standard silicone hose isn't suitable for petrol , you need flouro silicone I think, try demon tweeks for that pipe, what is is 12mm internal diameter?
The silcone hose people tell me even with the flouro lining they don't recommend for immersion in petrol and where this part is positioned it's going to see a lot of petrol. The really dodgy looking part I removed was not a kinked piece of hose, rather the correct VW part that was cracked in every direction with exposure to the fuel. In the absence of alternatives, I've ordered the right part from Coolair, and see what it looks like when it arrives.
I've never thought of fuel pipe as a service item before but I think at least checking condition every few thousand miles is a properly good idea. Mine is mainly R9 but a few bits aren't. The fact that real VW stuff isn't up to it is a real worry.
It means it can't be immersed in fuel as in dropping it into a bowl of fuel because only the the inner is lined, the inner can be in contact with fuel but if the other is it will separate and split
The hose manufacturer was doubtful about it being immersed on the inside as well. Got the Coolair item catalogued under the VW part number from the part I removed (211 201 157A) and it looks like good quality rubber, so going ahead and fitting that.
New filler pipe. The old one looked OK (it's hard to get in close to see) but I thought I might as well do it while in there. It had some fine cracks in the surface, but when I cut through the pipe to see how deep they were, it was cracked through 75% of the pipe. Better new than old.
