose, set it at medium spray and aim it into holes #3 and #4 for in the photo below for a few minutes to get rid of the winter salt...


http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...-filter-02.jpg

This same thing just happened to me yesterday morning on my way to work. My brakes where really mushy when I got to work. After work, its like I had NO brakes. I looked underneath my sav and found a lot of brake fluid on the ground. I drove very cautiously home. Looked up "brake lines" on this site and found this. I then started taking the splash guard off of my sav because the fluid was running out by the spot this section mentioned. And sure enough, a rusted line blew a hole right at the elbow coming downward to run to the back of my brakes.
I ended up cutting off both lines because it was about to happen to the other line. I am about to repair them. I went and got all the parts needed to splice then back together.
Wish me luck.

Added Zinc paint protection on the rear brake lines
 

I inspected my lines at this point and there was slight corrosion. I had my master mechanic look at it and he agreed that it was only surface rust and was not as far along as the others I've seen posted here.

We cleaned the area and added zinc paint coating.

No compression fitting!
Bubble flare only!

PS: While there replacing the metal lines, you may as well replace the Fuel Filter.
I posted the DIY Fuel Filter in forum, you can search for that.

Bubble flare or double flare. It was pretty simple. NO COMPRESSION FITTINGS!!!

On the issues of rust on brake line: as I mentioned before, this happens to many cars not just X5.

Believe it or not, when parts are exposed, they rust less. When they are hidden, winter salt deposits on them but summer rain cannot get to the part!

Example:

1. 2005-2010 Honda Odyssey REAR AC lines are wrapped in protective rubber, guess what, the lines are corroded after a few winters.

2. The X5

If you spray garden hose to the area under the chassis (no matter what car) in the Spring, around April/May, you will never have rust on the brake lines. Just kneel down and aim the hose upward.

This leads to the next question: the big fat ass cover in the X5...I don't have this cover in my 2005 Volvo XC90 (also an SAV lol).

So, it is safe to assume that if you remove the big fat ass cover and store it (and its some 11 bolts) in the basement of your house, you are ahead because:

1. Fuel Filter DIY is much easier.

2. You can clean the chassis every Spring.

What are people's thoughts are getting rid of this big fat ass cover?

PS: The alternative is to aim water up those 2 holes I mentioned before...

If its not noticeable I wouldn't mine ditching the fat ass cover or at least trimming it so the lines are more accessible to be rinsed and/or accessing the fuel filter is easier.

I would assume that cover is there to protect the fuel filter from being sheared off by road debris and turning your X into a rolling blow torch...lol! It probably also protects the filter and lines in the event of a crash, it's pretty beefy, if you love yourself and your wife and kids I wouldn't remove it.

The Volvo 850, S/V70 as well as the Volvo XC90...the fuel filter is mounted underneath with no protection.

The big fat ass cover can do serious damage too, what if the brake line decides to leak when you are going down the mountain = not fun lol...

I like Ricky Bobby's idea of modifying it: maybe drilling a few 1/2-inch holes to allow a garden hose to spray up there in the Spring, when the birds are migrating north...

Having lived where they used salt on the roads, regardless of the make vehicle, corrosion and rust became a problem even if it was addressed from day one. I always used a carwash that sprayed the undercarriage or did it myself at a coin carwash. Spring cleaning included a trip to the coin wash to spray everything I could get access to from the top or the bottom. Even then, a vehicle 3-4 years old would have significant corrosion and some rust. I suggest that state is to blame rather than any vehicle mfg.

Some states are moving away from SALT and use SAND instead. Nebraska is one of them.

On the issue of Spring cleaning, My 1998 Volvo S70: brake lines look like new because I am very diligent in the Spring...Yes the car is 16 years old and brake lines look good.

VA is using a brine solution not sure all whats in there but that gets EVERYWHERE

Bump for those who are new and live North of the Mason Dixon line, or anywhere where SALT or Salt Brine is used to keep the ice of the streets.

Check Those Brake lines. See images for issues.

