A common question that we get here at Flex Technologies regarding our silicone hoses is, “What should I clean my silicone hose with?” This is a great question, because for many of our customers, the point of installing silicone hose in your vehicle’s coolant system is to bling it up and make it pop with that brilliant blue or red or custom-colored hose. If you’re the type who lets your engine get coated with grease, dirt, and grime, you might not care about cleaning your silicone hose, but if you’re the type who installs silicone in the first place, you’re probably naturally fastidious about making sure that under the hood is just as dazzling as your vehicle’s exterior dent-free, custom paint job.

Best way to do it: Hot Soapy Water and a microfiber rag

The best product to clean your silicone hose is with Dawn dishwashing soap and hot water. Our favorite is the blue bottle called Dawn Platinum Power Clean Dishwashing Liquid because it gets the quickest results with the least amount of soap. Squirt soap into a bucket and fill it with hot water to make a sudsy concoction, and then use a rag to wipe off your silicone hoses. If you are cleaning up a lot of grease, you’ll eventually start to lose your cleaning power (you’ll notice this when the water doesn’t have as many suds as before). If this happens, dump out your bucket and start over with fresh water, or try squirting a bit of soap directly onto your wet rag and agitating it by scrubbing it together until it’s sudsy again.

The reason we recommend this method is that using other products presents the risk of discoloring your hose, while hot soapy water will get it clean without damaging the silicone, leaving residue, discoloring it, or removing its original shine.

Baby Wipes

You can also use baby wipes to clean your silicone hose. This is slightly more convenient than filling a bucket and using a rag, and it’s safe to use. After all, it’s safe to use on your baby’s skin.

Other Methods

We did a quick online survey of what other products people are using to clean their silicone hoses, and we found quite an off-the-wall list of techniques that we can’t vouch for, including these things:

• Silicone spray
• ArmorAll dashboard wipes
• Autoglym bird dropping wipes
• Autosmart G101 Degreaser
• Meguiar's Super Degreaser
• Carburetor Cleaner
• Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner
• Denatured alcohol
• 303 Aerospace Protectant
• Bathroom cleaner
• Hair spray

These products may get the oil and grease off your silicone hose, but they haven’t been tested to prevent your silicone hoses from getting discolored or damaged.

Things NOT to use

It’s important to understand how oil, gasoline, and petroleum-based products interact with silicone. These products break down the molecular structure of the silicone, and can cause it to weep, leak, or rupture. For more information, read our  recent post on this topic. Therefore, here are the things you should NOT use to clean your silicone hoses.

• WD 40 - This works like a dream to get rid of the gunk, road dirt, and oil that might be on your hoses, but it will also permanently discolor them.
• Any Petroleum-based cleaner
• Gasoline or oil

Cleaning the INSIDE of the hose

For auto applications, you may never find the need to clean the inside of a silicone hose, but for certain other contexts (like hookah smoking or home brewing), you probably will need to clean the inside of your hose. In a past blog post, we covered  how to clean silicone hose if you’re using it for a home brew.

We hope this has been helpful to you. Happy cleaning!

Now that you know it’s possible to keep your silicone bling sparkling, it’s time to take the plunge and give your engine the silicone upgrade you’ve been wanting.  Order today!