Last year I replaced all the worn parts of my brakes, (calipers, pads, rotors, bearings, rubber lines, drums, shoes, spring kit, and cylinders). I have decided to begin upgrading my brake system. The first thing I want to do is ditch the rubber brake lines and go with hyperfirm lines. Which product is better as far as quality of construction, reliability, and ease of installation? Russell or Earl's? The only other upgrade I plan on is the 1LE front brake swap, but that will not be for another year.

 

After reading many posts on the subject, I'd say Earl's gets the nod.

JamesC

 

As I search this board, I noticed that just about every member talks about the Earls in their posts. The Russell lines are more expensive by a couple bucks... How is the fitment of the Earls? Bolt right in? Everything line up nicely? If I get these... EAR-28A180ERL... the front disc/rear drum set, will the front lines work with a 1LE front front brake upgrade? I have read so many posts here and cannot find a specific answer to this

 

Fine. Yes. Yes. No (the 1LE version is longer).

JamesC

 

earls hands down

i dont like russells parts to begin with (edelbrock), they have good manifolds and water pumps, thats about it.

There is at least one thread on this board about russell lines blowing out and causing an accident

IIRC im using the standard front flex lines, not the 1le ones, with c5 calipers and have no problems with length

 

IIRC there is a member on here mabey he will chime in and show you one GOOD reason to go with earl's.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/brak...ghlight=russel

check out post #9 from quadgoat, see what happened

 

Thats the one.

 

WOW That is some scary stuff. Rubber lines are starting to look good...

 

That Earls line that failed in the thread is mine, the one that burst and caused the crash was a russel line. I am still running Earl's though. New set they sent me works just fine They told me all their testing procedures before they leave and it IS pretty extensive, enough for me to try them again..

Just make sure you do a nice hard test with lots of runout.

 

I use Goodridge lines after a factory line failed while autoxing

 

I had an Earl's line fail while backing out of the driveway in my Monte. The line ruptured right where the braid enters the metal end connector.

I replaced my lines with Russell's, and IMO the Russell lines just look and feel like better quality parts. The Russell lines also have a poly coating over the steel braid and an extra poly sheath over that where it enters the metal end connectors (2 poly sheaths where it enters the connector).