How much would I be looking at to have a garage replace a brake pipe? It's the rear OS one on my Polo 6N.

I was considering doing it myself, but don't wanna try bleeding just yet in case I mess up the whole system and seeing as I would have to get a garage to bend a new pipe up anyways I thought I would get them to do the whole job.

How much for materials would I be paying? (surely not much.. a bit of pipe and some new brake fluid?)

And more importantly.. how much for labour? (I actually have no idea of how much time a pro would do this job in!?)

Cheers all, Chris

can anyone shed some light on this please?

i've been given quite a few prices..

one garage said 1-2 hours, no comment on materials

one garage said £95 total with only one hour labour (?)

one garage said half hour labour, £8 for pipe and hardly anything for fluid (I like)

anyone ever done it professionally? i might just do it myself..

Most places will charge like a quid or two a metre for brake line. A proper parts place will be about the same, either take the old one for a pattern, or measure it on the car and make a mental note of what unions it has on (males and femaile).

Main overhead is time to rebleed the system through to sort out the fluid loss, but if it's after a flexi, they'll just clamp the flexi and rebleed that wheel afterwards. So long as that's your method, it's fairly easy to do so long as you don't shear a bleed nipple or round owt off.

Tools wise, you'll need a hose clamp (yeah, you can use molegrips, but you can knack the flexi that way if you're not careful), and a set of brake spanners. Just make sure you know what you're doing with bleeding the brake before you start.

^ as above + if you do break the bleed nipple off, as it's on a rear drum you only need to replace the wheel cylinder at <£10. If you do want to get someone else to do it, the third garage sound reasonable, I'd go with them if they look like they know what they're doing - 1/2hr sounds about right if it's just the last section of line from the flexi to the wheel - unless there's problems with a joint or nipple.

ok cheers fellas

i've been trying to look for bleeding kits, do any of you know which stores will sell one with a one-way valve?

apparently halfords did but don't anymore.. i think gsf only sell that £15 easybleed pressure bleeder, don't know where else to look?

Just get a mate to press the pedel.

Make sure the bleed nipple's openable

Open bleed nipple

Slowly press brake almost to the bottom

Close bleed nipple

Release brake

Repeat til you're getting a constant flow of fluid with no bubbles.

Clean around the nipple and stamp on the brake a few times to make sure there's no pedel fade and it works.

Make sure you don't end up low on fluid at the same time.

Just get a mate to press the pedel.

Make sure the bleed nipple's openable

Open bleed nipple

Slowly press brake almost to the bottom

Close bleed nipple

Release brake

Repeat til you're getting a constant flow of fluid with no bubbles.

Clean around the nipple and stamp on the brake a few times to make sure there's no pedel fade and it works.

Make sure you don't end up low on fluid at the same time.

Oh ok cool, so inevitably i'm going to have to top up the brake fluid reservoir whilst doing this, as there will be lots of fluid missing from when I took the original pipe out?

So do I just attach some kind of hose to the bleed nipple that leads into an empty jar? Just to collect old fluid once it starts coming through?

Going by the Haynes manual, when I'm taking the old pipe out (before bleeding), I put some polythene sheet under the reserv oir lid to seal it, and have a brake hose clamp to stop any excess leakage. I'm guessing the only time I can remove these is once the new pipe is securely fitted?

Sorry for the seemingly basic and silly questions, but I really can't afford to mess it up!

oh and last silly question, will different 'brands' of fluid being added make a difference?

i was going to go to VW and ask for some of their genuine stuff but don't know what was put in the car by previous owner (if its actually been changed). Any potential problems in that respect?

ah balls.. i've just got under the car to do the job and realised its not the rear O/S pipe that goes into the backplate (small one) but the large one that travels behind the back axle from pressure regulating valve to flexi hose :(

as there is no flexi-hose in front of this pipe in the system, is there any other way of minimising fluid loss other than sealing the reservoir cap?

what can I plug the union end in the pressure regulator with once the brake pipe has been removed? it's going to be out of the system for at least an afternoon whilst I'm getting a new pipe made up? :S

desperate thanks, Chris

RIGHT!

Ignoring all my previous faffing around up there ^^ I think I've done it.

Got my local Indy to whack up some new pipe and chucked it on, whilst bleeding on the first few pedal strokes one of the unions was leaking some fluid.. but I just tightened it up and then it was fine.

Used a clear tube and there was basically no air coming out (the fluid had loads of time to travel along the pipe by itself). All I had was like one big bubble and then the next 3-4 strokes were all fluid.

So jobs a good 'un? I haven't had time to test it as it's still on stands but the pedal is solid when I push on it. Just wondering how you know whether or not there is air trapped elsewhere in the system? Will you just have shit braking and need to keep bleeding till the air finds it's way out?

Sounds like youll be ok if youve got a solid pedal. Air in the system will mean the pedal would be initially firm but gradually sink to the floor

Sounds like youll be ok if youve got a solid pedal. Air in the system will mean the pedal would be initially firm but gradually sink to the floor

mint, nice one dude