Rubber reserection?

[Ron Dame]

Through the years, old rubber has been a problem. Especially unobtainium rubber.everything from Neets Foot oil, to lanolin, to ArmorAll.... what is really the best way to renew and preserve old weather stripping that is not being reproduced?

[63 R2 Hawk]

Once it's started to crack or harden, there isn't much you can do. I have always had good results with glycerin to preserve rubber trim, but there are several expensive products on the market that are bascally the same thing.

[Charlie D]

Baby Oil. Carl Purdy told me about this. I just got my '55 on the road after a seven year restoration. The rubber around all four vent windows was very hard and brittle. I slobbered the baby oil on them. Let it soak in for a couple of days and repeated every so often. I could flex the rubber and it looked and handled a lot better. I did the same thing to the steering column boot. It was getting brittle and starting to tear. For '55 sedans with PS these are like hens teeth to find. The soaking softened the rubber and I was able to save it.

Charlie D.

[Chris Pile]

Carl Purdy is a fount of information.

[sweetolbob]

Are you talking about Avanti rear quarter window seals and upper door seals by any chance. If so, I had a long discussion with Dan Booth about those seals. Bottomline, unless there is a second source, I don't see any coming in the near future although others are looking into supplying them.

What he recommended is to sand any ragged edges smooth and reinstall them as is. That, of course, suggests they were removed carefully initially. Luckily mine on the 74 came out in one piece and I have only recently reinstalled them. I cleaned all the sealing schmutz off them and sprayed them with satin black vinyl dye. They look quite good are seem still pliable enough to seal.

I wish I had found the baby oil suggestion before this but it's worth a try if you have them out.

Bob

[Ron Dame]

That's the parts, Bob. All the rubber is shot on this car, but the rest is available. Rear quarters aren't torn or cracked, but show some age. Upper door seals are terrible.

[mbstude]

The left quarter window seal is available NOS, but the right isn't.

I heard rumors of a vendor looking into reproducing them again, but that was a few months ago and I haven't heard anything since.

[sweetolbob]

The left quarter window seal is available NOS, but the right isn't.

I heard rumors of a vendor looking into reproducing them again, but that was a few months ago and I haven't heard anything since.

Thanks Matt, Hopefully Ron can get the left from you folks. I also kept up with the posts on repos but they have just gone silent lately.

Bob

[Ron Dame]

The left quarter window seal is available NOS, but the right isn't.

I heard rumors of a vendor looking into reproducing them again, but that was a few months ago and I haven't heard anything since.

What's your price Matt? In fact, give me the website again, I keep forgetting to book mark it. Every peice on this car is shot.

[mbstude]

http://mystudebaker.com/