Evening. I'm thinking about changing the coolant hoses on the 998. The originals are still there, not leaking but have seen better days. Are the cheaper kits on eBay (£60 - £70) any good or shite? I imagine most people go with samco but at 3 times the price are they really so much better / reliable? Anybody used them? Cheers, Ian
It pays to put good quality hoses back on, I mean it's not the kind of upgrade that you ever see, but you rely on it for every ride and you never think about the hard job they have to do. Having pipes that last at least 6-10 years is worth every penny in my view. Samco are very good value when you cost up a genuine Ducatti set.
Went with Samco for my 748R and feel that the extra cost was worth it. Fitted easily, no need to modify and the vibrant red tarted up the engine no end. Andy PS - a word of caution, their prices don't include clips and the stainless steel ones cost the other arm.
Thanks for the replies. Already got some st/st ones sorted from work. Will go with the samco ones then. Cheers.
I put Samco on mine and at the time (about 5 years ago now) the kit did include clips, although a couple were a little too small, so I just re-used the Ducati ones. The price of the kit was substantially less than new OEM and was only slightly frustrating to install. Remember not to overtighten the clips...
I have had non Samco hoses on my bike since 2009, which came from Hose Solutions via eBay. I paid about £60 for them and I have not had a single problem with them. I also bought 10 stainless steel clips at the same time and they were not expensive at all. In fact I have just bought another 10 for another bike build and they are perfectly good and cost only £5. Some named brands are really just that, they are not necessarily that much more superior in quality but their reputation seems to almost obligatorily cause the price to rise disproportionately. A decent silicone hose should allow better water flow due to it's smoother bore compared to a rubber hose, although with a Ducati I doubt you will notice the difference as it does have cooling fans. I am building an RD250LC at the moment and have gone for a silicone hose upgrade as the smoother bore of the hoses increases the water flow and helps keep the temperature of the engine at standstill slightly cooler, it has no cooling fan or thermostat as standard.
