Anyone used these? (PVF Brake Lines, Ebay)

They are intriguing...nice and cheap and supposedly very easy to bend and install... What do you guys think??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Rust...727|39:1|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

 

I think that PVF is poly vinyl fluoride, a plastic like poly vinyl cloride (PVC). If you read the ad closely, these are steel lines with a plastic coating. Nothing wrong with that, but I would not pay a premium for it. I don't see how they can be any easier to install or bend than steel lines. Certainly steel is easier to bend and flare than stainless. If they are making their claims in comparison to SS, then that's something of a straw horse. The plated steel lines that you get at your local parts store are plenty rust resistant - they will last for decades - why use anything else?

I don't think there's anything wrong with these lines - I just don't see how they are superior. The price is pretty good though, if what you get is what they claim.

Oh, I do see something wrong with them - all lines are delivered straight, and you have to bend them. Bending can be tricky. Basically you are paying for the material, and for someone to put the flares on both ends. If you buy a kit from a mainstream vendor like inline tube, the lines will come pre-bent to the shape you need. These do not. (Note the inline tube kits come "folded" so they can be fit into a normal sized box. You are required to unfold them, but the compicated bends are already made.)

 

Yeah, I noticed that as soon as I posted monkeys

I thought that the price did look pretty good...especially considering it has all the right lengths (purportedly, anyway...), flared, and with nuts. It has the diagram, which is nice...but I have the FSM, so that isn't really a benefit for me. Certainly better than the $169+ shipping I would spend on a similar SS kit from JCWhitney...and it has the added bonus of NOT being from JCWhitney...haha

 

Yes, that's the straw horse. Something you set up so you can later knock down.

They are just plain steel line with a plastic coat. No easier or harder to bend than the stuff you get from your FLAPS.

 

IMO the price is ok for what you get. However, measure the pieces you'd have to buy from your FLAPS and price them - I think you'll find that steel brake line is pretty cheap.

Go to www.inlinetube.com and price their kit. It's really a custom kit, with the bends already made. Don't even consider JCW.

 

Oh, I have had THAT beat into my head here (stay away from JCW)...I now just occasionally use them for ideas for things I might want/need and look elsewhere for them.

How hard is it to bend brake tubing that you get from a FLAPS? I'm both cheap...in that I don't really want to spend $165 on brake lines if I don't have to...and worried that i'll either screw it up and hurt myself and/or get really frustrated trying to do it myself.

 

Normally you use a tubing bender. There are cheap ones and there are not-so-cheap ones. You can bend the tubing without a bender, but it's tricky. Clamp a piece of closet pole or some other form in your vise, hold the tubing on either side of the bend, and bend it over the form. The trick is to keep enough tension on the tubing so that the tubing stays in contact with the form and does not kink. You have to pull hard on both ends at the same time that you bend. (Using a tubing bender is much easier).

Go to your local parts store and get a long piece of 3/16" brake line and try it out.

 

Ordered a plain stianless steel kit from this company for my 71 CJ5 V6... completely unless for specified application. Totla waste3 of my time & money