Brake Pipes

R

Rocket

Member
 Midhurst area
MOT was today and the local indy has phoned and said it failed on a main brake pipe - front to back. He is phoning back later with a price to do the work but was saying it would take quite a long time as it is quite a tricky job. Anyone got any idea on how long this should take. I am newish to the car and have not used this garage before so a bit of prior knowledge would be great. I believe there are 2 lines so both would be replaced at the same time although only one failed.

Thanks

Edit: I guess moving the car would be tricky anyway as it has failed on a major fault. - I just googled this and it seems it a can't be moved if it is listed as dangerous. I will have to wait and see what it is listed as.
 
Did you get any garage to check the car over prior to the MOT?

You could go to the garage and ask them to show you where and why the pipe has failed.
 
Thanks for quick replies. The 2-3 hours info is a great help, it will give me an idea of the correctness of their estimate. The MOT was done at another garage because the indy does not do MOTs . I was having a full service and the MOT was done up the road at the same time.

Thanks for the replies.
 
Hi just had mine done at my local garage, metal back pipes and front to back pipes did not replace the rubber rear bits, £100 all in with the MOT re-test, good enough for me. Funnily enough my guy said it was a pig of a job as well....
 
Mark R said:
Hi just had mine done at my local garage, metal back pipes and front to back pipes did not replace the rubber rear bits, £100 all in with the MOT re-test, good enough for me. Funnily enough my guy said it was a pig of a job as well....
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Sounds like a bargain.
 
Just failed on pipes front to rear? Not the pipes actually at the rear too? I wouldn't have thought that was too difficult.
From memory, it took a fair bit less than two hours to get my pipes replaced from midway back to rear hoses. Replaced in copper (or whatever it's called), not OEM steel that will just rust again and is harder to fit.
How Z4-savvy is your indy?
 
Sidewaze Samm said:
Just failed on pipes front to rear? Not the pipes actually at the rear too? I wouldn't have thought that was too difficult.
From memory, it took a fair bit less than two hours to get my pipes replaced from midway back to rear hoses. Replaced in copper (or whatever it's called), not OEM steel that will just rust again and is harder to fit.
How Z4-savvy is your indy?
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Not heard back from Indy yet. One back pipe was bad also but he felt that one was not to tricky. One of the main ones that goes to the engine bay was the one that he thought may take some time. I'll have more info when he phones/emails a detailed background to the problem.
 
I don't have the specifics on lengths etc but mine were replaced at my local garage, I think it was about £90 each. Been an advisory for a couple of years and it's 15 years old so fine with me.
 
I had advisories for my rear brake pipes for 2 years running - they were badly corroded where they go under the cover just in front of the rear wheel.

I got them replaced in copper by a forum member for £100.

I think the offside rear pipe is the tricky one because it goes from nearside to offside between the fuel tank and the rear bulkhead and OEM pipes are already shaped, so the tank needs to be dropped to get that pipe in place.

Good luck getting them sorted. :thumbsup:
 
I did mine myself

If you look under the car there is a plastic tray that runs front to rear on the passenger side, if you remove this you will find the fuel and two brake pipes I also found what I believe to be a factory joint in one of the pipes. So one of the pipes can be replaced from that point to the brake calliper, so if it is good enough for the factory to put a joint in the brake line it is good enough for me. I cut the other brake pipe and made a joint the same as the factory one then replaced the rusty pipes with Kunifer pipe this is bendable so rather than drop the fuel tank i cut the old pipe out in sections then threaded the slightly flexable Kunifer pipe through the clips and made the joints off cost was £50ish as I had to buy a new flaring tool and the pipe and fittings.
 
Excellent job. :thumbsup:

That's exactly how mine were done, including the join under the cover!

Sounds like you could find plenty of punters if you offered a replacement service on here! :lol:
 
Think I'll add this to my long list of to-do's as a precautionary! Seen posts come up from quite a few times now, and with the age of the Zed I guess it's only a matter of time for me too. But the Kunifer pipe sounds interesting, will have to take a look into this.
My MOT is due shortly as well so will get indie to check so I know how far up the list I need to prioritise it! :lol:
 
Rocket - Agreed a bargain, however we do go back a ways.
Jakg - Not trying to put the freighters on anyone, mine had been noted for a few years on the MOT however the mechanic said they disintegrated as he was starting to remove them, just it is your brakes !!!!
Mark R
 
Had mine done after it exploded :o no brakes yikes all done in kunifer no more worries cost about £100 if I remember good luck find an Indy that can do it
 
bz4kev said:
.... all done in kunifer...
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Why they don’t they use this at build I will never know. It’s a safety critical component.
They could offer it as an option - I’d pay the extra £20! Any extra costs would be lost in the noise on a £40/50k Car.
 
Well have some guesses as to the estimate for the following repairs.

Estimate (Inc. VAT): £xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Notes: front to rear brake pipes rusty ( MOT failure ) rear link pipes on trailing arms rusty ( Estimate is to fit genuine BMW steel pipes as copper pipes are not rated for ABS systems )

I would add that the number x's do note relate to the amount in pounds, well not quite.
 
I had a couple of quotes of around £400-450, as it seems a lot of places believe it is necessary to drop the fuel tank to get access to feed in the rear sections.

I can understand pure cooper pipes not being up to ABS, but kunifer is an alloy of copper, an is much more durable than just copper. It's what mine were replaced with - front to back and the rear sections for £150.
 
Steve67 said:
£1278 ...
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Well not a bad guess. £1036

I think they added the remark about copper because I mentioned it was possible to do the job without using the OEM pipes.
 
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