Well, I've been reading all the old posts on brakes pulling to one side during fast stops. Everyone always says check the hoses... alright, well mine are only a few years old, the entire front suspension is new and the brakes are in great shape. Here's the long story:

Shortly after I did my front brakes (everything except the hoses) I took my car to Midas to have the alignment done (not because I redid the brakes). Well of course they couldn't do it because this and that needed to be replaced. So they went to take my car off the lift but it wouldn't go. It turns out the hoses were totally deteriorated and acting like check valves (which would explain why my old brakes went out with a lot of smoke) and they were probably original. I had to let Midas do the lines because they wouldn't let my drive it home. It cost me $140 instead of $30. A couple summers ago while attempting to replace the ball joints, I noticed the driver's side brake hose is cross-threaded onto the steel brake line thanks to Midas. I haven't done anything about it yet because I have been busy, but soon I am just going to replace all three hoses with Earls hoses.

My question is: how likely is it that this could cause pulling during fast stops? I'll post a picture of what I think it looks like being cross-threaded. I don't need any other theories right now, until hoses are ruled out.

 

While I agree with their logic, I can't believe they wouldn't let you near your car. I would've towed it out of there so fast that they wouldn't have understood why I left a lawsuit in their hands. What, did the guy not give your keys back??

Hopefully the metal brake line's tube nut isn't ruined. That line would be harder to change and/or fix then a hose would.

 

Well, he said he couldn't let me DRIVE it home. I didn't think to have it towed home at the time and I didn't realize he was going to rip me off so bad. I actually could have had it towed home for nothing or next to nothing with my BCAA membership (BCs AAA). Ya, hopefully he didn't ruin the nut's threads.

Here's what I think it looks like since the hole at the end of the taper on the steel line is actually quite small. Under normal braking it's fine, but under fast braking the flow just can't keep up to the other side... or so I theorize.

 

bump

 

Wow, nice sketch- that would've taken me a week to do.

Now that I think about it, if he did ruin the nut, it might not be that bad to fix the line. To get the ruined tube nut off, you'd only have to cut the flare off- maybe a few mm's. Then you could slide a new nut on and re-flare the end. You'd have to check the suspension travel to make sure those few mm's of "missing original factory flare" wouldn't stress out the brake hose tho.

An ISO bubble flare tool kit is $20 from places like http://www.toolparadise.com - http://www.eastwoodcompany.com has one for $60... but I've dealt with Eastwood before, never w/ToolParadise. On TP's website, type "OTC4504" into their search box to find it.

You'd also need a tubing cutter if you don't have one already, they're like $3. Both rollers have a groove in it that the flare fits into, so the cutter's blade will actually cut the tube right against the flare. After you cut the tube, you should use a small reamer to ream the tube back out to it's normal inside diameter (the tubing cutter will squish the metal in a bit). Then I'd let some brake fluid drip from it to wash out any metal filings. 'Course you have to work quick anyway since fluid will be dripping out; you might want a buddy around to just keep a check on the master cylinder level. Make sure he/she knows to watch the reservoir that's CLOSEST to the firewall!