Water hoses - cotton reinforced or silicon?

[Shaguar]

Both I and the car are in the process of emerging from hibernation and I managed to spend sometime on the old girl yesterday. Something I'd read about during the winter months was about the use of OAT (pink) anti freeze with classics http://www.fbhvc.co.uk/2010/01/27/antifreeze/. Last year when I had the radiator re-cored I'd refilled the system with OAT, so the first job was to drain the system, this was required anyway as I had a leak on the thermostat housing gasket, which was dripping onto the dizzy.

My question is in relation to the type of hoses to use, as I'm going to replace the heater control valve (also leaking) and looking at the state of the hoses decided on new ones, these can only be purchased as a set. Top rad hose could do to be replaced anyway. Anyway on the SNG website it states there are two types, cotton reinforced and silicon. Any suggests?

[MarkE]

Silicon will last well, but are a bit thick and, to me, look wrong under the bonnet.

Before using OAT again, read the Derek Harris paper in this link:

http://www.rrbew.co.uk/FeatureHtms/F-Antifreeze.htm

Bottom line?don?t use OAT in anything other than a modern engine. I've just got rid of OAT from a couple of my classics after reading this and having a look around the net. Stick to the blue / greeen stuff!

[Heuer]

Three options with the hoses - cotton reinforced rubber, kevlar reinforced rubber and silicone. The silicone tend to be very thick and difficult to fit; they are also 'rice-rocket' shiny and usually come in a choice of lurid colours. No advantage on a road car so best avoided. The kevlar reinforced rubber are a bit of a scam, given the cost. They use chopped kevlar fibres mixed in with the rubber to provide strength - great for deflecting bullets but do not provide any longevity over standard ones. The latter use a knitted cotton sleeve embedded in the rubber to resist bulging and work very well. Press SNG and they will advise you to go with the standard items, as indeed will CMC - should tell you something. Incidentally it is worth adding Water Wetter to the coolant as it is one of those few 'magic' products that does indeed work as advertised.

[Shaguar]

As always great advice David :D . Thanks to both of you for your responses Duncan.