Ballpark figure for brake hose/line corrosion (NCT Fail)

Allan45121

Hi guys, never posted in this forum before. I'm just back today from my NCT and my Astra 1.3ctdi failed due to "offside rear brake lines/hoses - advanced corrosion. The guy also said it'd be worth replacing the near side pipe too. I've never changed these and from a quick google i dont have the tools. Can anyone give me a ball park fiqure as to how much a garage would charge to change the hoses on both sides at the rear? Or is it something that i could do with a kit from a motor factor?

wilford

Got them done on a Mondeo a while ago garage charged €320 all in with headlight alinement.

Allan45121

wilford wrote: »

Got them done on a Mondeo a while ago garage charged €320 all in with headlight alinement.

Jesus... Was that a ford dealership or a local garage?

George Dalton

It is difficult for anyone to put a price on a job like this without seeing the car.

Just to be clear, the issue is not with the rubber brake flexi hoses but rather with the hard metal lines that run along the underside of the car.

To fix the problem the corroded sections have to be cut out and replaced. Replacement lines have to be made up to the correct shape from a roll of piping and have the correct flares and fittings put on the ends.

Depending on the car and the extent of the corrosion this can be quite a time consuming job as access to the lines isn't always easy.

For example the poster above has a Mondeo, to replace the rear brake lines on a Mondeo the entire rear subframe has to be removed, same story with the Opel Vectra. This is what makes the job so time consuming and therefore expensive.

I'm not sure how much time is involved on an Astra but the best thing to do would be call in to a couple of local garages and get them to take a quick look and give you an approximate quote based on how long they think the job is going to take.

Allan45121

George Dalton wrote: »

It is difficult for anyone to put a price on a job like this without seeing the car.

Just to be clear, the issue is not with the rubber brake flexi hoses but rather with the hard metal lines that run along the underside of the car.

To fix the problem the corroded sections have to be cut out and replaced. Replacement lines have to be made up to the correct shape from a roll of piping and have the correct flares and fittings put on the ends.

Depending on the car and the extent of the corrosion this can be quite a time consuming job as access to the lines isn't always easy.

For example the poster above has a Mondeo, to replace the rear brake lines on a Mondeo the entire rear subframe has to be removed, same story with the Opel Vectra. This is what makes the job so time consuming and therefore expensive.

I'm not sure how much time is involved on an Astra but the best thing to do would be call in to a couple of local garages and get them to take a quick look and give you an approximate quote based on how long they think the job is going to take.

Yeah I plan on doing that tomorrow, I just wanted an idea about wether it's tens or euros or hundreds of euros.. Looks like it's the latter! Thanks guys.

Allan45121

Ps thanks for that great reply George.

unkel

My car failed on this last year. My mechanic was fuming as he reckoned there wasn't any advanced corrosion at all, just some minor surface rust. He cleaned the metal lines and put a bit of paint on them. Car passed. That was well over a year ago. Car passed again a few months ago, no mention of the brake lines...

ngcxt6

Car failed on these last year, mechanic cleaned and painted them and it passed on the re-test.

This year my car failed on them again, advanced corrosion. going to get them replaced and estimating it at least 150-200 euro mark for a shítty 15 year old ford fiesta. Finding out the actual cost of it tomorrow, will update you.

Wibbs

My mates Merc failed on this a month ago. "Advanced corrosion". So faced with a large bill he had a look under the car. Couldn't see any corrosion. Thought this odd, brought it to his mechanic and lo and behold and try as they might they couldn't find any rust either. The damn lines looked new, with barely any road dust on them never mind rust. Did nothing, put it through the re test and of course passed with flying colours. This is not the first time I've heard of this with people I know. The mechanic had heard it often enough too. Dunno what the hell is going on TBH.

TL;DR? Get them independently checked before you start carving up your wallet. They may need little more than a light polishing.

power pants

in a dealership I worked for this was the new in thing to suggest to customers that the car needed doing. Not saying it didnt but it could be very expensive due to the labour hours and most customers were not too happy either.

TheDoc

I've a 00 Astra 1.4 that had the same problem last year. Hard to put a price on it as it's all manual labour, shaping the pipes. I got the work done and cost me about €120 in my local. It's different per car, so I wouldn't take too much from other models, depending on the corrosion and the part of it corroded, it all depends.

Best bet is going to your local, or an independent garage and getting a quote. I'd stay clear of a brand/dealer as their manual labour costs are inflated as it, so this work would be over the top.

As mentioned above, might just be a case of dirt or muck, and it might just need a cleaning rather then replacing. Mine needed replacing, my father got the same fail but asked to see it on the jack in the centre. Ran his key over it and it was just caked on muck falling off.

Advanced corrosion is one of the most contentious fails they do. For as many people you will hear like me who did have to get the work done, you'll hear just as many people say they just cleaned them or gave them a paint and it was fine.

TheDoc

Wibbs wrote: »

My mates Merc failed on this a month ago. "Advanced corrosion". So faced with a large bill he had a look under the car. Couldn't see any corrosion. Thought this odd, brought it to his mechanic and lo and behold and try as they might they couldn't find any rust either. The damn lines looked new, with barely any road dust on them never mind rust. Did nothing, put it through the re test and of course passed with flying colours. This is not the first time I've heard of this with people I know. The mechanic had heard it often enough too. Dunno what the hell is going on TBH.

TL;DR? Get them independently checked before you start carving up your wallet. They may need little more than a light polishing.

They inspect that part on visual only. As part of the NCT you can request to be shown the failure points and they are supposed to show you first hand. Most people don't do this, and I've heard one or two little arguements in the Ballymun centre as the testers take the cars down and bring them outside, rather then coming back in first.

My father is mad for that. Any failures he asks to be shown, and he alerted me to the advanced corrosion one, where as above he was shown it, and with his key was chipping off caked muck.

When mine failed last year on it I went to have a look and the guy brought me out and pointed to where he failed it, and it was evident enough and legit so I was happy.

But any advanced corrosion I just know to ask to be shown so I can have piece of mind.

ngcxt6

My mechanic told me it was fine and he just painted it. Going to re-test it but not sure if I'm comfortable with it tbh.

Suppose I can only hope for the best.

Allan45121

Got retest tonight, mechanic had to order parts as it was something he hadn't seen before. It was rubber (flexi?) connected to solid pipe and apparently it couldn't be cut and reconnected. Dunno how much i trust this, but still it cost 150 for the job including parts, which is less than i had anticipated, thats for both sides at the rear of car. Fingers crossed for tonight!

cudsy1

Bump

Perished/chaffed brake line/hose 05 corolla hatchback

Any recent intel, pricing etc?

Thanks