Silicone Coolant Hoses

[325iCabrio]

I was reading the latest issue of Bimmer today and they had an article that featured an AutoWerks E30 M3. It was a cool car, but what I was most interested in wasn't mentioned--it had Samco silicone coolant hoses. I've seen silicone coolant hoses, but never really thought about them. I'm going to be replacing all my coolant hoses and possibly my radiator when it starts warming up, and I'm considering trying to find some silicone hoses for my vert.

The only problem is they don't seem to make them for regular E30s, just M3s. I'm tired of cooling problems (I struggled with them last year too), so upgrading to much higher quality and strength hoses sounds good to me. I'm not going to be tracking my car--do you guys think this is a good use of money if I actually find some? Do you guys know of any for regular E30s?

[browntown]

The volvo turbo crowd is all about the silicone. Read on volvospeed and lots of guys use the samco's. Another popular place is stylin motors: http://stylinmotors.com/

Although they don't list a bmw application, I bet if you call em up they can get them for you.


But really, good quality oem rubber hoses are good for a long time. I change them every 40-50k or every couple coolant flushes. The coolant hoses on my volvo 850 were 13 years old when I replaced them. Although soft, they weren't bulging or leaking after 200k miles. I say save your money on the silicone.

Silicone vacuum lines are cheap though and I prefer them to rubber. Bought mine from stylin.

[325iCabrio]

The volvo turbo crowd is all about the silicone. Read on volvospeed and lots of guys use the samco's. Another popular place is stylin motors: http://stylinmotors.com/

Although they don't list a bmw application, I bet if you call em up they can get them for you.


But really, good quality oem rubber hoses are good for a long time. I change them every 40-50k or every couple coolant flushes. The coolant hoses on my volvo 850 were 13 years old when I replaced them. Although soft, they weren't bulging or leaking after 200k miles. I say save your money on the silicone.

Silicone vacuum lines are cheap though and I prefer them to rubber. Bought mine from stylin.

Great, just what I was looking for. There are a few vacuum hoses I'd like to replace, so I'll definately keep that in mind. I'll give these guys a call and see what they can do. All new coolant hoses are around $100, so if I can get silicone ones for an extra $50, I'll go for it.

Thanks!

[pineapplegti]

they are big in the vr6 world as well.. u can get ricey colors if u want and they also offer black

[Dave]

The factory hoses on my e30 were still on it when I got it with 185k miles. Still had cosmoline on them to match the valve cover and intake.

Just FWIW.

[325iCabrio]

The factory hoses on my e30 were still on it when I got it with 185k miles. Still had cosmoline on them to match the valve cover and intake.

Just FWIW.

I think I'll just stick with the rubber hoses--I can't find any silicone ones that'll work that are cost-effective for me. I'm sure (like mentioned above) that the rubber hoses are plenty strong.

I'll probably get the Elaplast/CRP-Continental hoses from Autohaus AZ. Are they as good as the factory hoses? I've used them before, but not on the cooling system.

[browntown]

for rubber just go to your local auto parts store. I bought 15ft of 4mm (5/32") rubber (goodyear) vacuum hose for the volvo from schucks for 20$.