Honda Odyssey has the same issue with the Rear AC lines (the shield covers the line trapping salt).

I wonder if the fat-ass cover should be removed and stored in the basement. My 2005 Volvo XC90 has no fat-ass cover.

Also, every Spring, people should get a garden hose and find the holes in the fat-ass cover and shoot water inside to get rid of salt.

To make Spring cleaning easier, i.e. spraying water in the fuel filter, brake metal line area to get rid of winter salt, I am thinking...

- Drill a hole at the RED circle area, do NOT drill at the YELLOW area b/c the big black canister will block the water jet stream.

- Then aim garden hose up the RED hole and spray water to get rid of winter salt.

- Once done, plug the hole with appropriate rubber plug. I already bought the rubber plug at local auto parts store. I will post some photos later.

Right now it is just a thought process, see the photo for my idea...

I like the hole/grommet idea. Given all the little spots and crevices in there, I doubt one hole will do it. I have on my to do list to drop the cover and spray it off. The dilemma is that I work on the car in the garage. I do not want to fire up a hose in there. I'll loosen/drop/angle the cover enough to get a hose in there and assess the component locations with respect to a single "clean out" hole.

:thumbup:

wait, so you can actually remove the big fuel filter guard/cover without taking off the long black plastic covering the brake lines? D'OH
I guess I made the fuel filter replacement MUCH harder than it needs to be.

To get to mine, I had to drop that huge long black tray. It wasn't terribly enjoyable, but doable.

A few holes will make it easier than 1 hole. It will make cleaning a lot easier.

All you need is some water to rinse off the salt deposited on the brake lines.
You will be surprised simple rinsing (no scrubbing needed) will clean quite a bit of salt off.

I have been doing this (Spring cleaning with water) over the last 30 years, none of the many vehicles I own (some as old as 25 years old) have absolutely no brake line corrosion.

Corrosion starts around July-August: extreme heat + salt = speeding up corrosion.

So if you can rinse it off in April/May, you are golden.

It that time again for spring cleaning
 

BUMP

There is also immersion cleaning ;)

Can someone point me to which plastic rivets I should stock up on before opening this up?

Thanks

Is this one of those "Total wash and wax" I read about? :rofl::rofl:

Or is this one of those Boat Ramp exercises?

This is good information. Thanks for the post. I'll check it out.

Total immersion car washes have been opening all across the DFW area the last several weeks. Most people are coming to accept if it says water on the road or there is blockade it's probably not a good idea to cross. There are also on the go car washes on the freeways, often done by the pickup truck in the next lane. They don't detail the interior unless you have your window open.

Nice work cleaning without taking off the cover but where are your jack stands?

I thought it was a new James Bond SAV

That's for sure bc. Lakes are closed but there's plenty of places on the roads to go boating right now! We had to head out to Possum Kingdom this weekend to launch. All the rain has really muddied up the water though. Sad part is a lot of people are going to be without summer income from lake related activities.

2002 X5 3.0 280,600 miles
2004 325i 120,500 miles

Bump once again....

Good call for me I should probably check it and at least get some anti corrosion grease on there so I don't get stranded in winter

Fwiw, I had the front left wheel well liner out (easy, but requires you to replace 6 one time use plastic rivets) and could see that the front to rear brake lines are all nicely exposed when the liner is off.

I suggest that if your corrosion is bad enough and is limited to the region in front of the coupler that lives under the drivers seat, you consider replacing the line that runs from the coupler to the DSC unit, with easy access once the wheel well liner is removed. No cutting & flaring required...

BMW OEM brake lines are inexpensive, and come cut to length with proper double flares and flare nuts) but you have to bend them yourself (a small PITA factor).

Is this something you and I need to do on yours since mine was done already and prepped?

Yep! Get ready for more single use rivet pulling!

Bump time

FYI........

I just checked my brake lines and junctions without having to remove the very large black plastic shield used to cover the fuel filter and tanks.

All the lines were clean and rust-free.

