AVOID HEL Brake Hoses - New hoses burst!

[FIREBOLT]

Do your hose's have a plastic sleeve that slide up & down? It should be there to clip the pipe halfway down the trailing arm?

I just looked at some lines I have & the oem lines have a metal crimped section half way down that locks the line not allowing the length/position to change unlike the braided lines.

Not the best pic but I just checked my T4 & it is the same, the lines are fixed rigid halfway down the flexible rubber hose. The braided lines have a sliding sleeve allowing the hose to change length at either end.

[gatos]

Originally Posted by Dog_Book

So your all kicking of over 2 examples of failure?
Id be carefull using deflationary language in an open forum as although i might agree with you your not backing up what your saying with expert evidence its only your 'view'.
HEL have been around for years so if they have been consonantly supply low grade products i would have thought a few legal cases would have shut them down as they are used on race vehicles to.
I used goodridge on my V40 and Wezmoto on my Vectra which lots have used with no issue as they use HEL fittings. The list goes on.

Id get back to the asap and see what they say, there the experts and should know the root cause of the failure.
Without seeing it on the car the part that burst might have been under pressure at an odd angle Alex as sometimes these are not routed correctly. Any fitted pictures would help you here as they might just say its been incorrectly fitted.
When ive made up lines myself the over braid only pulls out like that when its not been pushed into the ferrule enough which would indicate a manufacturing error or in my case my own fault lol.

Sometimes it makes you wonder if fitting these upgraded parts is even worth it the hassle. Doing the front on the Vectra was a right pain as for the MOT the line cannot touch any part of the suspension so it had to be twisted and all sorts to get it lay right if i had used a genuine rubber one they have strengtheners to stop the hose bending so it fits easy first time.

Dog book, if you look online, there are many more examples of the same failures taking place within a year of use.

As I said before, it was not the front one that burst, but the rear one. I would understand if it was the front one failing, as the entire hub moves left and right when the car is turning, moving the hose around a lot more and increasing the possibilities of a failure.

With regards to installation, there is onyl one way really the hose can fit, letting take the correct curvature and sit naturally, without any tension. If you try to fit it any other way, you will have to twist it or place it in such a way, that it will be putting a lot more strain to the hose.

And finally, as for "using deflationary language in an open forum", I could not care less, as I care about my life a lot more, than HEL's reputation. Their product was either defective or made of very poor quality in general, which should not make a difference really, as it put my partner's and my life in danger. As I said, luckily it exploded during the MOT test. Imagine what would have happened if I had to do an emergency stop at 70mph

From now and on I will stick to genuine Volvo and/or good quality aftermarket parts and will avoid rubbish "racing" parts with lifetime warranties that promise a lot more than they can deliver.

But then again, if I died, HEL would have effectively fulfilled their "lifetime warranty", as the product would have lasted until my death..... lol

This is from another forum

ATTENTION ALL HEL BRAKE LINE USERS!!!!

CHECK YOUR HEL BRAIDED BRAKE LINES NOW!!!!!!!

This was bought to my attention by my customer when he went for a MOT test.
My customer drives an Accord Type R. I fitted a set of HEL braided brake lines to his car less than 11 months/10,000 mile ago.
During the MOT test visual inspection, the MOT tester points out that his brake lines are cracking, then it went onto the brake roller test, when maximum brake pressure as applied, one of the brake lines burst and squirted brake fluid all over the inside of the wheel. Instant failure.
The old brake lines were refitted to get the car through the MOT.
This is when i got the phone call about the situation.

I went to check out the brake lines, and whilst i was there, i thought it would be a good idea to check over 2 other cars that i fitted HEL braided lines to.

The ATR had the HEL brake lines fitted less than 9 months ago, with less than 6000 miles on them,
The ITR had the HEL brake lines fitted less than 6 months ago, with less than 6000 miles on them.

BOTH of them showed signs of cracking/splitting.
The ATR had 1 brake line (OSF) which was cracking in the same place as the ATR which failed on the mot.

the ITR had started cracking on both front brake lines where the brake line support bolts to the suspension.

The fault seems to stem from the design. namely the support bracket which bolts to the suspension.
the OEM brake line has a bracket which is at a fixed point on the brake line, whereas the HEL brake line has bracket which slides up and down the length of the brake line.
When the HEL brake line is fitted, and the bracket bolted onto the suspension, the problem occurs when you turn the steering wheel. as you turn into the brake line, the brake line does not slide in the bracket, but as you turn away from the brake line, the brake line is pulled tight as it slides in the bracket to stretch as the caliper moves further away from the chassis.
but as you turn back into the brake line, the tension isn't released, the brake line isn't fed back through the bracket and over time, it seems this is what is causing the cracking/splitting, which leads to it eventually bursting.

