How to get twists out of a coiled cable
Cables frequently develop deep torsion and twists from being coiled even when they have no cuts, cracks, or bulges. This severe twisting prevents the wire from straightening out and looking like a new cable.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Walking the length of the cable out with another person to encourage twists to move and coil like a snakeDid this help you?
- 2Placing the cable out on a hot sunny day to warm it up before pulling or straightening itDid this help you?
- 3Trying the triangle seatbelt buckle method from online videosDid this help you?
- 4Taking the vehicle to a dealer for professional repairDid this help you?
- 5Setting the roll in the sun to warm it up before installationDid this help you?
- 6Using tube talons, PEX clips, or heavy objects to hold it straightDid this help you?
- 7Buying 20-foot straight PEX joints and using couplings instead of coilsDid this help you?
- 8Using a dedicated PEX straightener toolDid this help you?
- 9Bending it the opposite way of its memoryDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I appear to have a twisted seatbelt strap at the bottom here. Is the seatbelt installed incorrectly or I can somehow untwist it?”source ↗
“Because I have tried the triangle seatbelt buckle method like in the videos here... But that doesn't fix the problem for me.”source ↗
“Recently bought a RAV4 withed a frayed Wire any idea what it could be to it is by the fuse box and wasn’t sure what it could be to. I haven’t driven the car to much as I wasn’t sure if I was going to damage it driving with a bad wire”source ↗
“I need to re pipe and I have a 40 foot straight run, what is the best way to straighten 3/4 coiled Pex.”source ↗
“The cable has no cuts, cracks, bulges, or other visible damage, but it has developed a lot of twist/torsion from being coiled. I want to straighten it out and make it look like the new cable in the second photo.”source ↗
Where this came up
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