Getting smoke stain off rubber trim?

[jta98z]

Hey guys. Bought a 2006 4runner owned by a smoker. The car is almost surgically clean now but the last thing I can’t seem to get to budge is getting the smoke/nicotine/whatever stain out of the rubbery vinyl type weatherstrip around the windows. Presumably from smoking with the windows down. You can see in the photo how the color transitions. The bottom half is obviously the natural color which was protected by the door. The tannish brown is what I’m trying to get off.

I’ve tried everything I knew of. Scrubbed it with cleaner, magic eraser, almost melted it with the steamer and nothing. Replacing the pieces are like $80 per window from Toyota which is outrageous for some rubber weatherstrip.

Any suggestions? Bleach? Alcohol? Leather/rubber recolor kit?

Thanks for any replies!
6519765198

[Eldorado2k]

Hey guys. Bought a 2006 4runner owned by a smoker. The car is almost surgically clean now but the last thing I can’t seem to get to budge is getting the smoke/nicotine/whatever stain out of the rubbery vinyl type weatherstrip around the windows. Presumably from smoking with the windows down. You can see in the photo how the color transitions. The bottom half is obviously the natural color which was protected by the door. The tannish brown is what I’m trying to get off.

I’ve tried everything I knew of. Scrubbed it with cleaner, magic eraser, almost melted it with the steamer and nothing. Replacing the pieces are like $80 per window from Toyota which is outrageous for some rubber weatherstrip.

Any suggestions? Bleach? Alcohol? Leather/rubber recolor kit?

Thanks for any replies!
6519765198

Have you tried Mothers Back to Black Tire Renew or McKee’s Rubber & Tire Rejuvenator?

I’m in the process of restoring a used Cadillac I recently purchased and some of the rubber pieces on the car are/were extremely neglected.

The rubber trim on the sunroof was in real bad shape, very dry and nearly to the point of no return. 1st thing I did was tape off so I could do a test spot with the Mothers B2B Tire Renew. I sprayed it and waited 15sec, then wiped it clean with a towel.

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I had to clean it twice.

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It’s still not a finished product because I’m waiting till I buff out the paint before fully getting into that rubber trim but it was a good start in the right direction. I’ll probably wind up using a trim coating on this, but I haven’t decided yet.


This next rubber piece was also in extremely bad shape. I didn’t take any before pics, but I’m talking about the very top piece that stays exposed to the sun the whole time as it sits between the rear window and the top of the trunklid. It was caked and baked and had turned brown and looked horrible.

I taped off the window and gave it 2 rounds with the Mothers cleaner, followed by another cleaning with Megs APC scrubbing it with a horse hair detailing brush another couple of times before it was good enough to call clean. Then I finished it off by applying Megs Hyper Dressing @1:1 with a microfiber applicator a good 2-3 times.

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There’s only so much cleaning you’re going to be able to do... The real difference maker is going to be done by the product you’ll use to dress the rubber, in my case and what I’d recommend to you is Meguiars Hyper Dressing. It works wonders on rubber weatherstripping because it seeps and penetrates into the soft rubber and conditions it with each application you do[weekly or monthly] until you see the rubber has been fully conditioned for the long haul and pretty much stays dark black and pliable non stop.

[Farmallluvr]

I use degreaser or a multi purpose cleaner and then follow up with a something like Hyper dressing to rejuvenate and moisturize

[DBAILEY]

Try Nextzett Plastic Vinyl Deep Cleaner Plastik Reiniger. Its designed to remove nicotine and tar from smoking. You love it once you try and always keep a bottle around. Best plastic/vinyl cleaner I have ever used.

[SWETM]

This is just me thinking out loud and take it not as a recommendation. But test it if you dare and when the other options is out LOL.

I think that cigarette smoke is mostly based on tar accually. And not so much of the nicotine that is the brownish discolor you get. Glass cleaners is often alcohol based. And ipa or ethanol is what the alcohols which is used. So I would test with a glass cleaner first and move up to strong dilution of ipa. You could try a panel wipe product also. Gtechnic Panel Wipe has a high ratio of ethanol in it so that could also be a product to test out. Then you can often get ethanol much cheaper from storm kitchen fuels. Just look up so it is ethanol based. Then you have acetone which also is good to desolve tar. And of course a tar remover. There are some strong citrus based degreaser that desolves tar too and can maybe be the best way to go with to don't damage the vinyl seal. That is the problem how aggressive you can go without damage the vinyl in this case. And maybe the vinyl has been stained so bad that you don't can rescue it. And as eldorado showed you above I would test that Mothers Back to Black or another rubber cleaner. It would be the most gentle to test with first.

[cwp2016nd]

Try Citrol 266 diluted 10:1. If that doesn't work, make the dilution a little bit stronger. It works most of the time.

[jta98z]

A lot of great replies guys. I’ll give them a try! Worst case I just replace the weatherstrip.