Front brake flexis corroding
Discussion
When in for service this was highlighted as an amber advisory for MOT (which it passed). Not seen this before in my years of motoring. Is it normal on a 9 year old vehicle to need these replacing, or 'do they all do that' nothing to see here?. The service tech said the brakes could fail at any time, which for the £541.18 they quoted to replace would be quite good value compared to hitting a brick wall.
Pic from service:
Pic from service:
Presumably the end metal fittings are mild steel, for cost reasons.
Your photo shows a very generic looking part.
Probably exactly the same construction, is used in a new £13,000 Dacia.
What is it £20 parts, plus £521 undoing two nuts on each hose, then refitting?
£400 + VAT per hour labour.
Looks as though they might bleed the customers, more than the brake fluid. (
boom, boom.)Now that our cars are supposed to be 'ultra-luxury' motor cars, one would expect better materials.
Imagine a knee surgeon. "The ultra-luxury version is titanium, but we try to save money, so this mild steel joint should be OK for a while."
I was looking at those flexible hoses a couple of years ago as my rear one's look corroded, my car's just had an MOT and nothing about the brake lines.
The AM price for the two hoses are roughly £200 plus VAT so not cheap and shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to do both sides, the quote seems abit high on labour charge.
They are a standard size brake lines so there will be a cheaper alternative, but you will need to find the correct length, plus there seems to be a bracket on the end?
If I needed to replace brake lines I would probably look at genuine parts, As we drive our cars hard I don't fancy the brakes failing.
The AM price for the two hoses are roughly £200 plus VAT so not cheap and shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to do both sides, the quote seems abit high on labour charge.
They are a standard size brake lines so there will be a cheaper alternative, but you will need to find the correct length, plus there seems to be a bracket on the end?
If I needed to replace brake lines I would probably look at genuine parts, As we drive our cars hard I don't fancy the brakes failing.
Jon39 said:
Now that our cars are supposed to be 'ultra-luxury' motor cars, one would expect better materials.
Imagine a knee surgeon. "The ultra-luxury version is titanium, but we try to save money, so this mild steel joint should be OK for a while."
I see this all the time on here. Why would you expect better materials? The VH cars were engineered to Ford standards and (largely) met those standards. Do you think Astons were or should be engineered for something like a 30-year life?Imagine a knee surgeon. "The ultra-luxury version is titanium, but we try to save money, so this mild steel joint should be OK for a while."
Even using "standard" automotive materials and parts (e.g. zinc and passivated fixings, rather than something like stainless) with AMLs volumes (often not achieved - look at new Vantage) the profit margins were and are pretty thin. Use more exotic materials and engineer for a longer life and the company would have lost even more money than it did, and I doubt even one additional new car sale would have been achieved.
LTP said:
I see this all the time on here. Why would you expect better materials? The VH cars were engineered to Ford standards and (largely) met those standards. ...
Don't take my comments too seriously Paul.
It was a little tease ref. LS's oft repeated phrase.
If someone describes a product as 'Ultra-Luxury', presumably the customers will then be expecting something special.
A good job that he has never said which bit is ultra-luxury. Duckling down seat cushions perhaps.
'Ultra-luxury, including many components from everyday cars', does not quite have the same marketing impact.
The brake lines are not like the regular ones fitted to most cars in that they are a fully braided line. Common usage would be reinforced rubber, why aston went with this route i dont know, its a bit of an odd choice but there may have been some reason.
only the ferrules are corroding, and very mildly at that, you could shine those up with some steel wool and give them a coat of acf50 and they will be fine for years to come, unless others are much worse, they are no drama.
They are specific to the Vantage as there are brackets which attach to the body, These are braised onto the fittings. Its absolutely not a problem to grind the braise off and fit a replacement line.
Hel/Venhill etc will do a full stainless line in the correct length for approx £30 per line which will never corrode. Fitting and bleeding can be a pain, if the unions come undone without and drama its 20 minutes a corner. If the union picks up on the pipe and twists it off, its a faff.
You should be able to get a full stainless kit made to order (assuming nothing is on the shelf already) and fitted with a bleed and have change left over Vs the aston parts cost.
All that said, they only look mildly corroded, so i wouldn't be breaking into a sweat over it
FWiW, my daughter's Evoque was in for a service recently and the flexis are a service item to be replaced at specified intervals. Her car was approaching the time/mileage where replacement was advised so we asked to have them done.
I'd suggest a car like an AM which may well spend a lot of its time festering away in an unheated garage might benefit from a similar approach. Treat them as a consumable and replace them either on time or on mileage so that they don't end up looking like that. Prevention being better than cure and all that stuff.
Yours I'd put in the bin sooner rather than later.
I'd suggest a car like an AM which may well spend a lot of its time festering away in an unheated garage might benefit from a similar approach. Treat them as a consumable and replace them either on time or on mileage so that they don't end up looking like that. Prevention being better than cure and all that stuff.
Yours I'd put in the bin sooner rather than later.
I’ve just had all four flexi’s replaced on my 2013 Vanquish for exactly this reason. Fortunately it was paid for by the dealer that supplied the car following my discovery of the corrosion post purchase.
Interestingly, the mechanic that carried out the work cut the steel section of pipe going into the calliper so that the fittings could be removed with a socket rather that the open end of spanner. The wall thickness was substantially thicker than I have seen on brake lines previously, as such, I suspect they will withstand quite a lot of corrosion before they fail.
On a side note, the standard items are supplied to Aston Martin by Goodridge. I don’t think it’s fair to say that Aston didn’t use quality items from factory. Braided Goodridge lines are generally considered an upgrade, I fitted them as an improvement to my 911, they improved pedal feel and certainly looked better quality than the Porsche OEM rubber ones.
Interestingly, the mechanic that carried out the work cut the steel section of pipe going into the calliper so that the fittings could be removed with a socket rather that the open end of spanner. The wall thickness was substantially thicker than I have seen on brake lines previously, as such, I suspect they will withstand quite a lot of corrosion before they fail.
On a side note, the standard items are supplied to Aston Martin by Goodridge. I don’t think it’s fair to say that Aston didn’t use quality items from factory. Braided Goodridge lines are generally considered an upgrade, I fitted them as an improvement to my 911, they improved pedal feel and certainly looked better quality than the Porsche OEM rubber ones.
If memory serves, it is the same on Bentley. My Continental GT had a "service interval" on brake hoses as when they age they can either become brittle, or they lose rigidity so when brakes are applied, the hoses expand lessening the braking force going directly to the caliper pistons. Or, god forbid, crack, split and lose all fluid.
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