Silicone vs Rubber hoses.

[Gingerbread Man]

Simple question. My engine bay has half silicone hoses which seemed to be reinforced through out the ply's making up the hose, and half rubber hoses.

I plan on replacing the rubber hoses with silicone hoses. 16mm ID and 8mm ID so not huge. How flexible, in terms of pipe runs coming from under engines going to heaters etc, are silicone hoses compared to rubber variants?

My current silicone hoses are all big bore, 40mm ID or something, so aren't a similar flexibility for my background knowledge.

Also, any good value suppliers for 3m x16mm ID and 1m x 8mm ID in periwinkle blue?

So a simple question I'm sure!

[Steve_D]

Size for size the silicone hoses will be way more flexible than rubber. They will also be more resistant to temperature.

I buy from Car Builder Solutions. They may not be the cheapest for any individual product but the customer service, range of products, excelent catalogue, almost guaranteed next day delivery outway the price differences.

Steve

[PaulKemp]

The silicon hoses will kink flat if bent to much
Long runs of 16mm and smaller are ok
The bigger stuff needs bends and joiners

[Gingerbread Man]

I basically have a rubber hose that goes from the thermostat housing at the bottom front of the engine, out to the back up and around to a heater matrix.

Just wanted to make sure that the outer core isn't so rigid that if you start trying to bend it, it just kinks. Having only looked online, it's cut per the meter and the pictures show a straight length of it. Can it be coiled up as it were?

[Gingerbread Man]

Is Vacuum tubing much different? It's for a coolant system.

[HustleRussell]

Whether or not the tubing will kink depends on the radius of the curve rather than the diameter of the pipe. If you have space for a nice wide radius then go ahead, if space is limited get a custom formed hose made or cobble one together with assorted elbows and jubilee clips.

[Evoluzione]

If you want good quality silicone hose which isn't available pre-formed and doesn't kink then use spiral bound.
It's more expensive, but does the job.

[Gingerbread Man]

Evoluzione said:

If you want good quality silicone hose which isn't available pre-formed and doesn't kink then use spiral bound.
It's more expensive, but does the job.

I've seen this about, maybe it'll be what I need.