Pro plumbers, what do I need here??

[Billbill84]

Hi guys. I swapped a faucet and the trap but the new steel braided hoses the cold side leaked on 3 different brand new hoses on BOTH ends!! Not bad and not a steady drip just a drop will develop right at the joint between the crimp and the bottom of the nut. Tried first with some blue monster teflon tape like I've always done then removed tape installed another new hose still had a drip! 3rd hose better but I get a drip on the faucet end now and I'm at my wits end with this simple job!
The old faucet had 1/4" pex lines but I tossed them due to being too short for the new faucet. I'm convinced steel braided hoses these days are crap quality compared to the last 5-10 yrs so I want to run pex again but unsure what couplings I'll need.
Faucet is 1/2" male end and the supply valve is the "standard" I guess. If I run 1/4" pex what fittings will I need to accomplish this?? Here's a pic of them new stupid hoses and the new faucet

 

[Jeff Handy]

I have never had a new supply hose leak, at either end.

Also, they do not need teflon tape, there is a rubber washer inside the ends that makes the seal.
Maybe the tape is interfering with a good seal.

If they are all leaking, you are likely hooking them up wrong, or not tight enough, or you are damaging them somehow.

 

[Billbill84]

I have never had a new supply hose leak, at either end.

Also, they do not need teflon tape, there is a rubber washer inside the ends that makes the seal.
Maybe the tape is interfering with a good seal.

If they are all leaking, you are likely hooking them up wrong, or not tight enough, or you are damaging them somehow.

I'm a 35 yr old foreman in a steel mill I am
mechanically inclined on various levels so
this is NOT a case of operator error. I was thinking maybe the grommets shrank after 1 winter being stored in a cold garage but think that's unlikely. Actually I think good ol **** Depot got a bad batch of these hoses. After I posted here I was inspecting them hoses for the other soon to be installed faucets and some of the rubber grommets are actually different sizes. I should have inspected these better when I bought them. It's almost as if someone installed them, malled up the grommets then returned them to store. See pics

 

[joecaption]

One sure way to make them leak is by making them to tight.
I always get them hand tight then about 1/4 turn more and never had one leak.
The sealing takes place inside the fitting, not around the threads.

 

[Billbill84]

One sure way to make them leak is by making them to tight.
I always get them hand tight then about 1/4 turn more and never had one leak.
The sealing takes place inside the fitting, not around the threads.

This is true. The thought of simply hand tightening followed by a quarter turn or even a half turn is just scary to me. I know it's probably a good seal at that point but when there's so much more room to keep turning and very little resistance is scary. More of a pain in the butt to run pex but I think that's what I'm gonna do. I consulted a local plumber and he said braided hoses are garbage all licensed plumbers would use pex lines for good reason lol

 

[Jeff Handy]

I have installed probably a few hundred braided hoses, never had a problem except if the valve or fitting they were joining with was pitted or corroded, or full of minerals and junk.
They need a good intact clean surface to seal against.

The plastic nut end of toilet supply hoses sometimes will crack if over-tightened, there is a learning curve there.

Sometimes, if you tighten braided hoses without holding onto the braided portion, the braided portion will twist and kink up.

Just buy new hoses from somewhere else, and try going easier on the tightening as long as there is no leaking.

 

[Jeff Handy]

I never see pex used as supply lines to faucets or toilets in my area near Chicago.

I’m sure it exists, but it is not at all mainstream.

And the “burst proof” supply lines that I observe and that I install for washing machines and dishwashers are stainless braided supply lines.
These are the ones your insurance company wants you to have.