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Subject:Decent Brake Flaring Tool?
From:Jeffrey Lee
Date:Sat, 28 Jun 2014 09:33:12 -0400

Wondering if anyone here can recommend a good ~$100 ISO brake flaring tool?

Unless I'm mistaken, the rigid steel brake lines for the Vanagon are NLA,
even on the aftermarket. So, needing to replace several bits, I ordered a
coil of the popular 3/16" cunifer brake line and a tool for making the
appropriate ISO/DIN bubble flares. Following the instructions to the letter,
the 4.3-star-rated tool made by a long-respected auto-tool mfr. produced
consistently poor flares that I wouldn't trust on my vehicle, so I exchanged
it for one costing 3x as much.

Oddly, this tool produced consistently poor flares as well, but with a
completely different defect, despite being from the same mfr..

There are those who say that a good ISO flare can be made by using a
standard SAE, double-flare tool and simply omitting the last step which
inverts the flare. I originally scoffed at this notion, but the examples
I've seen online of these 'hacked' ISO flares look much more correct than
those produced by the 'proper' ISO tools ...
http://www.freeasestudyguides.com/brake-lines-automotive.html

Anyone have (good) experience with DIY brake flares?

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