Hi Guys
Just starting to put back my rear suspension and was thinking it may be worth replacing the brake hoses with Braided ones. I noticed some Goodridge Braided Brake Hose Kits on ebay for ?39.
Has anyone fitted these? Is the pedal firmer? Is ?39 a good price or can I get them cheaper elsewhere?
Cheers 
Jason
I recently fitted a full set of Goodridge braided hoses from Susan Miller the costs were higher ?47 inc. VAT⌠It transformed the brakes, well worth the upgrade,I would recommend you do it. I did have to cut off a small amount from the banjo bolt (rear) as the new banjo was not as thick. The bolt became thread bound before fully tightend. I phoned Susan to inform her, she was not aware of the problem at the time but said she would check with Goodridge. At least if you deal with Susan and there is a problem or query on any item she will replace or refund, no problem, no hassle, you will not (possibly) get that with a eBay supplier.
Regards John.
I recently fitted a full set of Goodridge braided hoses from Susan Miller the costs were higher ?47 inc. VAT⌠It transformed the brakes, well worth the upgrade,I would recommend you do it. I did have to cut off a small amount from the banjo bolt (rear) as the new banjo was not as thick. The bolt became thread bound before fully tightend. I phoned Susan to inform her, she was not aware of the problem at the time but said she would check with Goodridge. At least if you deal with Susan and there is a problem or query on any item she will replace or refund, no problem, no hassle, you will not (possibly) get that with a eBay supplier.
Regards John.
Sorry about the echo,but most times I reply it copies twice without any input from me. John.
I agree with John, they really make the difference but be careful where you get it from, i custom made mine for best insurance. And if you are looking for even more stopping power try up sizing the disks and/or calipers.
Regards,
Tim
Hello John,
Can you explain what do you mean by âtransforming the brakesâ?
Olivier.
Hi Olivier,
Sorry if I confused you, I should remember that this forum is read by many people in many countries and that they may not be able to fully understand our difficult, so I am told, English language.
By saying it âtransformed the brakesâ I mean that the braided hoses improved the perfomance of the brakes, in my case, by a significant amount, the pedal has less travel and the brakes feel much harder i.e. no sponginess.
I have not got a dictionary to hand but I would describe the word âtransformâ to mean to alter something from one state to another.
Hope this explains what I meant, and I would recommend that this simple brake upgrade to anyone who intends to improve their brakes.
Regards, John.
I just did the same thing yesterday with the Sue Miller ones. Had to cut 4mm off the rear banjo bolt. Pedal is much firmer. The rubber one seem to soften and act as ballons a liitle.
Mike
Hi John,
Thanks for thinking of us non native English speakers . To tell you the truth on the forum I only struggle with the abbreviation used by some of you. For the rest it is OK.
Letâs come back to the brakes. The âtransformationâ you described is what I had understood from your first post. I was just looking for a confirmation. The brakes of my S3 FHC despite a refurbish of the calipers are still disappointing. I believe that a 700 kg car with 4 disk brakes should brake better than it does. I was thinking of checking the master cylinder but in the process I could think of having the same modification as the one you did. Indeed the symptoms are exactely the one you mention (long travel of the pedal, brakes feeling soft, spongy). Now the decision is going to be tough because it goes against my phylosophy: keeping the car as close as possible to the original one!
Cheers.
Olivier, I woud not disagree with your intention to keep your Lotus as original as possible, I have only just started to slightly modify mine, after 37 years. I found that my wifes Toyota and a Ford were easily out braking my Lotus, our roads are very congested and poorly maintained, I realised I was at a disadvantage in traffic and was having to drive more defensively than I was happy with. I do not think anyone would criticise you for fitting braided hoses and anyway you could refit the original type hoses if you came to sell it. Fit them you will not regret it I am sure.
Regards John.
I got my braided kit from Paul Matty, bit cheaper than the Goodrich set at ?35 inc VAT. Fitted perfectly - no modifications needed
Hi
Thanks for the info
Robbie any idea what make PMâs are?
Has anyone else had problems with the Goodridge ones?
I am trying to lay off the credit card at the moment as I someone in Holland has had a spend up on in. So am trying to only use paypal for a while and break the new card in slowly.
cheers
Jason
Sorry Jason, I canât remember what was printed on the bag 
Iâm sure they (Mattyâs) will be able to tell you.
They definately werenât Goodridge though. As I said, no problems fitting them and I gave them a coat of corrosion protection fluid to protect.
Just seen this on Ebay:
Ebay shop based in Pelsall, Nr Wolverhampton, buy it now for ?22.00. No pic unfortunately.
The guy on ebay says they are racetech hoses???
Anybody heard of them??
Jason
Ithink RaceTech is a US company, seats,suits,belts,etc. safety stuff. At one time braided lines were illegal for street use in US I think, I donât know about now, Iâve always used them anyhow.
If your wife can out brake your elan, it is not because of the brakes, it is because of the tires.
Most reasonably priced tires for the Elan (155-13) are (to put it succinctly) passenger car tires with very low performance, both compared with the high performance rubber available when our cars were new, and with modern day high performance rubber. That is why you cannot stop quickly!
This subject has been discussed before. One approach is to use Michelin XAS in 155-13 or 165-13. They are expensive, have a low speed rating, but give good performance. Another approach (probably more suitable for S4 owners) is to use 185/60-13 in which there is some availability of higher performance rubber. But these tires are smaller in diameter than 155-13 tires. Unless you go to a wider rim, the tires will need less than recommended inflation pressure for optimum braking and cornering (one way of saying that the 4 1/2 rim is not wide enough).
Spyder sells Minilite pattern wheels in 14X6 so you could use 185/60-14 tires. This is the same tire diameter as 165-13.
The next step is to go to 185/55-15. This is the same rolling diameter as the 185/60-14 or 165-13 tires. Reasonably priced high performance tires are available for these wheels. However, I do not know of any wheel manufacturer that makes this size for knock off wheels, and there are very few manufacturers for the 4 bolt 3 3/4 inch pcd wheels that the Elan needs.
This is a by product of trying to own and maintain 45 year old technology in a world that casts aside anything older than just a few years.
David
1968 36/7988
My understanding is that the braided teflon hoses were illegal for road use because they were not DOT approved, not because the hose itself was not approved but because the company assembling it wasnât. There are now companies in the US that sell DOT-approved hoses.