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

BryanH

BryanH

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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.
 
BryanH said:
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.
Click to expand...
:props:
 
Poorboy's World Trim Restorer is pretty great for this. A couple of treatments and then seal with a UV inhibitor.
 
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.
 
BryanH said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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
 
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.

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!
 
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.
 
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:
 
Mantilgh said:
Just a heads up Gummi Pfledge does have PDMS. It's the only thing mentioned in the MSDS.
Click to expand...

That may be, I just never considered Gummi to be a "deep conditioning" product. My bottle is also about 12 years old so they may have changed the formula.

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

I think I have a tube of Dow Corning #7 silicone grease that was recommended to me by GM for "weatherstripping" (back when you could call someone on the phone)...this would have been back when Reagan was president. Today I would surely use Poorboy's Trim Restorer before I would slather dielectric grease on my car.
 
Interesting insights, Setec. I had a brain fart on calling WETS a coating. :) In one of my posts in this thread I mentioned some of my findings when I researched Poorboy's Trim Restorer. The manufacturer descriptions didn't claim that it could penetrate and treat from within. It also received some mixed reviews from what I could see. Who knows, I might have been happy with it. Gummipflege seemed more universally liked and it claimed to restore elasticity to rubber. So far I'm quite happy with it. Sold now under the new Nextzett name.

In the past I've had trim dressings run onto paint and stain it, and I didn't plan to buff out this car for a while. Hence all the ridiculous masking. :)
 
I always used silicone spray on T-Tops and Moon roof rubber seals. The kind of spray you use to water proof tents or hunting boots. Clean rubber seals and let dry, then spray several coats of silicone giving it time to soak in between coats.
 
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