rubber seal trim around glass ?

S

silver2kws6

New member
Greetings,

Here is my latest area that I need your help with... I tried a paper towel with 303 protectant and its getting better but even after washing - the 303 protectant still comes out with alot of dirt on the paper towel... which is also why I don't use my good microfiber towels on it.
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How should i attack this area to make it look new again. microfiber + 303 and scrub scruv scrub ?

Thanks
 

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Are you trying to clean the rubber with 303 protectant? I would recommend you try a dedicated cleaner. Protectant is applied after things are clean to dress and protect

I know some members here have had great results using tuff shine tire cleaner on exterior plastics/rubber trim. You could try that. Its specifically made to deep clean rubber.
 
yeah I need a APC that will work for items such as this and tires... normally I just use car soap... :( or Tuff Stuff interior APC that you find in wally world.
 
If this is what I think it is (and appears to be) - I have dealt with it before (common BMW problem) and cleaning per se is not your answer.

It looks from the photos, that the protective factory coating over the rubber has failed from sun exposure giving it an uneven or mottled appearance. Cleaning won't remedy it - because it is not dirt.

However, there is a fix - It's not too hard - but requires a bit of work. If your interested I can post it.
 
just clean it and hit it with gummi fledge
it will never be perfect, but you can keep it from getting worse
 
The car is only 2 years old i would hope its not as bad as you think it is.. i cleaned it back to look almost new with 303 but it took work amd the towel was black.. But yes please share what i should do i will try it.
 
The fix is to carefully tape off all surrounding areas around the seal / gasket. Double tape everything. Then, you want to sand the gasket down. Essentially, your gently sanding off the oxidized top layer of the protective coating that is flaking / peeling off the gasket. I think I used 80 grit than 200 grit papers - or similar.

After you are done - use a finer grit of sand paper to smooth it out. You will be left a clean new gasket surface. You now need to protect this surface with something.

I recommend cleaning it now with Tuff Shine Tire Cleaner and protecting it with CarPro DLux.

I did mine about 2 years ago. Mine was much worse than yours. Still looks great today.

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Looks to me like the rubber is deteriorating, not dirty.

What kind of car?

APC or alcohol for cleaning.

Gummi Pfledge for rejuvenating.
 
LeMarque said:
What Ronkh said plus I clean with IPA and my favorite is Griot's Garage Rubber Cleaner

but I also like gummi fledge ...
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Note that the following is not a slam at LeMarque....

Rather than the GG Rubber Cleaner, I recommend their Rubber Prep. MUCH better for this and even better than IPA.. Then I might coat with a "trim and rubber coating" like Sonus UTTG+. Whether I bother coating or not, I usually maintain with ValuGard's FastFinish, reserving my 1Z Gummi Fledge (and the superior Wurth version) sor stuff like door seals. And yeah, that FastFinish might be "just a QD" but it works like a charm for me even on the *seriously* deteriorated rubber on the Tahoe (worse than in those pics, by far).

Rather than sanding it like SwanicYouth did (not at all being critical of that!) I abrade really bad rubber with Hi-Temp "357" (AKA Heavy Cut Leveler) from Top of the Line. Oddly enough, that particular compound just works *GREAT* for this specific application. Gee, who woulda thunk it?
 
Just an FYI for Gummi Pfledge. I talked to someone at 1Z (can't remember who or when) and they told me its primarily for door seals and doesn't really have a lot of UV protection.
 
The car is a 13 chevy cruze outdoor daily driver in north carolina. So its nothing exotic but i want everything to last as long as possible. Thank you all for the advice the sand method looks doable so i think i will try that after getting the proper rubber prep cleaner. THANK You
 
silver2kws6- Just be really, REALLY, *REALLY* careful that you don't sand the surrounding paint. Yeah, I know..but it's not all that hard to have an "oops!" and it'd be crazy to mess things up over this. Eh, that's a big part of why I simply don't sand such stuff, but that's just me being paranoid.
 
I will first put painters tape behind the rubber for added protection and then across the entire back part above the window. I will also add extra tape along the glass. I can definitely see something going wrong with this project just like i have made doing other detail projects so I am taking my time with this one. Thanks for the caution.
 
Glad I didn't sound all insulting or anything...IMO sometimes the most seemingly obvious things can be worth rehashing but I sure didn't want to insult your intelligence. Speaking of which, don't leave the tape on there for too long; I've had times when I figured "eh, I'll just take it off later..." and it bit me.
 
Accumulator said:
Glad I didn't sound all insulting or anything...IMO sometimes the most seemingly obvious things can be worth rehashing but I sure didn't want to insult your intelligence. Speaking of which, don't leave the tape on there for too long; I've had times when I figured "eh, I'll just take it off later..." and it bit me.
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Good to know ! Nothing insults me I would rather someone tell the truth than be pissed it wasn't said.
 
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