On 12/11/2016 4:18 AM, Vic Smith wrote:


However, this is normal maintenance for any car, since brake fluid is
hygroscopic,


I've never changed brake fluid in 50 years of car/truck ownership.
So it's not "normal" to me.



I've had 3 brake line failures. All rear wheel and all on cars that
had +20 years driving in salt. Had one a few months ago.
They've all been on my "emergency" cars.
I was very close to home every time, and I always have a working
e-brake.
In every instance the lines were heavily corroded salt corroded.
The only maintenance I could have done to prevent it was to replace
the lines, which I should have done.

Just anecdotal evidence, but brake line replacement seems to be much
more common in the past 15 or so years. I had the lines of my 5 year
old Buick corrode. I know others that had to replace them on 5 to 8
year old cars.

Either new snow removal materials are being used or the lines are
thinner, or both. This suppoerts it
http://www.wfsb.com/story/23874231/m...damage-to-cars

Connecticut auto mechanics told the I-Team they are concerned over a
recent rash of rust and they blamed the need for so many rust-related
repairs on the way cities and towns in the state treat the roads during
winter storms.

The I-Team heard it at the Vernon Collision Center where they said,
"everything just seems to rust. Five or six years ago, we didn't do
nearly as many brake lines as we're doing now."

It was the same story at the Canton Gulf, where the I-Team heard, "I've
been here 35 years and in the last three or four years we've done more
brake lines than I have in the first 30 years."