I have sent an email to HEL to see what they have to say on the problem.

but in the meantime, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CHECK YOUR BRAKE LINES!!!!!!!

i'm relieved that the ATR brake line burst on the MOT rollers and not on the road when braking hard with his baby daughter in the back seat.
but quite suprised that HEL lines would fail after such short duration of usage.

[gatos]

Originally Posted by FIREBOLT

Do your hose's have a plastic sleeve that slide up & down? It should be there to clip the pipe halfway down the trailing arm?

I just looked at some lines I have & the oem lines have a metal crimped section half way down that locks the line not allowing the length/position to change unlike the braided lines.

Not the best pic but I just checked my T4 & it is the same, the lines are fixed rigid halfway down the flexible rubber hose. The braided lines have a sliding sleeve allowing the hose to change length at either end.

Yes, there is a sleeve/bracket or whatever you want to call it that is secured at the same place as the Volvo hose. Only difference as you have already mentioned, is that the hose can slide around.

[FIREBOLT]

Originally Posted by gatos

Yes, there is a sleeve/bracket or whatever you want to call it that is secured at the same place as the Volvo hose. Only difference as you have already mentioned, is that the hose can slide around.

It shouldn't slide, the Goodridge hose's fail in the same place. Your hose has been pulled too tight on that fitting which is why it has failed. Had the hose been at a fixed length (like oem) it would not have. That hose has not burst from too much pressure it has been bent too tight.

[gatos]

Originally Posted by FIREBOLT

It shouldn't slide, the Goodridge hose's fail in the same place. Your hose has been pulled too tight on that fitting which is why it has failed. Had the hose been at a fixed length (like oem) it would not have. That hose has not burst from too much pressure it has been bent too tight.

That's HEL's design flaw then. Other braided hoses are indeed fixed, but HEL is not. And as I said before, it was the rear that failed, where there is hardly any movement. When fitted it was sitting naturally in a relaxed position and no strain was applied to any of it's parts. The same cannot be said about the front, where there is excessive movement of the wheels from left to right and right to left and it would make a lot more sense if the front one failed. Even when I removed it, NOTHING was bend too tight, or forced to a position it shouldn't be.

[mixa]

Just got a set of Goodridge for the V70 , wondering now if ive wasted £70

[gatos]

Originally Posted by mixa

Just got a set of Goodridge for the V70 , wondering now if ive wasted £70

It's up to each individual to decide whether braided brake hoses are worth it, or are worth the risk.

It is my personal opinion that they can be extremely dangerous, as once they fail, they fail spectacularly, whereas rubber brake hoses deterioration is a lot more gradual and early signs of cracks are a clear indication that they need to be replaced.

Even if HEL offered me a brand new set of hoses, fitted by their top mechanic, I would decline politely and stick to my trustworthy good quality Volvo ones.

[Austin160]

While I agree with Dog-Book's comments to some extent, I consider his opinion to be based on reacting to an isolated incident- which it might just be, but might not be.
So what different course of action would you carry forward Dog Book?
My view is still to contact Trading Standards ( after informing the company). If everyone who has concerns does this, then TS are able to assess the extent of the problem and act accordingly, via resources they would have access to to carry out tests on these components.
Not to do anything is indeed unfair to the company, and potentially places users in insecure postions.
Of course this may just be a question of incorrect fitting/use, but it could also be due some element of manufacture. Who knows at this stage? But someone needs to at least constructively investigate it.

[bobthecabbage]

I don't have these HEL brake hoses but I found with the rear hoses, one brand was too stiff and/or incorrectly manufactured and I couldn't get it to sit relaxed. I should probably replace it as having that twisting tension on it as the wheel goes up and down probably means it will fail at some point.

Never had a normal brake hose fail on me yet although I do tend to replace them if they are even slightly perished.

[Dog_Book]

Originally Posted by Austin160

While I agree with Dog-Book's comments to some extent, I consider his opinion to be based on reacting to an isolated incident- which it might just be, but might not be.
So what different course of action would you carry forward Dog Book?
My view is still to contact Trading Standards ( after informing the company). If everyone who has concerns does this, then TS are able to assess the extent of the problem and act accordingly, via resources they would have access to to carry out tests on these components.
Not to do anything is indeed unfair to the company, and potentially places users in insecure postions.
Of course this may just be a question of incorrect fitting/use, but it could also be due some element of manufacture. Who knows at this stage? But someone needs to at least constructively investigate it.

Dunno, TS seem to never want to do much. Now if loads of X40's with these fitted started crashing they might look.
I think Firebolt has summed it up, im glad my rear lines didn't fail in the few years they were on as they wouldn't have been inspected due to them being braided which rarely fail....