Soften Hard Brittle Old Dried Out Rubber, DIY Technique For Restoring & Reusing Old Rubber Car Parts
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- If you are working on a car restoration project you may or may not have aftermarket support depending on the year make and model of the car. A lot of the metal parts can be made or repaired but what do you do about old rubber parts that have dried out and are no longer usable? This video shows you what you need to do to restore the rubber back to a soft usable consistency.
I will have to experiment with this myself. Over 40 years in auto repair and your the first I ever heard about this from.
It is a technique that I came across while restoring my 62 galaxie about 15 years ago, and I'm glad that I can share it with others!
@@dazecars Do you think this will work for somewhat faded/ deteriorated engine electrical connectors that are still in one piece
probably not as most of those connectors are plastic based not rubber based
As a pinesol related thing: pinesol makes a great leaner for carbs. Put it in the ckntainer with your carb body, pinesol to cover, then drop in your ultrasonic cleaner ( this is using the sealed container in water technique with ultrasonics ).
I have an entire video on that as well comparing a pine-sole soak and using it in an ultrasonic cleaner. ua-cam.com/video/8ghLVpFNWps/v-deo.html
Cant wait to try this out! I wonder if any results could be had by applying it with a brush to shrunken window seals that are in place. ie without removing them.?
The problem there is it will tend to dry before is has the opportunity to soak in. The thinner parts of the seal (which are likely to be the most dried out parts) mat benefit but I do not know how effective it will be over all.
I'mma try that! I'm restoring my old Olds Toronado (89 model I bought new), and it has some deteriorated rubber components. Thank you!
My pleasure
Is this a short term solution or does rubber stay plyable for years? How about an update video in a few months or year. Thanx
As I said in the video the only rubber I had to do this video with was the worst possible choice for demonstration purposes so a follow up video probably wouldn’t show much more than the first video did BUT I still can answer your question. I have rubber that this technique was used on to convert it from dry to “new” over ten years ago and it is as soft and usable today as it was 10 years ago right after coming out of the soak.
This..... was a GREAT video. I had no idea. Thank you 👍👍😎👍👍
Glad it was helpful!
Ha ha. Daze said Penetrate. 😬
yep
I have a old rubber pad that goes between a snowboard binding and the topsheet of the snowboard. Like a gasket. The chassis of the binding is aluminum. Theyre from the early 2000s. One out of three is in a condition where it needs some love so im trying to find out best way to renew it. I also want to dye it which i wonder if thats possible aftwr renewing it. Its gray and i want it black like the others. May have to give this a try!
I hope it works well for you. Just know that not all rubbers react the same to the pine sol.
Can you tell us what brand of vacuum jar pump works best SIr ??? Thanks
I use one like this amzn.to/4fOu8bB and then I draw a vacuum with a hand pump from harbor freight. I can draw a nearly complete vacuum doing it that way
@@dazecars Thanks for letting me know Sir. Peace too. Happy New Year fella.
glad I could help
Gonna try this ! Thanks
my pleasure
What can I coat the tires with on vehicles I’m storing in the desert? I’ll cover the tires with tire covers but am looking for a cheap way to protect the rubber under the covers. Thanks.
I don't know of anything used to coat the tires and keep the soft and I for sure would not use this technique on tires as I don't know how it will effect the structural integrity of the tire. This technique is for non structural parts.
Can you use it on rubber fork seals suspension? Over time rubber seals on forks can harden and affect the smoothness of the suspension.
I can't say either way but I would be leery of using this technique on anything structural as other than making it more pliable I have no clue how the soak affects structural integrity. This technique is intended for simple rubber car parts that can't be found in the aftermarket and are not seeing a lot of stress.
Have you tried wintergreen oil with the same method?
no but I have heard other have had success with it.
Hi, I'm trying to figure out how to fix wind intrusion on my 90s buick lesabre.
