I am very grateful to my eagle-eyed MoT tester for flagging up an advisory 'slight corrosion' on brake pipes. Subsequently a good crawl and scrape on my part revealed that the corrosion had gone past the surface layer.

Whilst I am entirely confident that my special brake-pipe etc. corrosion inhibitor gunge will prevent further corrosion, I'd really like to renew the offending pipes for the sake of peace of mind, and doing a proper job. (The culprits are the starboard aft connection to the cylinder, and the long contorted one from the starboard aft flexible to the regulator on the port side, on the 2000 1.3 LXI estate).

- is there any chance that prefabricated pipes are still available as spares (if so, where?).

- if not, can anyone who has been here before offer me any guidance on replacing them with copper or cupronickel substitutes? (I have a copper flare kit).

Yes they are still available to order new from skoda, they are about £10 each and come pre bent with flares etc ready to fit, so much better buying genuine ones rather than making them from copper.

I had the same problem with mine for mot I took all brake pipes off and got them made in copper if your doing the drivers side rear ones you will need the drop the fuel tank. I did front and the backs in one go as it would be a waste just doing some it now has new fluid and stops well running the 256mm vented fronts...

Thanks!

Sourcing the new lines is a bit of a struggle ATM; as expected, my friendly local TPS/VAG repository advised me that parts like these had been "dropped" from their screens years ago.

I'm grateful to Sandor Pall at skodaparts4you.co.uk for trying to help me with these but he does not have all in stock and it takes a while for him to get stuff (I think he may be sourcing from Slovakia).

http://www.cc-autodily.cz/trubka-brzdova-zadni-1_1 (translation function needed, for me at least) seems to have good stocks and minimal prices but shipment from the Republic appears to be costly.

TeflonTom, can you give me any hints on how best to "order new from skoda"?

Yes go to tps, brake pipes are made to order from the jigs that they keep at the parts hq, if they have said they are dropped from the system they are lying, I bought some about 3 weeks ago.

I had same problem with my local tps saying discontinued so I just removed mine and took to local motor factors and they made some to length and just used old ones to bend them to fit

just a pic to show the new pipes bent to fit

Many thanks (and virtual pints for TeflonTom). uma1998, star pic!

I was able to get part numbers using vagcat -

http://www.vagcat.com/epc/cat/sk/FEL/

(not 100% - a couple had been transposed right/left - but a great boon nonetheless).

Well, guess what? - bludgeoned with part numbers, TPS at once found that the stuff they had said was 'dropped years ago' was still very available! (Y'know, at times like that I feel I could go off VAG, I really do).

Still, I'm very glad that I now have my 3 rear pipes on order, at a likely cost of no more than £17 inc. VAT, can't be bad.

(I might have landed a high-quality problem in my attempts to source stuff on t'Internet ... if so confirmed, I shall swiftly post in another thread).

Ahem ... if it seems too good to be true, bet yer boots that it is.

TPS kindly warned me that one of my brake pipes was a special order and I might have to wait a couple of weeks for delivery. I agreed to ring in about 10 days before coming in to collect my stuff ... I did ... and was THEN advised the part was no longer available.

I couldn't see how the part should suddenly vanish from the system after I had ordered it, most especially since internet searches indicated that the part was plentifully available in eastern Europe (although shipment charges from there for a sole long wiggly pipe would eclipse the cost of the item) ... so I demurred - could the suddenly new-found 'unavailability' be a temporary glitch?

Answer, NO! ... the part I had ordered is now suddenly flagged with the term "omitted" meaning TPS will never supply it again ... as I was told.

/Rant: I am just so profoundly pi$$ed off by this nonsense ... which has wasted so much of my time .... long have I loved my Skodas, but if this is the way the new VAG regime is going to treat its customers, I shall never, ever, buy another Skoda. Rant/.

Caveant emptores.

To be fair though, it is an obsolete vehicle, it's been 13 years since the last ones were built.

TeflonTom, thanks, but - perversely perhaps - that is just why I am so upset.

Apologies to all for a bit of thread drift from the core topic of brake pipes - I feel that any putative 'planned redundancy' policy by the new VAG regime should really merit a vigorous debate in a thread of its own - but for now I would just say that this has made me sharply mindful of the marketing line, of not that long ago, to the effect that "50% of the Land-Rovers ever produced (since 1947) are still going".

Just so sad for Skodas ... I rest my case.

I have found this that not all parts are available from skoda but I was shocked when I wanted a facelift electric windows and seat heater plate and was available and only 68p is a rare part as only pre facelift l&k had heated seats....

I'm certainly going to start buying up spare switches and electrical components too as these will become scarce sooner or later, I am planning on keeping my 20v engined car for a few years to come.

genuine igniton switch from skoda... Guess how much it is folks?

I have loads off spares... as there going to be hard to get soon