replacing heater hoses and radiator hoses

are the repops with mopar logos any good or should i just buy gates belts and hoses? thanks

that would be my suggestion.

Good point. I recently replaced heater hoses with properly logo' d hoses. Never occurred to me that might be hoses manufactured in Bada-Bing or some such.

Did use a Gates manufacturered upper radiator hose obtained from Amazon for 15 bucks. Did not feel up to paying an additional 40 dollars to have a barely discernible part number in faint white lettering stenciled upon it,,,,which at that price still did not have the Mopar penstar stamped on it.

I did buy some Silicone heater hose off ebay, and a silicone Mopar Performance bypass hose (Pentastar on side can't be seen in pic) for my E58 that didn't break the bank, are more durable than standard, and I think look better.

No info on the durability of the blue silicone hoses but they do look nice expecially with the right offsetting color scheme.

I've always known silicone hoses to be more durable. The major three have used them on their Police Package cars for years. My '89 Diplomat still has the original top and lower silicone rad hoses, and heater hoses, and they have well over 200,000 miles on them now. I've seen used ones sell for more than new rubber ones.

I like the Mopar Logo'd hoses and belts. My oldest are 11 years old and they've held up extremely well.

are specialized clamps required to be used with silicone hoses ? somewhere, i remember something about the hoses blowing off when using standard clamps. was this a problem when these hoses first became available, and is this a non issue now ?

I work at a heavy duty truck shop and on highway trucks the silicone hose lasts much longer and is easier to work with. We don't use standard hose clamps however, there are slightly heavier duty clamps we use that have an extra metal tab on the inside so the hose doesn't get pinched while you are snugging up the clamp. The black hose always leaks over time where the silicone stuff doesn't. Of course I don't think many of us have 1,000,000 miles on our old cars.

Regular hose clamps will tear up silicone hose when you tighten the clamps.

Got over 20 years on 'black' hoses...

Held in place with Corbin's...

20,000+ miles in a lot of EXTREME temps...


They leak not a drop...