Making your own brake lines might sound scary, but with this tool, it's a breeze.
Working with brakes can be scary. They’re the reason your car is able to stop, after all, so if you mess up, you could put you and the people around you in a dangerous situation. Thankfully, brakes are easy to work on if you know the basics. While making your own brake lines doesn’t sound very basic, tools like this flaring kit make things a whole lot easier.
Brake line flaring kits are used to flare the ends of brake pipes so they can be connected to each other and form a proper seal. Most kits have several components, used together to compress and flatten the end of a brake pipe to give it a flared end ready to be used. Learning to use one is as easy as watching a YouTube tutorial, and once you know what to do, making new hard lines for your car is as easy as swapping spark plugs.
Knowing how to make your own hard lines is incredibly useful if rust is a problem where you live. Brake lines are often one of the first items to fail due to rust, so replacing them is key to keeping a car on the road. When I bought my 325iX project car a few years back, it was mostly rust-free save for the brake line going to the rear of the car, which was crumbling to bits. Thankfully, because I had a brake-flaring tool on hand, I could cut out the cancerous, rusted-out line and replace it with a new pipe in just about an hour.
Despite the multiple components and highly specialized usage, brake line flaring toolkits aren’t all that expensive. The Pittsburgh kit I use costs just $27.99 from Harbor Freight, and includes options for flaring multiple pipe sizes. If you’d rather buy from Amazon, the online marketplace giant sells a slightly more expensive kit from Ares, but it also includes a brake line cutter, which you’ll need to make correctly-sized lines.
Disclaimer: Take caution when installing new brake lines. Monitor fluid levels, check the system thoroughly for leaks, and confirm there’s consistent brake pedal pressure before hitting the road. Work on your brakes at your own risk.
Brian Silvestro Road & Track staff writer with a taste for high-mileage, rusted-out projects and amateur endurance racing.
Keyword: Make Your Own Brake Lines With Confidence Using This Flaring Toolkit