So say you just bought an older car or truck and the door and trunk w/strips are intact but looking a bit rugged and dried out. Well recently I was looking for some completely unrelated information in a GM service manual and I stumbled onto a list of recommended cleaners, lubes and other maintenance chemicals. There was a specific listing for softening and reconditioning weatherstripping which I thought seemed a bit odd. But even stranger was the fact that they recommended using GM dielectric grease. Maybe this is common knowledge but it was a new one on me. What I had on hand was a tube of the NAPA equivalent dielectric grease so I decided to give it a try on an off topic pickup I'd bought. The door weatherstripping was starting to show its age and during the winter months the doors were likely to be frozen shut on cold mornings. The more I thought about it the more sense it began to make. The dielectric grease contains a lot of silicone, which rubber likes, and it's NOT a petroleum based lube. A petroleum based product would actually attack and deteriorate rubber. The dielectric stuff is actually made to specifically protect things like the plastic and rubber bits used in electrical connectors and terminals. It seemed to work well by first wiping the weatherstripping clean of any loose dirt and grime and then applying a slightly generous coating of the grease. You don't have to "glob" it on too heavily, but leave a little excess on it and give it a few days, or weeks even, to allow it to absorb into the w/strip material. If necessary, you can go back later and buff off any excess. It will restore the flexibility of the w/strips and the silicone will help to shed water and keep things from freezing up in the winter.
In my experience with cars and other objects using weather stripping and rubber moldings that are not reproduced, STRAIGHT simple green soaking will revitalize the rubber and soften it. Will also remove paint edge on rubber where masking was poor. I have had to use it in applications where it holds in glass and is not available anywhere, making restoration a necessity. BTW, Simple Green is completely bio degradable and will not harm your skin. You can run it thru a paint filter and reuse it diluted to clean with.
Might work good on rubber, but I gotta disagree with the safe part there. After enough exposure to Simple Green, my hands start shedding layers of dead skin like some sort of strange sci fi movie disease. Wear gloves. Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
I said soak the rubber, not your hands. The new anti bacterial hand sanitizer will dry out your skin if used excessively. Its still the best and safest solvent out there that you can put down a drain.
Silicon emulsion is what you want, if you can get it. Might be available from your G.M. dealer. Seems like some dealers can get it and others don't know what it is. I believe NAPA has it as well.
NAPA silicone "Syl-Glyde", 7651346 supplied in a tube, is good too. I never remember to do this, but a light coat or two not only keeps it from drying out, but also keeps the rubber from sticking in real cold weather, esp. after sleet and ice storms when parked outside. Should be good for protecting any rubber products, from tires and protective d/s boots &c.
I've used the dielectic grease for years on not just weatherstrip but on hoses too. The rubber looks new even if it is years old. On new rubber take a rag with rubbing alcohol and scrub off the "protectant" or whatever it's called, then apply the grease. Under hood hoses will look new on the outside but inside they might be ready to collapse after years of use.
As strange as it sounds a older guy told me years ago to us GOJO hand cleaner,I was amazed it did seem to make the dried out rubber a bit more pliable,probably due to the fact that one of the ingredients GOJO is lanolin. I'm sure this isn't a magic cure and there are much better products available but at the time I did the job for me. HRP
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