Brake Line Lock & Roll Control Kits

Impromptu burnouts down at the drive-in and on the street are done purely for entertainment. The ones you see at the drag strip are just as captivating, but they also have a useful purpose. A burnout cleans the tires and increases their temperature for better traction. While a burnout can be performed without one, they’re much easier to do when your car is equipped with one of our line lock kits. And when you’re in the staging beams at the strip, a line lock will prevent your car from rolling across the starting line, so you can avoid forfeiting the race with a “red light”.

A line lock, also known as roll control, roll stop, brake control, anti-roll, and launch control, is a remotely-controlled, driver-activated electric solenoid valve that is plumbed into the hydraulic brake system to allow the front and rear brakes to be controlled independently. Although occasionally used on the rear brakes of manual transmission vehicles in a hill-holding application, line locks are primarily used to lock the front brakes and prevent vehicle movement, while simultaneously allowing the rear wheels to spin freely for burnouts.

Although many cars are powerful enough to smoke the rear tires just by dumping the clutch and stabbing the gas pedal, when doing a burnout this way the car can be hard to control. Alternatively, using the brakes can provide more control but requires deft footwork between the brake, gas, and clutch pedals, not to mention the wear and tear on the rear brakes that are engaged during the burnout. Skillful footwork is also required when staging and the slightest mistake can allow your car to roll, illuminate the red light and give a free pass to the driver in the other lane. With a line lock installed and activated, you’ll have complete control of your car both during your burnout and while at the Christmas tree.

Big, smoky burnouts have always been crowd pleasers but they have a practical purpose. Sticky drag slicks can collect a lot of debris as the car rolls though the pits, and anything on the surface of the tire is obscuring rubber that could be putting power down on the ground. A burnout cleans this debris from the tires. And even though they are inherently sticky, the tackiness of drag slicks increases dramatically when they get hot during a burnout. Subsequently, greater traction allows the car to launch with less power lost to useless wheel spin, which makes for lower elapsed times and faster speeds. A line lock not only enables burnouts but allows the car to be eased into the staging beams to the proper launch position.

We offer both universal and vehicle specific line lock kits. Complete kits include solenoid valve, wiring, switch, and a light that illuminates when the line lock is activated, and application specific kits include prebent brake lines and mounting brackets. We also offer shifter knobs and T-Handles with built-in line lock switches. Line locks are easy to install and each kit comes with complete instructions. Once installed, to activate the line lock just pump the brake pedal several times to build up line pressure, and press the switch. The solenoid valve will maintain pressure in the front brake lines to keep the front brakes engaged when the brake pedal is released, maintaining the vehicle’s position. When you want to come out of the burnout or launch the car, just release the switch.