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Dave Coleman posted on November 08, 2011 09:00 
Wrench Tips #28:
Quality German Hose Clamps for CHEAP
by Dave Coleman
I've been struggling lately to find a source of high quality hose clamps while plumbing the three fuel hoses, six radiator hoses and two oil cooler hoses in Project Miatabusa. I just found the jackpot in the junkyard.
'80s vintage Mercedes (and probably other decades too) have complex cooling systems with lots of hoses in a variety of sizes. Each uses these really nice German clamps.
This set of brand new looking clamps are all 25 year old junk restored with a few minutes of cleaning. The cleanup is simple: Boil a few cups of water in a plastic container, pour in a brew of Purple Power degreaser and Simple Green, dump in the clamps, and stir with an old toothbrush.
Hot degreaser is dramatically more powerful than cold degreaser. At most, the nastiest spots on the clamps need just a swipe with the toothbrush to loosen the grime. About half the clamps were siezed after the degreasing, but a squirt of WD-40 in the screw threads brought them all back to life.
Each of the clamps is marked with the size range, making it easy to find the right clamps for your application. Also, notice how the edges of the clamp are rolled up, away from the hose, to keep the clamp from cutting into the hose.
The clamps threads are stamped rather than cut into the band, again, no more cutting into the hose.
The best feature of the Mercedes clamps is that the head is ready for a phillips screwdriver, a straight screwdriver, or a 7mm wrench. I always have at least one of those in my hand! Volvo and BMW clamps share most of the features of the Mercedes clampst, but they don't have the phillips and hex drive options, they're just for straight screwdrivers. Lame.
Want to read more nonsense like this? Click on the Wrench Tips thingy on the Tech dropdown, as indicated in this here photograph:
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 2:03 PM
They are availible new from http://www.scandvik.com/index.cfm/method/Shopping_ABAHoseClamps/id/5.htm They aint cheap
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 2:05 PM
Its German, so you know its good! -ShamWow Guy
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 3:34 PM
Das ist gut!
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 3:54 PM
Damn, I'm going to the junkyard this weekend! Is it just Mercedes or do other Germs use these too?
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 4:11 PM
Oh and if you can find a cheap ultrasonic cleaner (I use one made for jewelry and it was about $20), I bet cleaning is even easier. A little bit of denatured alcohol is all you need, drop 'em in and let the machine do the work. I restored a set of brake calipers this way after I took them apart. The nooks and crannies may need a little scrubbing, but the worst shakes off right before your eyes.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 4:46 PM
I've found similar clamps at marine stores. Not the rolled edges though i dont think.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 8:42 PM
Wow I must say this is quite a find. I should have known about at least the hot purple power idea but it never occurred to me that heating it would help.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 9:48 PM
Beaters, Volvo and BMW have similar clamps, but both are only for straight screwdrivers, which I hate.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011 8:58 AM
Every hose clamp I've ever seen on a Volvo 240 has a 7mm hex and a screwdriver slot. You can buy AWAB hose clamps from McMaster. 1.5-2" stainless steel is $4. Available in zinc-plated steel too. 45945K68 is an example.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011 10:55 PM
nice! glad someone else have thought of doing this. Ive been doing the same thing for YEARS! lol! I have pocketed a whole bunch of these from Pick N Pull.
Saturday, November 12, 2011 6:44 PM
I also have a collection of Pick-Your-Part brand hose clamps, but I prefer the spring style adopted by the Japanese in the late '80s. By the mid '90s, they really had all the details dialed in. As the rubber hoses take their set, the spring clamps just follow them in, applying the perfect amount of tension, so they never need to be retightened. Plus, they look more OE on cars that came with them. And after owning a BMW for a long time, it feels like bad juju to have anything German in my cooling system. Can't have everything be logical...
Saturday, November 12, 2011 7:05 PM
Hey Dan, yea, the spring clamps can be a great thing (notice how many are holding the Miatabusa's cooling system together) but they work over a much narrower diameter range, so it can be trickier to find the right clamp for your application.
Thursday, November 17, 2011 11:05 PM
Good post! Thanks to this my local pick-a-part is now sans about 30 or so of these :)
Friday, December 02, 2011 2:05 PM
DO NOT ATTEMPT! DANGEROUS! RUINED MY KITCHEN! Pros: None Cons: Set my kitchen on fire. Other thoughts: I was recently looking for high quality hose clamps to do an overhaul on the low pressure side of my power steering system. I went to the local parts store hoping to find a selection of hose clamps from cheap to expensive and could only find cheap crap. I bought them anyway. To my surprise, I came across this article before I installed them. This is exactly what I wanted! I researched my local salvage yard to find which had old German cars. I got there, found some old but high quality clamps and the guy at the counter didn't even charge me for them. I was all excited to clean them up and make them look shiny and new again like in Dave's pictures! "The cleanup is simple" I'm told. "Boil a few cups of water in a plastic container, pour in a brew of Purple Power degreaser and Simple Green, dump in the clamps, and stir with an old toothbrush." How hard could that be? I grabbed a nice, plastic mixing bowl from my cupboard, filled it with water and placed it on the stove to bring to a boil. While some of you may not need any further explanation. For those of you out there like me who trusted Dave Coleman to never steer you wrong just take my word for it when I say that you can't boil water in a plastic container over a gas range. While my charred hull of a kitchen may not be entirely Dave's fault (I probably should have realized that my curtains are not fire blankets and a refrigerator does not cool fast enough to arrest a flaming ball of melting plastic and fabric.) I do believe he at least owes me a new stove. Would not try again.
Friday, December 02, 2011 4:25 PM
Sorry to read about your experience. Really, I am. I also know your a long time member of this site. But after re-reading the article I don't see how it's Dave's fault you burned down your kitchen. If I were boiling water in a plastic container I would do it in a microwave. Or pour the boiling water from a pan into a plastic container. I'm not sure any plastic would hold up to the direct flame from a stove.
Saturday, December 03, 2011 10:48 AM
Don't fret Aaron! Last night, between sorting through the home owner's insurance claim paperwork in the attic I found a really old 1,000th-scale model of the California Bay Bridge (the most expensive bridge in the world!) which I'm guessing dates back to the turn of the century. After some preliminary research I've determined the value of the California Bay Bridge is approximately $6.3B US, and at 1,000th-scale my model should be worth about (if my math is correct) six million, three hundred thousand dollars US! So, it seems my luck has turned around despite Dave's monumental misstep. I plan on selling the model bridge on eBay this week. Look for it soon, and place a couple bids if you'd like. Or maybe if you want to save me the hassle and we want to by-pass the eBay and PayPal middle-men I'd let you have it for a cool $5,999,999, which is a pretty good discount since I know around the holiday season money can be a bit tight. What's a microwave?
 
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