Hoses

[stephen.]

Cotton re-inforced rubber or Kevlar ?
Your thoughts please as I have always used Kevlar with no problems but some people dont like them, why ?
Steve

[Heuer]

Steve

I had Kevlar hoses on my car initially and they lasted about 8 years. The problem is they are not properly reinforced to resist swelling - basically they use chopped up bits of Kevlar fibre in the rubber mix as 'reinforcement'. The rubber/cotton ones have a proper cotton weaved sleeve which genuinely does work as reinforcement. 'Kevlar hoses' are what we call a CMP (cynical marketing ploy) to part people with money and whilst they may resist bullets they can fail catastrophically under pressure. So Kevlar are more expensive, have zero benefit and more liable to swell/burst under pressure. The life of either type of hose is about the same - 8 years - so good preventative maintenance to change them periodically anyway. Some people choose to fit the even more expensive Silicone hoses. Downsides are they are thicker than the rubber ones so fitting can be difficult and they only seem to come in shiny, lurid Max-Power colours. No known benefits otherwise.

So my advice would be fit rubber/cotton as per original. If you still have doubts about this ring SNG and ask their advice. They sell both but I can pretty much guarantee they will concur with the above.