Speedway motors and others sell both DOT approved and not DOT approved steel braided brake hoses.
Are the DOT approved ones better?

On street driven vehicles we need to use the DOT approved materials here in the states. As far as any difference in the materials I am not sure what that would be..

Sam

__________________
I would rather make it work than make it popular..And if it does not work it will not be popular..

The end fittings and hose materials are the same. The only difference is the little tag that says "DOT Approved" that keeps the lawyers and insurance companies at bay in the event of an accident.

Who says so?
Is it written anywhere? Or a myth?

Keith

It is written, I posted the link to a Federal Government website many months/to a year back.
IIRC, the ends have to be crimped on and with stand a minimum pull out figure.

This is taken from DOT regulations 571.106.

S5. Requirements—hydraulic brake hose, brake hose assemblies, and brake hose end fittings.

S5.1 Construction.

(a) Each hydraulic brake hose assembly shall have permanently attached brake hose end fittings which are attached by deformation of the fitting about the hose by crimping or swaging.

(b) Each hydraulic brake hose assembly that is equipped with a permanent supplemental support integrally attached to the assembly and is manufactured as a replacement for use on a vehicle not equipped, as an integral part of the vehicle's original design, with a means of attaching the support to the vehicle shall be equipped with a bracket that is integrally attached to the supplemental support and that adapts the vehicle to properly accept this type of brake hose assembly.

S5.2 Labeling.

S5.2.1 Each hydraulic brake hose, except hose sold as part of a motor vehicle, shall have at least two clearly identifiable stripes of at least one–sixteenth of an inch in width, placed on opposite sides of the brake hose parallel to its longitudinal axis. One stripe may be interrupted by the information required by S5.2.2, and the other stripe may be interrupted by additional information at the manufacturer's option. However, hydraulic brake hose manufactured for use only in an assembly whose end fittings prevent its installation in a twisted orientation in either side of the vehicle, need not meet the requirements of S5.2.1.

S5.2.2 Each hydraulic brake hose shall be labeled, or cut from bulk hose that is labeled, at intervals of not more than 6 inches, measured from the end of one legend to the beginning of the next, in block capital letters and numerals at least one–eighth of an inch high, with the information listed in paragraphs (a) through (e) of this section. The information need not be present on hose that is sold as part of a brake hose assembly or a motor vehicle.

(a) The symbol DOT, constituting a certification by the hose manufacturer that the hose conforms to all applicable motor vehicle safety standards.

(b) A designation that identifies the manufacturer of the hose, which shall be filed in writing with: Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, Equipment Division NVS-222, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh St. SW., Washington, DC 20590. The marking may consist of a designation other than block capital letters required by S5.2.2.

(c) The month, day, and year, or the month and year, of manufacture, expressed in numerals. For example, 10/1/96 means October 1, 1996.

(d) The nominal inside diameter of the hose expressed in inches or fractions of inches, or in millimeters followed by the abbreviation "mm"

(e) Either "HR" to indicate that the hose is regular expansion hydraulic hose or "HL" to indicate that the hose is low expansion hydraulic hose.

Oh sorry, I know DOT specs are written.

I'm just wondering if it truely a legal requirement to run DOT spec hoses on the street.

I have not been able to find any laws saying a person must run DOT spec parts on their car...

The main thing you have to think about is the liability issue.

If you happened to be in an accident due to a failed brake part and it wasn't dot appoved your insurance co. may not pay off.

There Is a pretty slim chance of it being spotted in a roadside stop for another infraction but why take the chance.

Speedway sells a great majority of their products to the circle track crowd and their specs may or may not exceed the specs required by the DOT . It may or may not meet more rigid specs but if it isn't approved equipment it may come back to bite you later.

If the DOT regulations are not law, then what are they?
As posted by others the chance of getting caught are slim to none. You sure wouldn't want to risk the chance if you have a shop, and install them for a customer/s.
And with the litigious society we live in I wouldn't chance it.

As for having to run DOT spec...ask the manufactures of the clear tail light/turn signal assembly's, that have had to recall them for not meeting DOT spec. or try running a set of slicks on the street.

Most Federal DOT regulations apply to vehicle manufacturers and replacement equipment manufacturers, usually not to owners. As an example, DOT requires side marker lights on all cars built after Jan 1, 1968. How many people here have removed these and filled in the holes? Since the states have responsibility for vehicle registration and inspections, state DOT regulations are a different matter and as we are all aware these vary greatly from state to state. Your example of running slicks on the street is a STATE requirement that's violated.

As I noted near the beginning of this thread, there is no difference in end fittings or hose materials for the DOT or non-DOT hoses. The difference is that the "approved" hoses have been tested and shown to pass the requirements so they can carry the DOT tag that keeps the lawyers and insurance companies happy.

By the way, EPA regulations are law too. Anyone here ever tamper with emissions equipment? It's a federal offense for ANYONE to remove or disable this equipment, even if your state does not require testing.

The slicks may not have been an ideal example, but if the DOT approved a non-treaded tire the states would have to accept it. The clear tail lights and front markers are a good example. They replace the old fender mounted side markers and the manufacture's are being held to the new standards. If they make replacements without the proper colored lens, they have been forced to recall them.
I don't follow the contradiction, one group of regulations do not apply to owners and the other does?

In this area the guys running the clear lenses or running the covers over the lights (usually on late model pickups) tend to get pulled over and issued a citation.


As several of us mentioned above it just isn't worth the possible hassles that may happen to run non approved brake components.
The couple of bucks you might save just aren't worth it.
With lights about the worse thing that will happen is that you get a fix it ticket. Or some guy hits you in the rear end because he can't tell when your brake lights come on.

Here is a start on looking up the regs pertaining to your application....

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/FMVSS/

A lot of the ways we do things are reflected in the regs and we just don't think about it too much..

In the real world it may not make a lot of difference unless the vehicle in question is involved in an injury accident and then if the vehicle does not meet the safety requirements the owner operator of said vehicle could have a lot of "Splaining" to do..Your choice gentlemen as to what you use on your cars.

Sam

__________________
I would rather make it work than make it popular..And if it does not work it will not be popular..

I completely agree.

Thank you for the answers.
I'll go for the DOT approved brake hoses.

How long hose is suitable on a stock width M II suspension with GM metric calipers on a '34 chassis?

16"? 18"?

There's a legal distinction between federal and state regulations. There probably isn't a practical difference, but legally it's a big difference. Federal regulations get enforced by federal law agencies (FBI, etc.). State law enforcement agencies (state police, local police, etc) enforce state and local laws. In most (but not all) cases, the state laws encompass the federal requirements. State law would have to specifically call out compliance with the federal requirement. Usually this takes the form of state inspection requirements, but some states (Calif for example) do not have annual safety inspections. In some states (Mass., for example) the DMV has it's own police force.

As another example, consider EPA requirements. These apply to the manufacturer. The owner isn't required to submit the car to the federal test, only to show that the equipment is in place and functioning. The tailpipe tests at inspection stations are nowhere near the level of testing that manufacturers must perform under federal requirements.

Keep in mind that I'm not advocating using non-approved hoses. I am saying that functionally and physically the hoses I've seen are identical.

By the way, many states are enacting laws that prohibit changes of anything from OEM. This should worry everyone here.