Rubber Restoration

wrenchjohns

wrenchjohns

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While building an old Hubley metal model, I needed to soften the 50 some year old tires. I surfed Al Gore's amazing internet and found a soaking solution; 3 parts Isopropyl Alchohol mixed with 1 part Wintergreen oil and overnite soak. Results: pliable but slightly swollen tires that seem to be tightening on the wheels as time goes by. Has anyone tryed this on their bike rubber parts?

john
 
Cool! I'z tried lots o diffr'nt stuff but no holy grail yet. I'll give that one a shot. I rub a bit of pure dielectric silicone grease on slide diaphragms. Sil-glyde (NAPA) on everything else. Seems to help soften, lube rubber for installs. I kinda doubt there's a "cure-all", the elasticizers slowly evaporate out of the rubber (and plastic) leaving brittle solids that crack as they shrink. It's interesting reading how JBM rescues and refurbs old vulcanizing equipment to make quality new rubber parts.


Note what he's making and the tee shirt!
 
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Great video there Gary!
Yes, dielectric grease is excellent for rubber parts on the XS650.
I also use the Sil-glyde. I use it on my car brakes.................expensive, but worth every penny.
 
Along these lines, before I rebuilt my carbs I watched a how to video on YouTube and the guy sprayed silicone spray on his diaphragms , saying how much the rubber likes silicone.
So I did the same. I sprayed them and let them soak for a while and then wiped them down prior to assembly. I sure hope that was a good idea. :shrug:
 
Mailman said:
Along these lines, before I rebuilt my carbs I watched a how to video on YouTube and the guy sprayed silicone spray on his diaphragms , saying how much the rubber likes silicone.
So I did the same. I sprayed them and let them soak for a while and then wiped them down prior to assembly. I sure hope that was a good idea. :shrug:
Click to expand...
Well it's done and prolly no harm but the problem with sprays is the solvent "carrier" in the spray that evaporates is not good for the rubber. Those diaphragms are so critical and WOW expensive if they die. That's why the dielectric silicone for those, a small tube is about $10. just a bit on my finger rub on lightly wipe off with a rag.
PS. never leave diaphragms laying around out of the carb, they will shrink over time if not kept in an assembled carb/cap. Sil-glide everywhere else, it's not so pricey. I keep a tube at each work bench. Always hit plastic side cover tabs with it, makes a huge difference for on and off and really cuts the odds of cracking the plastic or rubber grommets. I may be OCD on this but I take a utility knife and scrape the sharp mold edges off the plastic tabs also. I do this on ALL my bikes during maintenance. This SOHC750 forum link is good reading. and may change my brake maintenance a bit.
PS kinda related I have seen that the rubber/vinyl protective sprays are probably more destructive than protective. shrug, I still use them for a quick appearance improvement..........
 
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ok, 3 weeks later, the tires are back to proper size and not as hard as before but much harder than right after soak. I'm going to say this is an ok solution for model building, not so much for motorcycles. js
 
I used to treat vinyl and rubber parts with mineral oil. It's no magic bullet either, but it does help keep stuff from deteriorating. I now use this grape drink looking stuff from Carquest. It has sunscreen in it. I

I like the silicone grease tip for diaphragms. I'm keeping that one!
 
For many years, my go-to leather, vinyl, and rubber treatment has been the Tannery .....

http://www.acehardware.com/product/..._clickid=5605f354-6d6a-4184-85fb-66c6e8413e2f

Besides rubber treatment, it's wonderful for cleaning your wiring and all the connectors, tire sidewalls, and the seat. It's nice for the seat because it doesn't make it slippery like Armor-All. And it's just so easy to use. It sprays out as a light foam. I spray some on a seat or leather jacket, spread it all around with my fingers, let soak for 10 minutes or so, and wipe off. For small rubber bits, you can stick them in a baggie with a good spray and soak them for hours if you like.
 
Ok, count me in.

My tach mount rubber is quite worn, tach vibrates a bit at high revs. Received a better condition mount rubber, but has cracks/splits and hard places. Washed it up real good, superglued the cracks. Ready for the softening ordeal.
RubberSoftening01.jpg

Same 3:1 mix as wrenchjohns.
RubberSoftening02.jpg

We'll let it stew for a couple days.

In the meantime, came across some postings from pro shops that claim this "Blue Devil hydraulic stop leak" is the best for restoring rubber.
BlueDevil-HSL.jpg

They claim that the softening lasts much longer...
 
:popcorn:

maybe a good spot to toss this in; MikesXS has added some early rubber parts to the stock.
https://www.mikesxs.net/page/newitems/index
I ordered a set of the gaiters. I saw an Australian seller was offering them also. Correct early gaiters have been impossible to find. They're not giving this stuff away.
 
[QUOTE="gggGary, post: 551375]

maybe a good spot to toss this in; MikesXS has added some early rubber parts to the stock.
https://www.mikesxs.net/page/newitems/index
I ordered a set of the gaiters. I saw an Australian seller was offering them also. Correct early gaiters have been impossible to find. They're not giving this stuff away.[/QUOTE]

I bought some gaiters from 650 Central. They are 12" uncompressed and 5 1/2" compressed. They are Daystar and sold
through Tucker Rocky also, part #152303. They will need some 'mods'. $20. from MMM.
 
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Wow, those early rubber parts are expensive. I hope they're made with different rubber than all the other repop rubber stuff they offer. Every rubber bit me and my buddy have tried from them in the past hasn't been very good and didn't last long. Basically, we've learned not to buy their rubber stuff anymore, lol.
 
Yerah I think (hope) this is a different animal than the usual people's cooperative condom recycling and motorcycle parts stuff.
 

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