Please check...

[Peetee]

Your 'kevlar reinforced' hoses regularly. I have had another fail on me. That's three in two years; one top and two bottom radiator hoses. They are Minor specialist supplied so not 'cheap tat'.
Obviously the results could be very expensive.

[67-2door]

I've just checked my kevlar reinforced hoses which again came from a well known Minor specialist and they've already got small cracks showing and they've only been fitted for just over TWO MONTHS!
These were supposed to be the better quality improvement over standard hoses! Where is it possible to buy hoses that are actually any good?

[MarkyB]

New old stock springs to mind.
Silicone hoses seem to be OK too as far as I can tell.

[67-2door]

Apart from striking lucky at an autojumble I dont know where to obtain nos hoses. Do any of the regular Minor suppliers sell silicon hoses to fit Minors?

[LouiseM]

See this earlier thread: http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... it=silicon

[Peetee]

I have seen silicon offered as an option by one well known supplier - but at more than double the price
A lot cheaper than a boiled engine but is it too much to expect a reasonable life span from the standard parts?

[MarkyB]

Kevlars claim to fame is it's high tensile strength-to-weight ratio.
Great for bullet proof vests, but radiator hoses?

The originals are reinforced with some kind of string which I guess the rubber sticks to a lot better.

Surely string is cheaper than Kevlar?

[d_harris]

But Kevlar sounds better

[Ratbag]

Kevlars claim to fame is it's high tensile strength-to-weight ratio.
Great for bullet proof vests, but radiator hoses?

The originals are reinforced with some kind of string which I guess the rubber sticks to a lot better.

Surely string is cheaper than Kevlar?

But surely you wouldn't want a string vest for protection against bullets?

[taupe]

I think its the quality/grade of the rubber used rather than the reinforcing material thats the problem with these hoses.

Ive just bought a silicone bypass hose for Her Mini Sprite and I bought a spare one to use on the traveller.

Apart from being bright blue is certainly seems excellent quality and will be tested on the Mini. Ill be using the old hoses on the traveller but may consider silicone ones should they eventually fail.

I wouldnt use the kevlar ones at all as I consider them useless!!

[MarkyB]

How do the Kevlar ones fail then?
How about some pictures?

The string is probably there to stop the hoses blowing up like balloons when under pressure.

The quality of all parts containing rubber seems to have deteriorated recently, probably the desire to keep prices low has led, as it does, to worse quality.

[Peetee]

The quality of all parts containing rubber seems to have deteriorated recently

A point I raised a couple of years ago when i was cheesed off about the quaility of a windscreen rubber. the material had no memory and wouldn't lie flat to the bodywork after fitting. The rubber had a strange waxy feel. The hoses are the same feel. The one that failed did so at the joint for the heater pipe and was not stressed in any way when in place.

[chickenjohn]

Yes, I found when I was running my Traveller as an everyday car that i had to replace the crappy modern hoses regularly and always carry a few spares!

Cheap rubbish repro parts, I'm sorry to say. At least they are cheap enough so can be replaced every few years. Good quality rubber hoses should last 20 years or more!

[ndevans]

My experience with Kevlar reinforced bike tyres is no they don't puncture as easily, but they do wear quicker, so you still end up replacing them just as often.

I gues they just use cheaper rubber to make up for the more expensive Kevlar.

[Peetee]

My experience with Kevlar reinforced bike tyres is no they don't puncture as easily, but they do wear quicker

I have been riding seriously on and off road since the 80's and seen and used many different brands of bike tyre in that time. I have found that generally kevlar belts are fitted to high performance tyres that have very grippy rubber compound, the trade-off of this being high wear rate. Having said that, I have had several tyres become unusable because the soft rubber tread starts to part company with the stiff kevlar belt underneath. The result being terrible road holding and an aversion to bends.

[rayofleamington]

is it too much to expect a reasonable life span from the standard parts?

yes - especially when the part has some rubber/elastomer element to it.

The silicon hose at twice the price is probably twice as good value...

[MarkyB]

the soft rubber tread starts to part company with the stiff kevlar belt underneath

This was my guess, the rubber isn't going to bond with the Kevlar just surround it.
With string or fabric the rubber will soak in and really bond.

At least with tyres you get the benefit of better puncture resistance.

Dan is spot on, "Kevlar sounds better"