They were handed to me loose by the local mechanic I ordered them through, no doubt with a markup, though I've no idea how much.

It's difficult to get parts here in Taiwan, though, especially for a 30 year old car, though these parts are common to later Charade G11's.

Suppliers generally don't sell direct to the public (since there is no DIY) so beggars can't be choosers.

Edited by edlithgow on 04/09/2016 at 11:46

Our Jazz is on its original hoses after 13 years. No issues.

But son had an 11 year old Fiesta in 2001 where the hoses failed after clamping when changing pads and disks..

Well, its stated as a "fact" (however implausibly) rather than a recommendation, so strictly speaking it doesn't have any implications for practice at all.

I'm sure, however, that part of the motivation is to persuade people to replace hoses earlier than they probably need to.

OTOH, the 10 (or 6, depending on source) year lifespan for tyres seems to have achieved wide acceptance.

Anyway, I ran out of time, so the two front hoses (which showed surface splitting) have been replaced but the rear hose (which looks OK) is staying on for now.

Its replacement is going to be even older by the time I get around to fitting it.

Red rubber grease, eh? I'd guess your reasoning is to protect the rubber from ozone "dry rot"? I think red rubber grease is (or was) castor oil-based.

A few years ago I had a vaguely similar idea about tyres, and used sunflower and canola oil. It may have worked (the tyres looked better) but I wasn't sure it wouldn't attack the rubber, and after a few applications I stopped doing it.