Product search: I need to treat/nourish my rubber trim before I dress/protect it.

[BryanH]

I have a 25 year old car with rubber window trim that is fading and starting to dry out with tiny tiny cracks. Unfortunately some of the trim is no longer available as replacement parts. I have several products that will dress and protect the trim (WETS, 303, PERL, etc), but I think it's a good idea to use a pure reconditioning treatment first. Something that will nourish the rubber, bring back its flexibility and moisturize it deep within. What works best?


I've seen the Gummipflege which looks more like an all-in-one solution. I was thinking it'd be better to treat the rubber trim once a week for a few weeks before starting to seal it with a protective layer.


Wurth has an aerosol spray which I don't think is ideal as it will get all over the glass and paint.


I'm not as concerned with getting a particular color/finish from the trim (ie, a black dye trim product isn't what I'm after), it's more about keeping the trim from coming apart and looking worse, long term.


I remember 15 years ago having a 12 year old car with T-tops that would leak water onto the seat when it rained. One treatment of [I forget what it was!] on the seals stopped the leaks for a full year or more.

[Rsurfer]

I have a 25 year old car with rubber window trim that is fading and starting to dry out with tiny tiny cracks. Unfortunately some of the trim is no longer available as replacement parts. I have several products that will dress and protect the trim (WETS, 303, PERL, etc), but I think it's a good idea to use a pure reconditioning treatment first. Something that will nourish the rubber, bring back its flexibility and moisturize it deep within. What works best?


I've seen the Gummipflege which looks more like an all-in-one solution. I was thinking it'd be better to treat the rubber trim once a week for a few weeks before starting to seal it with a protective layer.


Wurth has an aerosol spray which I don't think is ideal as it will get all over the glass and paint.You could spray into the cap and use a MF towel to wipe on the rubber trim.


I'm not as concerned with getting a particular color/finish from the trim (ie, a black dye trim product isn't what I'm after), it's more about keeping the trim from coming apart and looking worse, long term.


I remember 15 years ago having a 12 year old car with T-tops that would leak water onto the seat when it rained. One treatment of [I forget what it was!] on the seals stopped the leaks for a full year or more.
:props:

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

Poorboy's World Trim Restorer is pretty great for this. A couple of treatments and then seal with a UV inhibitor.

[detailedbybrian]

Sub'd for further posts. Also interested in reconditioning trim pieces.

[Rsurfer]

Sub'd for further posts. Also interested in reconditioning trim pieces.

Look into Solution Finish for bad trim and Car Pro Dlux.

[Eldorado2k]

Look into Solution Finish for bad trim and Car Pro Dlux.



I'm not as concerned with getting a particular color/finish from the trim (ie, a black dye trim product isn't what I'm after)




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rsurfer]

Sub'd for further posts. Also interested in reconditioning trim pieces.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Was answering detailedbybrian post and not the OP.

[Eldorado2k]

Was answering detailedbybrian post and not the OP.

Aight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[detailedbybrian]

Was answering detailedbybrian post and not the OP.

I'm looking for rubber trim specifically like the OP. Apologize for any confusion.

[BryanH]

Been looking around to see what I can discover.

Swissvax has Seal Feed but at $70 a bottle I'm having a hard time considering this one.

It looks like GummiPflege is most often used for weather seals (inside/around doors, convertible tops, etc) and less often on exterior window trim. But the quality that it is purported to posess, that is restoring elasticity to the rubber, seems like it would be useful for aging exteriro rubber window trim too.

There's also Sonax Rubber Protectant, which appears to be a very similar (identical?) product to the 1Z GummiPflege.

Poorboy's Trim Restorer has been claimed to "work from the iside out" on restoring trim by Pockets@Poorboys on some forums. ekennett, you say something similar. I've seen no claims like this elsewhere, including the description on the Poorboy's web site, which doesn't even mention rubber as an application for TR.

GTechniq C4 looks to do some amazing work and last long but I've only seen it applied on plastic texturized trim, not rubber (or synthetic rubber) window trim. The manufacturer also doesn't specify use for rubber.

