Heat shrink hose clamps

[SourceLee]

Heat shrink hose clamps? Five stars in my book. For those of you looking for something a little different in the hose clamp universe. You may want to take a look at heat shrink hose clamps. They're fantastic! I've used at least a dozen of them for over 5k miles. Both large and small, no issues. At first I thought they were gimmicky or just "trick". However after some research, you could make a good argument they're actually better than conventional hose clamps. Both the worm drive and the constant tension type clamps. The manufacturer Gates has a video showing a performance comparison between the three. The test was done on a thermal cycling load test rig. Heat shrink came out on top.
Being convinced, I took the dive last season and outfitted 90% of my hoses with the heat shrink clamps. 5k miles later I'm a true believer. I won't use anything else. They look good, work good and make a good conversation starter. If you ever have the opportunity, give them a whirl. I'm confident you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Nigel Allen]

Thanks for taking the time to do the write up Lee. I have been considering these for a while now and will pull the pin on them based on your findings. Being Australia, they are bound to have a gold plated price tag... we will see.


Cheers,

Nigel

[edwardb]

I've used the Gates PowerGrip SB Clamps for all my cooling and heater line connections on my Coupe and truck builds. Never had a leak. In fact on the truck build fixed my lower radiator hose connection that no other clamps (or clamps) would prevent from slightly leaking. Plus they look clean. Not especially cheap and they are one-time use. So I don't install them until I'm positive everything is finalized. There are multiple sizes depending on the outer dimension of the connection. This link shows them: https://www.jegs.com/p/Gates/Gates-P...43359/10002/-1. I shrink them with a regular heat gun. Pretty straightforward. There is a dedicated tool to cut them off (also shown in the referenced link) but it doesn't get good reviews. I've had to cut a few off and carefully used a utility knife. They're available through multiple channels and I've found the prices and availability to be all over the place. So expect to shop around. I'll also add that Edelbrock sells a similar product. May even be the same thing from Gates just with their packaging. When I was finishing up the truck, couldn't find a couple sizes I needed and used the Edelbrock version. No difference from what I could tell.

[OB6]

Not unlike the Uponor PEX fittings, although they don't use heat (you need to expand it and then the fitting shrinks to its original size). They're all I use now.

uponor.jpg

[JohnK]

+another on the Gates PowerGrip clamps. I used them on my roadster build and love them. They're very clean-looking, easy to use and really seal well. The other nice thing about them is that they are self-retightening with every heat cycle so they will never come loose. As opposed to worm-drive clamps that will eventually work themselves loose with enough heat cycles.

[CaptB]

About to install engine, got mine ordered today.

[Alec]

These look awesome. Just ordered an assortment of 2 of each size from Speedway for $51.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Gates...0aAiAREALw_wcB