All I had to do was unscrew the 10mm screws from the long plastic sill cover running from the LHS front wheel arch to the LHS rear wheel arch (no need to remove all those plastic one-use rivets from the edge), then pry the cover down about 2-3 inches from the inboard side.

This allows a fairly clear view of all the fuel lines and junctions. There would even be enough space to spay some anti-rust coating on the lines, if necessary.

The whole inspection procedure took about 30 minutes!

Whens this happening? Your over a year late :nanana:

Should we bring the soon to be newbie e53 owner to the darkside now or wait til he takes possession to reveal all these things?

Wait until ownership takes place.

This is not a bad idea - does your vehicle have the aluminum running boards? I might even but a big bulk pack of those push-rivets and just replace them and check it twice a year

Yes Ricky Bobby, I have the aluminium running boards. But, there is no need to touch them or the plastic rivets.
If you are only 'inspecting' the brake lines and applying anti-rust spray, you don't need to remove all those single-use rivets.
Just get right under the car, locate the LHS long and narrow plastic cover under the sill; then remove the line of 10mm screws (from the bottom of the front wheel arch, backwards); then forcefully bend it down about 2 inches to allow a torch-lit view of the lines and junctions.
The cover won't break, and will spring back to its previous position, when you are finished.
If there is no corrosion, you have saved yourself the hassle of sourcing and replacing all those rivets every time you want a look!

Do you want to remove and send me your running boards???:dunno:

^^Shipping might be expensive LOL

Bump old thread. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2fb0e4e035.jpg

Just pulled my two rear brake pipes today. An emergency stop to avoid a deer 160 miles from home found the weakest spot in the "made of rust" lines.

I'll be fabricating full replacement from scratch and also will be cutting some cleaning/inspection holes in the protection shield before replacing.

I will also be making said holes in wife's since her car is 12,000 miles behind and was garaged I'm hoping I can just scrub the rust use some naval jelly to un-rust the pipe and coat with something like plasti-dip or such.

FYI once I determined the brake line leaking was rear, I topped off the fluid and drove the rest of the way home. I did some test stops using only the e-brake and almost all freeway driving at 2-5am I needed to use the brakes only like 7 times. I didn't get low fluid light the rest of the trip.

I'd use POR15 on them.

some helpful tips i've found for other that blow a rear brake line:

1. Right line use two 10mm fittings, is 2436mm long (exatly 8ft)
2. The left pipe is 3020mm long (10 ft), and uses 12mm and 10mm fitting.
3. The line is 3/16" or 4.75mm
4. use nicopp line for ease of bending
5. you must use ISO BUBBLE flare; get the right tool
6. $150 for pre-cut terminated lines
7. build your own for $60 for both (including the tool!)
8. you must remove the under belly cover
9. to remove, there are over a dozen single-use rivets; push the center in to release
10. to remove the whole pipe you also need to remove the rear wheel well.
11. if there is non-rusty pipe forward of the rear wheel, it will be FAR less labor to cut the line and add a splice
12. see my review of the iso bubble tool on amazon to see a video of how to use the tool and fix the factory defects of the tool

Andrewwynn - which iso bubble tool did you use? Could you please provide a link?

There are quite a number of different tool options on Amazon. I found one with a review from "Andrew" but there was no associated video. Would be interested in what modification you made to the tool.

Thanks.

Andrewwynn - never mind, I found it from reading the other thread on the same topic.


For someone else reading this, the link is here.



Andrew, great job with the review. Thanks for taking the effort to do that - much appreciated!

Now I'm worried since my X5 been here in tri-state area all its life where it is exposed to road salt. Anyway, I will be inspecting it this weekend. Thanks for the heads up.



On a side note, I have had a brake line failure on a 2002 Ford F150 once. Good thing I was diverted on a local road due to traffic so only going very slow when lost the brakes. Anyway, repaired it with a new line then traded it in for another car. I will not keep a vehicle that is trying to kill me :-(

The link to the exact tool I bought:

http://a.co/5tXz9W0

The video is there showing the pitfalls and workaround to make it a five star tool.