Iv'e been a little surprised at how little information seems to be out there for this particular problem I have. I know it's not unique! :)

So far I'm leaning towards the GummiPflege or the Poorboy's Trim Restorer weekly for a few weeks for my restorative purposes, followed by using the WETS I already have for protection over the long haul.

[detailedbybrian]

Been looking around to see what I can discover.

Swissvax has Seal Feed but at $70 a bottle I'm having a hard time considering this one.

It looks like GummiPflege is most often used for weather seals (inside/around doors, convertible tops, etc) and less often on exterior window trim. But the quality that it is purported to posess, that is restoring elasticity to the rubber, seems like it would be useful for aging exteriro rubber window trim too.

There's also Sonax Rubber Protectant, which appears to be a very similar (identical?) product to the 1Z GummiPflege.

Poorboy's Trim Restorer has been claimed to "work from the iside out" on restoring trim by Pockets@Poorboys on some forums. ekennett, you say something similar. I've seen no claims like this elsewhere, including the description on the Poorboy's web site, which doesn't even mention rubber as an application for TR.

GTechniq C4 looks to do some amazing work and last long but I've only seen it applied on plastic texturized trim, not rubber (or synthetic rubber) window trim. The manufacturer also doesn't specify use for rubber.

Iv'e been a little surprised at how little information seems to be out there for this particular problem I have. I know it's not unique! :)

So far I'm leaning towards the GummiPflege or the Poorboy's Trim Restorer weekly for a few weeks for my restorative purposes, followed by using the WETS I already have for protection over the long haul.

I'm interested to see the results of the products you test. I might end up picking up a few different ones to try myself and report back.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Gummipflege is the product you are looking for to condition and bring back the life of your rubber trim. It wont fix cracked or deteriorating rubber but it will condition them

[BryanH]

UPDATE:

Thanks for all the responses. A few weeks ago I applied GummiPflege to the window trim as well as the door seals (the latter I first cleaned with OPC 4:1 and a brush). I did three applications spread out over the course of a few days.

http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/165169519/original.jpg

I'm quite pleased with the results! I don't have any direct before/after photos (shame on me -- although the above is a before shot). Doing this significantly reduced the appearance of oxidation and made the trim a rich dark black. This is good stuff. I've ordered some more for use on other cars.

I wonder if it's something that can be topped by a trim coating (WETS?) to protect from the elements longer and require less frequent dressing. Masking the nearby paint/glass takes longer than applying the product itself!

[Setec Astronomy]

I've never considered Gummipfledge to be something that was "deep conditioning", more of a surface treatment. I'm also not sure why you felt you had to mask so heavily for this, rather than just buffing off any paint or glass later (although I'll agree that can be a pain with some dressings). I"m also confused by your reference to WETS as a "trim coating".

The normal way to "condition" rubber parts like this would be multiple applications of something like 303 Aerospace Protectant (or one of the myriad similar PDMS dressings). These PDMS dressings are oil-in-water emulsions of silicone oils like Poorboy's Trim Restorer--another viable option (Black Wow is another similar product).

I also find WETS to have good penetration capability due to the solvent carrier, although it does sometimes have some weird behavior on checked rubber trim, namely some weird water spotting that occurs after rain, but goes away when it dries out more. I never mask when using WETS, but it can be a challenge to buff off if you let it dry.

If it were me I'd use 303 on it a few times, then use WETS from there.

Oh, because some people brought up C4 and DLux (similar products), I HAVE used C4 on rubber trim and it worked very well. Also if you look at the product page for DLux they mention using it on tires, although no one seems to do this.

[Mantilgh]

Just a heads up Gummi Pfledge does have PDMS. It's the only thing mentioned in the MSDS.

Dielectric grease is most commonly PDMS also and is easy to find although it does not come with a nifty shoe polish applicator.

Credit for the above goes to Bob (FUNX). :dblthumb2: