Hoses

[AndPow68]

Hi all. Whilst doing some engine  bay checks this weekend I noticed that a number of hoses are brittle and have splits on the ends. If replacing is it best to go with stock and are these readily available or upgrade to silicone? If upgrading, are there full replacement sets or would it be a case of simply matching bore and  grade and simply cutting to length.

Many thanks
Andrew

[Bossworld]

I swapped out to the £30 eBay set of silicone ones from China. Came with jubilee clips.

Couldn't find any posts where others had done it.

The two that are under the car were fine. The other two... well, one was shorter than the original. Despite much tightening, it dripped for days on end (this is at the point where it meets the rad). The other side is fine but the length on that side was absolutely spot on so there's no room for it to be out of alignment.

In the end I've had to just leave it on and see what happens as it was driving me mad and the car was SORN at the time. Haven't noticed any drop in coolant since but had a look at the rad and the rubber mount looks a bit wet.

It's impossible to get a torque reading on the clips supplied and I read that you shouldn't use the standard spring clips with silicon hoses.

In short - I'd replace with rubber hoses not silicone ones.

[AndPow68]

Hey thanks for the quick reply.

That's whats great about this forum. Practical advice.....oh and the obvious, never start a job  without the right tools (damn IACV torx/JIS screws)!

Rubber it is! Thanks again.