1992-1999 GM - 25658276 is unavailable anywhere. Do you think I can take a towel soaked in pine sol and put it on the part, or should I remove it from the vehicle and put it in a tub?
my specific wind intrusion issue occurs at high speeds and shows up as a whistling sound. I know I could fix it with a new part, but they arent available anywhere.
You always want to remove the part so the pine sol and soak in from all sides. Also you don't want any residue after he fact and removing the part allows you to thourly rinse it after the soaking.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge
My pleasure
Thanks for this, I think I recall reading someplace this is a great method to restore motorcycle carb boots too.
if they are rubber and structurally sound, it should work
Hi.. will this work on rubber shoes sole?
as I said in the video I have used it on car parts and different kinds of rubber react differently. If you want to find out if it works on your specific rubber you will need find a similar rubber that would not be an issue if it got damaged and test it.
@dazecars Will try it on my shoes.. it's not like they are still wearable if not treated anyway. Thank you so much for the idea 💡
look through the comments on this video. I remember one guy saying something about shoes and it worked well on the rubber but deformed the foam mid sole? may point you in the correct direction
Good review
Cheers mate 😊
Glad you liked it.
Now do you think that Pine-Sol would work on a cutting torch hose? I have a cutting torch hose that is fairly new but it is stiff as hell. And I need a flexible because I get into tight areas to cut
no I do not. First a cutting torch hose will be made of rubber specially formulated to be chemical resistant so I have my doubts that pine sol will have any effect on it but more over I would not even try it because I would not want to risk compromising the rubber on the hose. Basically because we have no way of know how the hose will react to the pine sol I would not even attempt it.
Would this work for silicone rubber
I don't know
Any idea what could restore old urethane in a similar way?
Sorry but I do not have a hack for softening old dried urethane
I have an old Vietnam era gasmask whos rubber is beginning to crack/rot. And i am pretty desperate to restore it before it breaks futher. Would you suggest the pinesal treatment for that? Or something like silicone oil/aerospace 303 to restore that thinner type rubber.
My experience is PineSol works well for thin rubber from automotive applications, but it may or may not work in your situation. There are so many different kinds of rubber that the pine sol may or may not work and it may do something unintended to the rubber.
@dazecars you have a point. Thank you for your advice and this video, even if you didn't think it did well it opened my eyes to a reality that you can restore rubbers if you take the time to carefully do it. I decided to get a silicon oil spray to repair thin gasmask rubber. Thank you for any reply, and I glanced at your other videos, your restorations are sublime. Keep up the good work, brother.
;pine tar also softens rubber, though in my ex;perience the difference isnt dramatic, ;perha;ps ;pine tar IN ;pinesol, or IN turpentine(wood based solvent found in most hardware stores. ventilation requirements ought be heeded during turpentine use...WOAH google "rubber in turpentine," lots of interesting relevant stuff, thank, you for leading me to this!) . I've also seen on here wintergreen and sim;ple green may work. There's also commercial rubber conditioners, ty;pe scholar at the end of any googling you do on the subject, its the only way to get real information anymore
I've some rubber laden antiques in peril myself, good luck, sorry if i wasted your time (sorry, the 'P' on my keyboard is wet/malfunctioning)
good info, thaks for the input
Has anyone tried this with weather stripping on car doors? I'm also curious if it would help remove paint from them? The car was resprayed at some point and they didn't mask it very well.
I have my doubts on its effectiveness on weatherstripping. weatherstripping is typically foam coated in rubber which will probably react differently than a solid rubber piece. I also don't think it would do much to remove paint.
I have been a mechanic for 45 years now and I have never heard of this Pine Sol trick. I'm wondering what specific chemical in it does this miracle.
One reason you may have not had stellar results on your sway bar rubbers could be the Durometer rating of the rubber its self. That would call for a really tough product. It would probably work well with a lower hardness type material.
I like the vacuum trick too. You can use that same technique to store dry goods for years.
Great video!
I like to restore old machinery and it is impossible to find replacement rubber pieces, I will have to try this.
Thanks!
