How to Fix Ugly Hose Clamps
Can these hoses be bought for our cars?
I believe that they can now. If you see ECR printed on the hose, that is it.
Gates did a study and found that there was actually a small voltage and current in the cooling systems. Every vehicle had it's own voltage and current going through it while running (specific to each vehicle). They were able to measure a small voltage and current (like less than 1 volt and milliamps of current) in the cooling systems. They then theroized that there was an electric and chemical reaction happening to degrade the rubber (they called it electro-chemical reaction ---> this is where they got the initials ECR from). They even admitted that if they made this compound available it would hurt their aftermarket sales since it lasted so long. They changed the compound of the rubber to a more resistant one to this phenomena. It was very close to the cost of the base/standard rubber used for the hoses and had test data from vehicles with 225, 000 miles on them and still going. They brought in samples of the two rubber compounds with 225, 000 miles and you could see cracking in the inside of the hoses with the standard rubber, but not on the ECR compounded hoses. The next step up after the standard rubber before this was to use Peroxide cured rubber which increased the cost by 10%. The ECR compound was almost the same cost or within pennies of the standard rubber.
Side note: did you know that the "thread" or "rope" in the middle of the hoses is actually Kevlar. The same material that bullet proof vests are made of (but not enough to stop a bullet). This is where the hose gets its strength to resist bursting under pressure and high temperatures.
Back to the show: I believe that NAPA carries Gates hoses. Go to your NAPA store and ask for Gates hoses. Look on the outside for "ECR" to be printed on the hose. Look carefully all over the hose to find this, as it is not printed very large. If you see this, then it is the improved compound. Check for it on both molded hoses (like upper and lower radiator) and the bulk 1/2, 5/8, and 3/4 inch hose that is sold by the foot (if it is also Gates hose).
When they presented this information to us, there was no explaination as to how or where the electro chemical reaction was coming from or how to cause or prevent it from happening in a vehicle. They had a team of top scientists and chemist working on it to discover it in the first place. They weren't sure what caused it, but were able to verify that it was there. They found that some cars would have like .2 or .3 volts and others near .5 or .6 volts. I transferred to a different department shortly after they showed this to us and do not know if they eventually figured out what caused it and where it came from. However they were able to find out a way to make a rubber that was resistant to it that was cost effective compared to the standard rubber available at that time.