restoring rubber

[tparker]

Anyone have thoughts on bring back some of the color of rubber? I have several rubber parts like the car door rubber  caps that are in pretty good shape other than a little faded. Any tips or tricks on getting the dark black color back?

[headejm]

You could try this stuff. Works well on faded plastic trim pieces. Might work on rubber.

[70/6chall]

tparker, all the rubber seals except the trunk seal, are original to the car, that would be the hood to radiator support, the cowl seal, both door seals and gutter trim window seals are all quite pliable and not cracked or rotted out. The only one I couldn't save was the trunk seal and it's breaking off in chunks. But, I have a new one from Softseal to install. Since new I have cleaned and lubed the rubber seals every 6 mos. or so with the product "303". The seals are still very black looking, but are at least 50 years old. My car is non garage kept. If something is maintained it can be kept nice. No time like the present to start working with it. All the seals have never been changed out I know this because I've owned it for almost 50 years.          Al

[70 Challenger Lover]

I started using Adams products last year and was super impressed with their tire and rubber cleaner. I used it on old door rubber and it made them like new again. I've only used the vrt on vinyl tops but I liked it too. The first one will get your rubber clean so you can decide if it's worth saving.

[Burdar]

Anyone have thoughts on bring back some of the color of rubber? I have several rubber parts like the car door rubber  caps that are in pretty good shape other than a little faded. Any tips or tricks on getting the dark black color back?

List the specific parts you're talking about.

[tparker]

@Burdar I thought I mentioned the parts. The main one was the door jam seal. I don't know the name of the other one, but it is the rubber flap for the engine bay access hole.

[tparker]

@headejm thanks. Mothers seems to always have good products and I'll see about getting a bottle.

70 Challenger Lover,  I never heard of that one. I'll look into it.

One thing I was told a long time ago when I worked at a body shop was a lot of the products only work for a short time and actually do more harm than good. That was in the late 80s. I can find a lot of stuff for vinyl and plastics, but rubber seems a little more difficult. I was hoping to find something like a dye to freshing up the color as well as some sort of conditioner

[tparker]

70/6chall

50 years is awesom. I've had mine for 30. Unfortunatly it wasn't in great shape when I bought it, then I let it go when I was in the Army. It has taken me this long to get it back in shape. The few rubber pieces I have are actually in good shape other than the color. They are not dried out or cracking. Just discolored. These parts are out of direct sunlight, so I would expect them to hold up for a while. Heck, they are probably in better shape than me and I'm there age. LOL

[70 Challenger Lover]

@headejm thanks. Mothers seems to always have good products and I'll see about getting a bottle.

70 Challenger Lover,  I never heard of that one. I'll look into it.

One thing I was told a long time ago when I worked at a body shop was a lot of the products only work for a short time and actually do more harm than good. That was in the late 80s. I can find a lot of stuff for vinyl and plastics, but rubber seems a little more difficult. I was hoping to find something like a dye to freshing up the color as well as some sort of conditioner

I've heard that as well. I had a post last year showing the results of this cleaner on rubber and a couple people said they'd be interested to know how it looked months later. I was getting the car ready to sell it so I can't say how it held up after a year but I did get to see the results after three months and it was fantastic. The rubber I used it on was dry and discolored from age. It was almost at the point where I would have thrown it away and put in new stuff so even if the product ruined it, it was nearly ready for the trash can anyway.

If all you want it a dye, you could spray it with a vinyl type of paint and that's fairly flexible but in my opinion, you should use the Adams rubber cleaner. It's a really nice product alone. The other product is more of an armor all lipstick covering and I could take or leave that. The rubber cleaner will ruin your rags with all the nasty pollutants that get lifted out of the old rubber.

[Burdar]

ECS makes(or used to make) a product for rubber hoses and weatherstripping.

[CudaMoparRay]

tparker, all the rubber seals except the trunk seal, are original to the car, that would be the hood to radiator support, the cowl seal, both door seals and gutter trim window seals are all quite pliable and not cracked or rotted out. The only one I couldn't save was the trunk seal and it's breaking off in chunks. But, I have a new one from Softseal to install. Since new I have cleaned and lubed the rubber seals every 6 mos. or so with the product "303". The seals are still very black looking, but are at least 50 years old. My car is non garage kept. If something is maintained it can be kept nice. No time like the present to start working with it. All the seals have never been changed out I know this because I've owned it for almost 50 years.          Al

I use product 3O3 also after Al turned me onto it, works great.

[blown motor]

I used Mother's Back to Black on my hood to rad support seal and was very pleased with the results I got.

[torredcuda]

tparker, all the rubber seals except the trunk seal, are original to the car, that would be the hood to radiator support, the cowl seal, both door seals and gutter trim window seals are all quite pliable and not cracked or rotted out. The only one I couldn't save was the trunk seal and it's breaking off in chunks. But, I have a new one from Softseal to install. Since new I have cleaned and lubed the rubber seals every 6 mos. or so with the product "303". The seals are still very black looking, but are at least 50 years old. My car is non garage kept. If something is maintained it can be kept nice. No time like the present to start working with it. All the seals have never been changed out I know this because I've owned it for almost 50 years.          Al

Which product(s)?

[70/6chall]

Here's the "303" product. Google this on your own see if it will fit what your need is. This stuff is pretty good I have no complaints. I ran across it couple of years ago just to try it out and it really performs as advertised. There was someone who wanted to use it on original plastic interior panels, ours in particular, and they passed on the info.    Al

[tparker]

I had this lying around from a while ago and I just tested it on one door jamb cover. It looks like it did a pretty good job.