I totally agree on "my choice of rubber" for the demonstration. I spent two days scouring the shop and old parts trying to find anything better but no luck. There were definitely still results and the rubber was more flexible after the soak, not that that was easy to see on the video. Not sure what compounds in the pine sol cause the change. My guess is it is the same chemicals that make pine sole a good carb dip.
Never knew why it worked, just knew it worked as well or better than advertised.
Glad you are happy with the results. When I first heard of this technique I was skeptical, but like you was amazed at the results. there are several factors that effect results including original hardness of rubber (in other word how hard/ dense it was new) and time soaked but you can easily get a feel for what is needed for each part. I have also found you cant over soak it (learned that one by accident) best part is the results last for years.
Seems people have been doing this with oil of wintergreen for years in antique car restoration… seems like this is similar. I wish I saw all these videos on UA-cam 15 years ago!
Several other people have also mentioned other soaking solutions not sure which one works best, I just know I have had excellent results with pine sol.
Would this soften the rubber on my jordan shoes ?
maybe?? but I don't think I would try it if they were mine. Hardest part would be getting the pinesol rinsed off afterwords without damaging the rest of the shoe, and then there is the smell. It's one thing on a car part but something totally different on a pair of shoes.
Any thoughts on how you could vaccum seal/soak the soles of shoes without the soak touching the rest of the shoe?
@@hassanabdaladl if it touches foam midsole it dissolves it. I tested it on Jordan jumpman 1s . It also caused the glue to separate from the fumes
@@hassanabdaladl but it did fix the shoes rubber and make it flexible. Not sure if it'll last but I did damage the midsole on 1 pair.
@@worldwidehiphopmuzic it dissolved the foam midsole?? Damn lol so you'd have to carefully apply this just to the rubber then? Did you vacuum seal anything?
Brake fluid (DOT 3) works pretty well, but the rubber will sweat. But it is OK for certain applications where the sweating won't matter.
I am not a fan of brake fluid as it will often times expand the rubber to a size bigger than the original part.
Would this work well with 1950's + 60's tonka rubber tires?
Also marvel mystery oil swells rubber very fast depending on the type😮
As I said in the video there are different formulations of rubber and they will react differently. The only way to know is to try on something not important
Will it work on rubber that has dried but when it gets wet, it smears all over? I have a 1979 cvcc civic in near mint shape. The rubber straps that fill the slot in the roof smear black stuff all over when I clean the car. The rubber around the tailgait does it as well. I have multiple sets of both of these and they both do it.
I cannot say. There are so many formulations of rubber and some respond better than others. It also sounds like your rubber might be too far gone but again I do not know. This is a trick I have used with outstanding success many times but individual results may differ.
@dazecars thank you for responding! I do appreciate it regardless of the outcome. I'm definitely going to give it a try on a chunk to see what happens before I toss the whole lot in. Thanks again!
glad I could help
Great idea!!! However, I had larger rubber parts. So, I emptied and cleaned my shop vac then put the rubber items inside the vac and covered with Pine-Sol. I fastened the lid back and plugged the intake on the vac and turned it on to create the needed vacuum.
Thats one way to get it done, how did it work?
@ It worked quite well. Thanks! However, being in the shop vac prevented me from being able to see the air bubbles. To be safe, I did let it soak a long time (3 days).
thanks for the information
Hopefully this works with the rubber wheels in my cassette deck
I not sure, good luck and if you can test on something similar first thats a good idea.
what is pine sol?
a pine based cleaning liquid. Google will give you more information.
What’s the ingredient in pine sol that makes the rubber soft again? I’m in Europe and we don’t have pine sol. I need to soften a watch strap.
I am not exactly sure. Some think it is the pine oil but I would guess it's a combination of several chemicals including the pine oil working together.
@@dazecars ok, thank you!
my pleasure
I'm in the same shoes. Did you find any Pine-sol alternatives available in Europe for this purpose?
@ unfortunately I didn’t. Buying from anywhere in the americas was expensive since it’s liquid.
How about refrigerator gasket can they soften to be reused
Maybe, I really don't know. Only thing I have ever done this with is car parts. I always recommend testing on something unimportant first. My biggest concern would be the smell.
