Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
How would you clean these? -The Rubber on Running Boards
Note - I know they are not perfect but I'm not talking about making them perfect, that would simply be REPLACING them.
If a person didn't want to replace them, how would you go about cleaning and restoring their appearance?
Here's the before condition
Here's how I cleaned and rejuvenated them....
No pictures - how I cleaned them
To scrub them clean I used a combination of the red scrub brush you'll see below and the FLEX Cordless PE14 with a DA Scrub Brush on it. After scrubbing, I took the brush pressed it against a clean terrycloth towel. I used the brush bristles to push the towel into the grooves in the rubber tread to pull out all the cleaner and loosened oxidized rubber.
How I treated them after cleaning
I used Solution Finish, which is Carbon Black milled to a particle size smaller than a virus and brushed a heavy, wet coat over the rubber treads.
I took a Dixie water cup and cut it down, then poured the Solution Finish into the cup so I could dip my brush into it.
This is a wet application of Solution Finish.
I let the wet application of Solution Finish soak into the old, dried-out rubber for about 10 to 15 minutes and then I used a clean cotton terrycloth towel and scrub brush to remove any excess.
The idea being to PRESS DOWN HARD on the brush and force the brush bristles to force the terrycloth INTO the valley's of the ribs to wipe off any excess Solution Finish.
Here's the towel flipped over to show how well this actually worked. I did have to press firm and scrub kind of slow so the liquid had time to move from the rubber into the cotton.
Next I took one of my favorite tools, the Tornador Black Air Blow Out Gun and blasted the rubber treads to push any excess Solution Finish into the rubber.
Here's the final results. I don't think my iPhone camera truly captures how really nice they look but for your consideration....
And here's everything I used....
Before
After
You can get all this stuff except the Tornador Black Air Blow Out Gun on Autogeek.com - you can get the Tornador WHITE Air Blow Out Gun on Autogeek.com but the black version you see here was a personal gift from Dennis Dehn to me and as far as I know, the black guns have not been mass produced yet.
On Autogeek.com
Pinnacle Leather & Vinyl Cleaner
Solution Finish Black Plastic & Vinyl Restorer 12 oz.
Interior Concours Brush
The Heavy-Duty DA Carpet Brush features deep 1.5-inch nylon bristles and it is the length of these bristles that lets them conform to curved surfaces like tire sidewalls better than the short bristle brush.
Heavy-Duty DA Carpet Brush – Long Bristles
This is a good match for either the long or short bristle brush but any brand where the diameter is smaller than 5" should work just fine.
Rotary 4 ¾ inch Flexible Backing Plate
FLEX PE-150 Cordless Rotary Polisher
The FLEX PE-150 Cordless Rotary Polisher has a 1400 watt motor with a no-load speed range of 150 - 1,450 rpm. When powered by the 5 amp battery pack, the FLEX PE-150 Cordless Rotary Polisher can use a cutting wool pad at full power for 30-35 minutes – the perfect amount of time to polish a couple panels. The average charge time from dead to fully charged is approximately 40 minutes – and you can have a back-up battery on hand to keep going while the other battery is still charging!
If you need more aggressive scrubbing action and the surface you're scrubbing is FLAT then the short bristle brush is a good option.
Heavy-Duty DA Carpet Brush – Short Bristles
Note - I know they are not perfect but I'm not talking about making them perfect, that would simply be REPLACING them.
If a person didn't want to replace them, how would you go about cleaning and restoring their appearance?
Here's the before condition
Here's how I cleaned and rejuvenated them....
No pictures - how I cleaned them
To scrub them clean I used a combination of the red scrub brush you'll see below and the FLEX Cordless PE14 with a DA Scrub Brush on it. After scrubbing, I took the brush pressed it against a clean terrycloth towel. I used the brush bristles to push the towel into the grooves in the rubber tread to pull out all the cleaner and loosened oxidized rubber.
How I treated them after cleaning
I used Solution Finish, which is Carbon Black milled to a particle size smaller than a virus and brushed a heavy, wet coat over the rubber treads.
I took a Dixie water cup and cut it down, then poured the Solution Finish into the cup so I could dip my brush into it.
This is a wet application of Solution Finish.
I let the wet application of Solution Finish soak into the old, dried-out rubber for about 10 to 15 minutes and then I used a clean cotton terrycloth towel and scrub brush to remove any excess.
The idea being to PRESS DOWN HARD on the brush and force the brush bristles to force the terrycloth INTO the valley's of the ribs to wipe off any excess Solution Finish.
Here's the towel flipped over to show how well this actually worked. I did have to press firm and scrub kind of slow so the liquid had time to move from the rubber into the cotton.
Next I took one of my favorite tools, the Tornador Black Air Blow Out Gun and blasted the rubber treads to push any excess Solution Finish into the rubber.
Here's the final results. I don't think my iPhone camera truly captures how really nice they look but for your consideration....
And here's everything I used....
Before
After
You can get all this stuff except the Tornador Black Air Blow Out Gun on Autogeek.com - you can get the Tornador WHITE Air Blow Out Gun on Autogeek.com but the black version you see here was a personal gift from Dennis Dehn to me and as far as I know, the black guns have not been mass produced yet.
On Autogeek.com
Pinnacle Leather & Vinyl Cleaner
Solution Finish Black Plastic & Vinyl Restorer 12 oz.
Interior Concours Brush
The Heavy-Duty DA Carpet Brush features deep 1.5-inch nylon bristles and it is the length of these bristles that lets them conform to curved surfaces like tire sidewalls better than the short bristle brush.
Heavy-Duty DA Carpet Brush – Long Bristles
This is a good match for either the long or short bristle brush but any brand where the diameter is smaller than 5" should work just fine.
Rotary 4 ¾ inch Flexible Backing Plate
FLEX PE-150 Cordless Rotary Polisher
The FLEX PE-150 Cordless Rotary Polisher has a 1400 watt motor with a no-load speed range of 150 - 1,450 rpm. When powered by the 5 amp battery pack, the FLEX PE-150 Cordless Rotary Polisher can use a cutting wool pad at full power for 30-35 minutes – the perfect amount of time to polish a couple panels. The average charge time from dead to fully charged is approximately 40 minutes – and you can have a back-up battery on hand to keep going while the other battery is still charging!
If you need more aggressive scrubbing action and the surface you're scrubbing is FLAT then the short bristle brush is a good option.
Heavy-Duty DA Carpet Brush – Short Bristles
