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I'm planning on replacing a leaky section of brake line for the rear driver side wheel on my 2004 Hyundai Getz 1.3 Gsi. The section of brake hose is relatively short, with one end connected to the wheel and the other connected to a fitting that then connects to some flexible hose.

I'm planning on replacing the line with the equivalent sized copper pipe. However, I'm unsure how the brake line is connected to the fittings on either end. What type of fitting is this? Can it be reused? What tools/replacement parts are needed to make the connections?

Here are a couple of photos

connection to flexible hose

connection to wheel

leaky section at the clamp

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    It's probably a double inverted flare with metric threads. it looks like your car has ABS I'd advise against using copper tubing and use steel instead. – Ben May 8 '16 at 21:05
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    And to add more insult.. those look pretty aged. Good luck getting them apart without breaking anything. Hint: purchase a high quality flared nut wrench or cut the tubes right at the joint and use six point sockets. Definitely use steel brake line not copper! Don't forget you have to loosen the bleeder at the wheel cylinder too. Those are quite easy to break off. – zipzit May 8 '16 at 22:43
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    Use approved brake line, not copper. – Moab May 8 '16 at 23:21
  • What's wrong with copper-nickel(-iron) lines? – JimmyB May 9 '16 at 13:05
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    For flaring on the vehicle, I can recommend the "Sealey PFT12" tool. – JimmyB May 9 '16 at 13:30
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Getting them to break loose is the biggest challenge.

I use a good penetrate, soak them several times over 3-4 days, use high quality brake line wrenches to turn the nuts to prevent rounding the brake line nuts, as they are soft steel. Cheap brake line wrenches will round the nuts, buy good quality wrenches of the proper size, metric or american.

Use a wrench on the other side to help hold the line from twisting when using the brake line wrench on the nut side.

If the nut does not turn before they round, you will have to use a propane or oxy-acetelene torch to heat the nut very hot, let it cool and heat it again, do this several times to heat cycle the nut then re soak with penetrate in between cylces, then it should turn without rounding the nut. Heat may damage the flex line but may be the only way to break the nut loose, in this case replace the flex line, a casualty of war. Once the old line is off determine which flare type you have, nut type and line diameter.

Once you remove it you will have to buy some steel (not copper) brake line of proper diameter and cut to length with a steel tubing cutter, then slide the new nuts on first, then do a proper flare on both ends of the line, you will need to buy a brake line flaring tool, follow the instructions that come with the tool carefully. Steel brake line is fairly flexible but will kink if not careful when bending,

Parts stores here in the usa sell variable lengths of different diameter brake lines that are pre-flared with nuts included, just cut the length you need and reuse the nuts and re-flare as needed. You need to determine the diameter of the old line and type of flare nut needed. Sometimes the pre flared lengths have the correct nuts, sometimes they don't, nuts may have different thread pitches-diameters for the same line size, if you do not damage the old nuts they can be re-used.

There are two types of brake flares, inverted double flare (most common) and bubble flare. To do a bubble flare you use the double flare tool but skip the last procedure that inverts the flare.

Brake line flaring tool kit:

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Bubble flare, which can be done during the second step of double falring

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Here are the three steps of the double flare, to bubble flare you skip step three, it takes some practice to do either flare correctly, buy extra line to practice until you are confident you have a good flare quality.

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High Quality Brake line wrenches for best results.

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  • Thanks for the comprehensive answer. There seems to be varying information about the use of copper vs steel brake lines. It seems to be a lot easier to get hold of copper lines from auto parts stores here in the UK (at least as far as I can tell). What are your toughts? – Amr Bekhit May 9 '16 at 11:13
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    Four people have told you to use steel and not copper so far. Don't search for the one guy that will agree with you so you feel better about copper. Use the recommended line material. +1 for steel. – JPhi1618 May 9 '16 at 13:04
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    Copper for brake lines is illegal here in the usa, copper is too soft when new, and becomes increasingly brittle as it ages, just not a good choice for brake lines. – Moab May 9 '16 at 18:20
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    Now that I have said that, some of the best brake line I have ever used is Copper-Nickel, it bends easily in a tight radius with no kinks, a joy to work with....amazon.com/AAS-Copper-Nickel-Brake-CN-316/dp/B00651OAVS – Moab May 9 '16 at 18:23
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    I'd agree with Moab - use cupro-nickel lines (also known as CuNiFer or kunifer) – Nick C♦ May 10 '16 at 12:49
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It is just as @Ben stated ... it will have a double inverted flare with metric threads. Look it up online and find the exact part (brake line) to match. It will save you a bunch of time and a whole lot of agony. I'd look it up for you, but the Getz was not marketed in the US as any model. Most manufacturers sell the individual, pre-bent brake lines. You can probably find one at your Hyundai dealership fairly easily. If you don't have any tube bending experience, I highly recommend you do this.

The first thing you'll have to do, though, is clean off all of the undercoating which is on the connections prior to trying to disconnect anything. It should come off with a stiff wire brush. It looks as though it was thrown on there on both ends of the line.

When taking the lines apart, always use two wrenches or you'll never get it apart. You may need a line wrench on both sides, as usually a regular open end of a combination (spanner) wrench has has too much give in it and will strip off the points on the connector. Use the same two wrenches to put it back together. If you don't use two wrenches, you'll end up twisting the tubing instead of breaking it free. At the other end where it enters the wheel cylinder, you'll only need one wrench, but probably still will need a line wrench to get it off.

When putting it back together, ensure the lines are square (or in line) with each other, or you run the risk of cross-threading the connection, then it will never seal. If it doesn't go together easily, you need to back it out and try again.

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