Also read all the one star reviews. I posted a rebuttal to each one. They were all certainly operator error.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...51a16251c2.jpg

Pics or it didn't happen. The left is my first flare once I got the depth correct and the right was the factory flare.

See my review and video on Amazon: http://a.co/8K7gakD

I want to point out that since before 1963 (earliest car I've personally driven) there is no "going out"; the rear and from brakes are split apart and redundant. The brake pedal will tend to drop to the floor before the working pair of brakes are effective.

The failure in my case was a small enough that the brake pedal didn't drop fast it just kept sinking slowly.

You should be able to effect very strong braking with especially the back brakes out even though you will have to press the pedal much farther and likely much harder than usual. It's very good that the front and back brakes are separate systems.

That said they use the same fuid reservoir so I don't know how many applications you get before you have a problem. I refilled my brake reservoir as soon as the light came on and was able to drive nearly 3 hours and perhaps 7-10 applications of brakes. I also never held the brake pedal down at stops (used hand brake) and used engine braking to reduce the use of the brakes.

2-5 am and I wanted to get the truck home and on the parking pad where it will be repaired while the brakes still sorta worked.

Most of the cars I have seen have one front and the opposite rear on one circuit and the others on another circuit, i.e. front left and right rear on one circuit and right front and left rear on the other circuit.

The idea here is that if you loose a circuit (due to any hydraulic failure),
you will still have limited but even (directionally) braking.

This is also why you bled brakes in this pattern. Here in RHD-land we bleed brake in this order: -

Left Rear (longest line in the car), then
Right Front (shortest line but on the same circuit as the left rear), then
Right Rear (longest on the other circuit), then
Left front (because it's the last one!).

:thumbup:

My ex 2002 Ford F150 had only three circuits; 2 going to front L/R and one going to the rear that splits into two; rear L/R. The rear brake line rusted out and leaked before the split and my brake pedal dropped to the floor. Had to turn back home and drive very slowly using only the emergency brakes (foot- activated one). I tried using the normal brakes again one more time and it went down to the floor so can't verify if ever will have brakes again after that leak.

Heads Up for Brake Line Check
 

In my 2-3 previous experiences of a blown brake line the pedal dropped to the floor however at that point it would still function I could stop the car fine on the remaining brake circuits.

With the abs able to stop the fluid to a particular wheel to assist in traction I'm a little surprised the system doesn't just shut off the circuit to a blown corner.

Would be nice to have this feature but how would the system "know" that a hydraulic failure had occurred downstream on the ABS modulator? Wheel speed sensors won't really pick up this and the ABS modulator probably isn't able to read fluid pressure. :dunno:

I'm sure it could be done but the additional cost in the ABS system is likely prohibitive. Cheaper to regularly inspects the lines - like BMW suggest. :rolleyes:

You would know because the brake:abs lights would illuminate. I lost ABS function about 70% of the way home when somehow the computer figured out something was amiss..that reset by the morning when I moved my car from the street to the back yard for repair.

I'll post photos of my installed new lines and the MF'r right rear over axle connection.

It's a cake walk to do the iso bubble flare just need the right tool. Read the 1-star review replies from me to see where people go wrong.

Neither inspection I or II checks the brake lines. Quite sure BMW intended for those to be life of vehicle. Depending on when they fail it could be quite likely by coincidence.

It would take an additional set of sensor but could be a simple sensor like pressure pad behind brake pad to determine which wheel gets no pressure once the main pressure sensor sees the rapid drop from the split in the line.

It's on Inspection I... (boxed - fourth from bottom)

http://i67.tinypic.com/9i9zjo.jpg

This is from E39 etc. (can't find the E53 sheet right now) but it's virtually the same for this generation of Beemers...

