RS2 Hardlines fitting

[dan_b]

Am about to attempt to fit my RS2 caliper hardlines for strut-caliper. Any BTDT advice for me? What's the best approach? What pitfalls to look out for? Can I get away with leaving the calipers mounted, or do they need to come off? Any special tools?

[s2driveruk]

Dan, i did this with my 996;s but essentially:

Calipers can be left in place
You'll need a decent 11mm spanner

The link to the mini hardline round the back of the strut can be a pain to get undone from the flexi line, i actually removed the whole lot from the hardline on the car all the way to the caliper and did it in a vice as access and siezed connections meant it was a nightmare to do on the vehicle. The bracket is held on the strut (which carries the mini hardline) with 2 x 10mm bolts - remove from the strut and disconnect caliper side and topside and deal with it on the bench.

Is an easy job to refit everything, though getting the little rubber bung into the bracket can be fun......then bleed with your red ate stuff and you're ready.

Cheers,

David

[BRY]

Use loads of penetrating oil on the joints and have a cup of tea/cofee while waiting for it to work.

[dan_b]

Dan, i did this with my 996;s but essentially:

Calipers can be left in place
You'll need a decent 11mm spanner

The link to the mini hardline round the back of the strut can be a pain to get undone from the flexi line, i actually removed the whole lot from the hardline on the car all the way to the caliper and did it in a vice as access and siezed connections meant it was a nightmare to do on the vehicle. The bracket is held on the strut (which carries the mini hardline) with 2 x 10mm bolts - remove from the strut and disconnect caliper side and topside and deal with it on the bench.

Is an easy job to refit everything, though getting the little rubber bung into the bracket can be fun......then bleed with your red ate stuff and you're ready.

Cheers,

David

Cheers David, quick reply! Didn't get the red ATE stuff in the end as they wanted to charge $100 for shipping, which was ridiculous! Reckon I'll just get more of the blue stuff as Eurocarparts sell that now apparently.

[s2driveruk]

Use loads of penetrating oil on the joints and have a cup of tea/cofee while waiting for it to work.

Left mine soaking for over a week and still couldnt budge the top flexi, part destroyed the olive...... i gues it had been untouched since it rolled off the production line though to be fair

[AAH!]

Left mine soaking for over a week and still couldnt budge the top flexi, part destroyed the olive...... i gues it had been untouched since it rolled off the production line though to be fair

Whilst fitting my new big reds and new standard rear calipers a few days ago I decided to upgrade the flexi hoses to goodrich ones along with new caliper hard lines and a new brake bomb and a through flush with ate super blue.

It was a nightmare as we has to grind off every single connector as they were all totally siezed up. On the front we had to fit new female connectors onto the long hard lines that go to the ABS whilst they were still fitted on the car using one of those little pipe flarring tools. On the rear we hade to bin all the hard lines and make up new ones all the way to the T-piece in the centre of the car.

It took 13 hours and was a fairly painful process. Thank god there were no leaks and it
all now works wondferlly well, no sqeuelly brakes, no flashing (!) warning light. DS2500 pads are bedding in and are starting to feel good.

If anyone is thinking of ordering ferodo DS2500's for their RS2 rear calipers, the Ferodo part number FCP541H in their catalouge is wrong. Although listed as correct for RS2 rear pads, they are not, they are too small and don't fit. Both Demon Tweaks and Motorsport World, use Ferodo's info and as a result i got the wrong pads. Very annoying. Ended up having to use Textars, as they where the only ones available local to where the work was being done.

[dan_b]

Oh gawd, I don't like the sounds of this! Mind you, I only put these calipers on the car last year, and in February had them off up at the garage meet, so I know the caliper side of the strut to caliper hoses have been taken off recently, but I'll make sure to get a lot of WD on them before going near them with the spanners...

[hudsons mate]

..

[hudsons mate]

...its us

[dan_b]

I'm confused - I've just opened up the package from VAGParts for my strut to caliper lines, but I'm not convinced these are right? On the packaging says
8A0 611 721 and 8A0 611 722

but on the receipt it says 8A0 698 72 - RS2 Caliper brake lines...

I also can't work out how these actually fit? Are they the right ones? My friendly mechanic mate says these can't be right as there's no flexibility in them at all and there needs to be some between the strut and caliper surely?

I understand there's a firm in Isleworth/Twickenham that makes up braided flexible hoses to order, does anyone know what it's called/ have a phone number?

[Alistair C]

yup - those are the same parts that I've got here dan. They are the right ones.
I've bought a new set to replace the ones on the car (hexs are starting to round off)

Flexis are probably better in that you'd be able to remove the caliper more easily (without disconnecting the hydraulics) for dust cleaning - but the RS2 hardline does fit as there shouldn't be much / any movement between the upright and caliper.

[dan_b]

Hmm - so they look right, the P/Ns they're right too are they? Did I just waste a morning?

[s2avant]

They are the right parts. You don't need a flexi between the strut and the caliper as the calipers are fixed to the hub assembly.

You only need a flexi if the caliper is a sliding type such as the standard S2 design where the calipers themselves move. On the brembo setup only the pistons move.

Ben

[dan_b]

I knew it, I just wasn't sure, thanks for confirming!

[alg]

Help I am confused. Read the above post from Angus (same brake setup as mine) & he mentions upgrading flexi OEM brake hose section to goodridge. Then Ben in answer to Dan (porsche caliper on S2) says with RS2 hardlines there is no flexi section !
Its important because my front brakes (RS2 'big reds') have a flexi section that has failed again at MOT. I have had new front OEM flexi sections when I got the car 2004 & at last years MOT.