T-Rod

iTrader: (1)

Are stainless brake lines worth the $? I've got stock calipers with drilled rotors & traction control. Car is not a dd. I drive it on the weekends and it see's about 3k miles per year.

I'll be adding line lock and flushing the brake fluid soon, and would like to upgrade from stock lines if there are benefits. I'm still running the stockers from '98.

Also, which brand is recommended. Thanks.

smitty2919

For a non DD 3K mi a year car? I don't know if I would spend the money and time to replace them.

But a good pad like would be a good idea and easy to swap in.

hokeplaya05

iTrader: (3)

if there is nothing wrong with the stockers (corrosion) then i wouldnt touch them, money could be spent elsewhere like a nice set of brake pads to go with the drilled rotors as smitty said

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

I'd change them. They are 16 years old and I'm sure the rubber coating is cracked which lets grime in to work on the fiberglass braid. You are changing fluid anyway, so now it the time.

Don't know who mentioned drilled rotors but NO. You want slotted, ok or blanks, ok. I can sell Drilled but NEVER recommend them as they can and do crack at the holes. I was just looking at my OEM Corvette rotors.... cracks emanating from the drillings, no surprise.

I have different rotors, pads, fluid and even the brake lines too if you want to work up a kit for everything. But I don't use cheap-*** rotors, even the blanks aren't bargain basement. I don't screw around with brakes.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

I should add... then it's done. You don't have to do it later and have the debate down the road. It's just done as part of one job.

ThoR294

iTrader: (6)

I put stainless lines on when I did my ls1 calipers. Easy and worth it... My lines were bad! Got mine from the man above me

smitty2919

I'm actually surprised my drilled and slotted rotors have not cracked after this seasons autocross. I got them used with my LS1 brake swap so I used them.

Winter plans are to get slotted or blank rotors with good pads...ohh and a differential lol.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

The cracking is partially dependent on how they were drilled, how many holes, etc. While I have never tracked my vehicles I've never had a single crack yet on my Brakemotive sets.

I used to be firmly against any drilled rotors at all whatsoever, but Brakemotive has had an excellent track record on that. I wouldn't trust just any drilled rotors without a good history.

I'd do the new lines. I will be on my car at some point as my 99 is rocking almost all original hoses as well.

hokeplaya05

iTrader: (3)

just to be clear, are we talking about the steel hardlines or the rubber lines at the calipers?

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

The rubber flex lines at the calipers and chassis to rear axle.

hokeplaya05

iTrader: (3)

ohhh ok i thought we were talking about hardlines for some reason. in that case yes you should definately replace the rubber lines with stainless while you are in there

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

No, cracking depends on how they are used. OEM rotors from GM to Porsche crack under hard use (sometimes even not so hard use). There is a damned good reason you do not see drilled rotors on cars that use the brakes hard like any sort of road race or short track car. In fact you might have noticed the C7 moved away from drilled rotors, specifically to address cracking on the C6Z and Grand Sport rotors (what I have).

Simply put the edges of holes are stress risers, they also get hotter than the rest of the face, between the two cracks propagate with the heating or cooling of the brakes. Unless the brakes aren't used hard and don't build then shed heat quickly.

smitty2919

But drilled looks cool yo...

T-Rod

iTrader: (1)

I've had the drilled ones for a while now and given them a good once over just now. They show no signs of cracking on any of the rotors. I will definitely keep this in mind when I go to replace them.

JOHNNYMO

iTrader: (1)

Same here... I had them on my 02 Z06 and live in a mountain region. At times, I really drove hard through the twisties putting the brakes to work. I never had any cracking around the holes. I imagine under auto cross stress, there might be some cracking because of extremes. That said, for street cars, I haven't personally seen any issues with my own cars and Ive had the drilled and slotted type rotors on 3 of my vehicles now.

smitty2919

GTO guys see cracks on "sub par" rotors. But then again most of them do not drive the car hard and even on DD use with the added GTO weight it does not help them.

IMO drilled is useless whether you have got cracks before or not. Since autocrossing my Z28 I have stepped so far away from anything "show" and go straight to function.

You won't see cracks on the occasional mountain/twisty road sprints. Unless you do that every day and get the brakes very hot then let them cool...rinse and repeat.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

I would prefer if Brakemotive had just slotted like they used to but it doesn't really bother me anymore.