Anyone have experience with stainless steel brake lines?

[silver go fast]

S'dTFA and found a lot of people saying not worth the extra $. I am stock and have a bad line on the front passenger side. Any thoughts either way appreiciated.

[8Rings]

As part of a full caliper/pad/rotor upgrade so it's difficult to point at the lines themselves as a great step up. I do know that the SS lines, as a set, were much less than buying new from the stealership.

[CO AVANT]

The rubber lines expand when hot causing a mushy brake pedal feel. I've used both Goodridge and stoptech stainless steel lines. Stoptechs ones seem to be of better quality.

[Pat]

...but I would disagree with saying, "SS lines are a must." My car has 160K miles on it with the stock lines. It's been through about 15 track days. I've had zero problems. The pedal feel isn't what I would like, but I've driven cars with SS lines (even StopTechs) that don't feel significantly better than mine. Hell, I once drove an A4 with STs and mine stopped better. I just use A8s with better pads.
That said, I'd love to get nicer brakes, but don't really see a huge need for them.

[dr.audios[the OG]]

with traditional lines, they will expand when heated up, ie. a lot of braking, tracking, etc..

I put them on all 4 corners of my old A4, and def. saw a difference.

[ColoradoMark]

If you have them make sure you peridoically inspect them. The braiding can disguise problems witht he rubber liners. This used to be more of a problem - now you can buy DOT approved SS brake lines.
The other is that you need to make sure that the lines aren't rubbing on anything - ss lines can be very abrasive.

[audifreakjim]

3R in Englewood sells it, it stays clean, doesn't chew on everything and is still braided SS line. Use this with Earls Speed Seal fittings and you're good.

[CO AVANT]

I myself completely lost my stock brakes going downhill in the mountains one time during some intense driving. The scariest thing I've ever been through. I had literally no brakes. Threw the rear end out going downhill on a 90deg corner at 45mph with sand on the road, and almost took it to the grave. Is taking a gamble worth it? Not IMO. For $100, why not have some peace of mind when pushing the limits.
I even recommend getting rid of the crappy oem fluid and putting in some Motul 5.1 or 600 series fluid.

Since my frightful experience with the oem setup, I switched to B5S4 front brakes with front goodridge SS lines, which still didn't cut it on the same mountain run IMO.....but did much much better than the stock setup, and lasted much longer before I started to lose the brakes. My current setup is stoptech 332mm with SS lines on all 4 corners. This setup had minimal brake fade throughout the entire (same) mountain run.

[Pat]

...and I don't know many people that drive their car harder than I do.
That said, I can't imagine driving so hard on a public road that I lose all braking power. If I'd been though what you have, I'm sure I'd be running StopTechs right now.

[Arson]