I've never felt a strong pull to put stainless hoses on my brakes as an upgrade, but lately I've gotten to thinking a little harder about the 26 year-old rubber parts in my car. Looking on the Internet, industry "recommended" practice seems to be to change rubber brake hoses by about 6 years. No one is doing that, of course, and I very rarely hear about anyone rupturing a line, but I wonder whether it might be prudent to do when changing the brakes on my quarter-century-old, very-occasionally-tracked hairdresser car. If I change them, I could do new rubber and be good for another couple of decades, but if already buying new ones, I'm lured by the promise of slightly better response of stainless.

All my car's rubber hoses and lines - even the ones under the hood - are original and show no obvious signs of unhappiness on my cool-climate-driven car. What are your experiences?

 

They generally work perfectly well until they don't. It is often sudden and dramatic when it occurs. Usually, you are pushing really hard on the brake when one gives up, which I'm sure is a time when brakes are optional, lol.

I changed mine when I upgraded calipers. Clutch line was changed prior to that.

I had one pop on another car once when entering the auto parts store lot from the highway. Didn't hit anything, thankfully. Hose was 25yrs old OEM.

 

My car is an 01. I had no issues, but I replaced pads, calipers, brake lines and master. It wasn't that expensive and I know my braking system isn't going to fail. I just used rubber lines. I don't do track days, so I think they're adequate.

 

I just sent an order to Flyin' Miata: SS brake hoses and a caliper rebuild kit to go with my new rotors and StopTech Sport pads, even though aside from the worn pads and discs (that I installed 12 years, 25k miles, and 10+ track hours ago), everything is working fine. This car has been so low-maintenance over the last 14 years, I sometimes forget that its eternal reliability isn't a given. The previous owner had painted the calipers red, which I didn't really care for, and is now looking ragged. While everything is stripped, I'll probably clean them up and maybe paint them in something low-key.

Next up I'll start thinking about the coolant hoses, accessory belts, and maybe the timing belt.