Hi,
I have a bug wrx 2002 which i have owned for two years now. I have been told by the garage that i have corroded rear brake lines. But they said to change them it would involve removing the rear sub frame, dropping out the petrol tank and removing the rear axle as well . Which seems like a lot of work and would probably cost me more than the car is worth now in labour. Not too mention what else they might find whilst doing all this. Is this right to just change the rear brake lines? any advice or guidance would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

I would go and find a real garage mate that is a load of bull.

Car on a lift wheels off and that is it you can get to the pipes will take a few hours to do all four.

:-)

 

They had the wheels off today to fit some rear tyres and i had some braided brake hoses to put on, but the brake lines are welded to them due to corrosion. They seem to think that the brake lines run over the top of the petrol tank is that right?

 

See these guys

http://www.enginetuner.co.uk/about_us.htm near you and have a bloody good reputation.

 

That only applies to the hoses.

They may be right. The hoses can be changed with just the wheels off. But if the ends are corroded there is a good chance you will snap or damage the ends of the hardlines when you try to undo them.

The hardlines run all the way from the engine bay through the cabin under the carpet under the back seat and out of the car underneath near the fuel tank. They then join to shorter hard lines which lead to the flex hoses. Depending on which lines need doing then yes the things listed will have to be removed plus interior! Its an annoying job which will cost lots on labour.

Now depending where it is corroded you may be able to have it cut and a new piece added in. Problem is most garages won't do this as they will see it as a bodge. It can be done safely but I doubt many will do it and it may be too hard to get at without taken things apart.

The other option is have new hardlines made that go from the pipes under the rear seats to the hoses. Having pipes bent is fairly easy and these can be added in place of the original items which can be left in place disconnected if its too hard to strip them out. This could be done just with the wheels off and the car on ramps and the rear seat taken up. It would simply move the joint already present under the car so wouldn't introduce any further failure points. Will still cost a bit but probably cheaper to do and the new hard lines from Subaru are bound to be stupid money.

 

Thank you FMJ, that clears things up for me. What a crazy route for the hard lines though. Of all the things to corrode under the car that seems the the worst and the most time consuming to put right. hopefully i can find someone sensible enough to re-route them for me. Thanks again.