I guess (know, actually!) we are lucky down here. No salted roads and very little winter snow etc. The underside of my '05 looks brand new under the plastic shields - literally. I'm amazed when I get under there. I'm equally amazed at what you folk have to deal with, when I see the rusty parts on your under carriages (brakes, arms etc.). We don't see vehicles in that sort of condition until they are 30-40 years old... :yikes:

And I am literally in awe of the skills you folk have at dealing with seized and frozen parts! :thumbup:

There is no chance the inspection ii means "above the plastic shield". They look at what can be seen without disassembly.

Bump!

Just replaced my steel coated lines at the rust points. Look like a flute rusted at the little bends. Wife was driving and the pedal hit the floor 1/4 from the house.
:wow:

Finally, now maybe we can get her back on the road and do a meet with the local who signed up for a 2nd tour of duty in an e53 and bought your clone :)

I can't encourage folks enough to perform this check esp based on Stephen experience as I know his mileage is low and he is a very fastidious steward of his X5 so this was a shock to me. I've posted pics of mine and did a recheck in Dec to find it in need of cleaning yet again. I'm mystified as my car has very low miles and has very little road time. So before winter sets in please check these out

Absolutely agree! My assessment is that it's a manufacturing design defect. The tube was bent enough to damage the paint coating during manufacture.

If you live in a salt humid environment you can expect to self destruct sooner than later.

You can prevent failure with some steel wool and some rust stopping paint


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Correct, That is what I did not do. Mine sits on rainy and snowing days and I drive something else. Washed out the under panels multiple times a year. Nothing short of pulling the panels, unsnapping the lines from their holders, and brushing on some Rust-Oleum or POR 15, will resolve the problem. Do it now and do not wait like I did.

I've replaced my lines but didn't put my cover back on. I'm going to drill some 2" holes for proper dehydration and future cleaning and inspection


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- My apology for my previous posts from 2014-2015 saying you should drill a hole in the big-ass cover to rinse off winter salt. Yes you should drill a hole in the big-ass cover anyway.

- However, the brake lines are covered by the long plastic cover just to the OUTSIDE of the big-ass cover.
So if you want to prevent brake line corrosion, then drill a few holes in the long cover (YELLOW color in the photo below).
Be careful if you drill holes in-situ! Do not drill through brake lines...



---

I personally think that no matter what you do it is only a delay result.
Whomever made these lines supplied every manufacturer as brake line failure is now so prevalent that the aftermarket is making complete kits to replace them. So far no one makes E53 kits. My Grand Cherokee had the same failure. In its case the entire rear line looked like a flute. Hundreds of rusted pin holes. The front lines were perfect and they were not under any type of protective panel. Just ran along the frame rail.

This reinforces the idea above. The plastic panel Is holding in moisture and speeding the rusting process.

My take on the X5 rear brake line failure is the tightest bends damaged the protective paint layer at the factory so the seed of rust starts there.

Catch it before it rusts through and prevent that failure.

Completely agree. The major issue is the flaking of protective covering on the lines at each bend and clip point. There appears to be no flex additive in the covering material so every movement/ bend is compromised at the factory. Time and exposure to vibrations and weather impacts the lines. Now if you live in a dry/hot climate your worries are ZERO.

Here on the east coast mine went just sitting under a cover... Oh well, just one more opportunity to learn new skills. :bustingup

Our '06 lines were very crusty. So bad that the rust had gone forward of one of the unions, so I had to splice in the fender. The '04, with twice the kms, and had spent its first few years in Quebec (worst rust on the planet), is fine but showing some white puffy spots along the lines.

Working on my 2006 X5 brake lines this weekend.
I will post all details (part numbers for pipes/unions, bubble flare tool, tricks etc.) when I am done.

Here's the union I did in the fender.

Mine also had rust ahead of one of the unions but I didn't splice I want to replace the whole line to the abs block so I "punted" for now.




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I just wrote a comprehensive Brake Line DIY...

DIY: 2006 BMW E53 X5 3.0i Brake Line Replacement

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...placement.html

Bump for winter prep

I usually 'go for it' on the fourth down (or third in CFL rules). Unless I'm really deep in my own end.

BUMP

Bump