When have you changed your radiator hoses- what mileage? Most of my cars I have gone to 100,000 with no problem usually 8 years or so- Japanese cars.

 

I just changed mine because coolant began to seep out of my upper rad hose ends. the hose also felt soft and kind of crunchy. So I changed all of them including the small angled bypass hose, and the hoses going to my heater core. 135,000mi.

 

Ideally, they'd be changed every other coolant flush or so, just in case. They're pretty cheap.
In the real world, check them every so often, if they're 'crunchy', cracked, leaking, etc then replace.

 

I am gonna change my bottom radiator hose on my 1998 maxima, any tricks to doing this without spilling fluid all over the ground? Thanks.

 

Yeah, put something under there to catch the fluid . Or you can always drain it first from the plug on the driver's side, change the hose, refill.

 

Even if you drain the radiator, there still is antifreeze that spills out of the engine and hoses as you take them off. I changed my T stat once, and it trickled out of that spot for 15 min. WTH! Of course it drained onto the splash gaurds.

 

200K miles, 14 1/2 years and still on original hoses.

 

aren;t u concerned they might just break??