Rubber refresh, what products are folks using? (1 Viewer)

[jestlurnin]

Took my floor mats outa the 55 today. Plan a gentle power wash and then want to use some sort of of product to make them shine.

Also rebuilding the heater box that has a bunch of rubber components.

What are folks using to make this stuff shine. Cheers

 

[CruisinGA]

use glycerin

 

[devo]

303 aerospace protectant

 

[AntFarm]

Clean with Simple Green. Set the concentration level to whatever is necessary for your level of grime. Protect afterwards with Aerospace 303. You don't want too much shine as that will attract dirt.

 

[jestlurnin]

Aerospace 303 ordered. Thank you for the recommendation!

 

[AntFarm]

Looks like you need some new foam on that heater box. I used SOR foam from several years back and was happy enough with it. Lots of the other grommets and screws in the kit didn't match up very well though. You can source some of your own foam, apply some some 3M spray-on headliner adhesive, and you'll be set.

Your OEM wire hose clamps look like they're in great shape. You can re-use those.

 

[jestlurnin]

Funny you mention the Spector kit. I’m staring at it right now. I called because there is only 2 pieces of squarish (it looks like my 6 year old cut it out) foam included as well as the adhesive back piece that goes around the plastic outlet to the vents and the long piece of foam that wraps around the core. I tried to explain that there needs to be 3 square pieces of foam as the flapper on the metal box needs foam as well.

And they don’t include a new spring!

I could almost here the guy on the phone shrug his shoulder and say we’ll there is a picture on the internet…

Guess I’ll be heading to a big box store to source foam tonight so I can stick this back in the rig tomorrow.

Very disappointed in this FJ55 heater rebuild “kit”.

 

[AntFarm]

There are fancier ways, discussed elsewhere in this forum, of restoring plastic involving various polishes, scotchbright pads, 3000 grit sandpaper, etc...but I don't have the time for that in my life. That's why I stick to Simple Green and 303. Don't rush on fixing up your heater box. It took me about a week of evenings to carefully get off all the old foam and glue, then adhere the new foam and trim it all up. I also painted the metal portion of the box though, so that took a day. In the end it looks and works fantastic, but there are some small bits (hinges, arms, linkages, etc.) that you don't want to break as they are getting harder to source. I think when I bought the SOR foam kit it was closer to $30 (today it's $55 ) and it was a ripoff even back then. None of the small grommets and fasteners fit correctly, so I essentially paid all that, plus shipping, for about $5 worth of foam and a piece of auto parts store weatherstrip. It was the only thing I had to actually pay for to restore my entire heater box, though, so in the end it was OK.