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There is a very interesting piece on brake hoses by Jim Turner in the August issue of SDC's Turning Wheels Co-Operator tech column.

He mentions that according to Raybestos there is an expiration date on brake hoses. Goes on to say Raybestos website has a recommendation for their hoses that they be replaced at 3-5 year intervals. Mentions that several he had just bought from his supplier had expiration dates past or almost past and when he checked with their support dept, Raybestos confirmed they were expired or almost expired.

I just checked some I bought in May from AutoZone and they have a date of 12/07 and 06/11 on them. I haven't quite figured out if that is the mfg date or the expiration date. I tend to believe expiration since a purchase in May shouldn't have a July mfg date. If that's the case and if there is an expiration date, it means of two brand new hoses one is almost and the other is way over expired.

Guess that's the question -- has anyone heard that there is an actual expiration date on hoses or is that something a mfg is doing to sell hoses.

Is the exp date moulded into the hose or just painted on???

Or a better question mite be :
When did the exp date for brake hoses start???? Is there an exp date for the following too:
brake lines, pads, shoes, drums, springs, calipers, brake fluid, ball joints, frames, wheels, windshields, ....

These hoses are stamped with the date along with all the other info. The article said date info was a DOT requirement since 1987. Only thing mentioned was hoses.

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ok. I'm wondering how ez it is for the mfg'er to remove the expiration date (it mite be a "sell by" date).

Now lets think about this. So many hoses setting on a parts store shelf that never sell. Expired hoses go back to mfg'er. Mfg'er removes date and paints a new one on it and sends it back to parts store. No???

I'll have to look at some around here. I believe that is a date of mfg. Not a exp date nor sell by date nor anything like that.

Maybe try a little gasoline or alcohol or other commonly used automotive solvent to see if it is easily removed. Probably minor sand blasting or other media blasting will take it off easily.

OR sit in chair and flex it back and forth a 100 times while watching a movie to see if the mfg nomenclature disappears like it does on a bag of Hershey chocalate chips after about 6 flexes.

This sounds like another example of someone trying to increase sales through fear-mongering.

However, the truth is out there - namely, in Part 571 of the DOT regulations (the FMVSS). Here's the real deal - straight from the horse's mouth - and current through 2/29/12:

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/administration/fmcsr/fmcsrruletext.aspx?reg=571.106

Yet, to save, time I'll highlight the salient points, here:

Subpart B - Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards ...

?571.106 - Standard No. 106; Brake hoses ...

S5.2 - Labeling ...

S5.2.2 - Each hydraulic brake hose shall be labeled, or cut from bulk hose that is labeled, at intervals of not more than 6 inches, measured from the end of one legend to the beginning of the next, in block capital letters and numerals at least one-eighth of an inch high, with the information listed in paragraphs (a) through (e) of this section. The information need not be present on hose that is sold as part of a brake hose assembly or a motor vehicle ...

(c) - The month, day, and year, or the month and year, of manufacture, expressed in numerals. For example, 10/1/96 means October 1, 1996.

The only requirement that I could find for any date in labelling was for date of manufacture - NOT EXPIRATION.

Howard, I think you may have your wires crossed on your interpretation of the date stamp, which can easily happen when the first twelve years of a century are involved. If '06/11' is June 2011, then '12/07' is December 2007, rather than July 2012.

Now, Raybestos has been my favorite brand of brake parts for decades. I've always gotten very good service life (or hassle-free warranty replacement) out of their linings, but used very few their hoses. In fact, I've never replaced a brake hose on any of my own daily drivers - all but two of which have racked up over 120K.

However, I wasn't able to readily find anything online about a definite expiration date or service life of their brake hoses. As such, the notion of replacement every 3-5 years just doesn't wash with me.

Quote from post #1 above:
"There is a very interesting piece on brake hoses by Jim Turner in the August issue of SDC's Turning Wheels Co-Operator tech column."

I don;t know. Maybe my wine fogged memmory is Zig/Zagging tricks on me but is that the same source that brought us 1965 Packard V13 SUV MiniVans some 10 years ago and wheels that split because someone mounted radial tyres on them????

Or, in the immortal words of Pink Flyod " Wheeeeeeew".