Im the kind of person who digs into things instead of just accepting what is said or off the cuff solutions.
So for me this makes me curious why this would work at all. I originally thought maybe there was pine resin still in pinesol and since rubber is a kind of resin maybe its a good standin. Looking uo the ingredients its mostly water and a few carbonized alcohols used as surfactants.
This leads me to believe that any liquid, even water might just work, im very curious of a second test with many liquids to see what might happen over time. Maybe the rubber is literally just dry and years if being outside leads to offgassing of the liquid that makes it up.
Thoughts?
I don't know why it works, only that it does but I do know that rubber is water proof so soaking it in water alone is not going to get you what you need.
@dazecars well yes, in the volcanized form, I'm curious the actual chemical percentages of what rubber in them when in those parts.
For example, rubber is made from latex, latex is a mixture of water and the components in the rubber. So I doubt all the water is lost when vulcanized. But maybe it is, and if so is that what it needs. Or is it the detergents in pinesol or the alcohol. Very curious!
Thanks for the ideas though.
I wish I had an answer for you. I am also a “why” kind of person and don’t except a statement just because someone says it. But I’m also not a chemist. When I first heard of this technique I set up an experiment and was able to prove it worked. I have used it a ton in the years that followed.
Wonder what 'PineSol' is in Australian.
not sure
Nice one.
Thanks!
I'm trying to soften the old pink dress on a wind-up toy 40 years old
Just know that results vary depending on the composition of the rubber. I always recommend a test with something unimportant but similar prior to treating something important.
Brake fluid contains the alcohol that will cause rubber to swell. It is used in "oil stopleak" products but its just brake fluid
My experience with brake fluid is it can cause the rubber to expand significantly bigger than original shape but with the pine sol the rubber does not expand beyond the original form.
Heat the pine sol
👍
Glad you showed us that. Chive on!
My pleasure
A mixture of rubbing alcohol and wintergreen oil is very, very good at restoring rubber. I forget the exact ratio and the green rubbing alcohol will not work, but I've done it before and it works great and doesn't reverse in a few hours.
Another thing you can do, depending on what the rubber part is, is just make one from new rubber.
Also, "Rubber," is a bit of a generic word. It's like saying "plastic" There are many different types of rubber with various different chemistry. Some rubber will react well with one type of rubber restoration technique, while others might not and you have to try a different solution.
good point about rubber being kind of generic... although I did imply as much when talking about how harder suspension rubber is not as effected as trim rubber. Good to have options
@@dazecars Yes, more options is always good. You showed the rubber bushings for suspension parts, IIRC. I was thinking if you could find rubber the same thickness, you could cut out new ones the same size and then drill a hole in it. Though I am not so sure I would want homemade suspension parts!:)
The only reason I showed suspension parts is that was all I had laying around that was hard and brittle. This technique is more for thin pliable parts that are no longer pliable.
I use silicone; spray, grease or thick oil. I get mine for free, as I work for a weather stripping company! Is pine sol a pine tree byproduct? Terpentine?
Pine sol is a joke.
Sanitary engineer
@sixtyfourchebby4507 Not a joke, I have used it to restore tones of brittle rubber parts, and they are as soft any plyable today as they were when I restored them 15 years ago. Thanks for the comment
I honestly don't know how it is made or what it is in it that makes it work.
Simple Green soak works better for me
Interesting, thanks for sharing your experience.
Interesting.
Very!
Silicone spray works great.
Good to know! never tried it
I used wintergreen oil diluted with water, a tablespoon to a quart of water. Bring to 190 degrees Fahrenheit and drop in the parts for 15-30 minutes. Don't freak out if the parts swell WAY bigger than original as they will return to their original normal size within 24 hours. Minus any cracks, the rubber will look like new. For cracks, you used to be able to use 'Tire Black' that was allowed to dry out some to a gel to glue/fill in the cracks but the Enviro's killed off the product.
I have never heard that one. How long does it last?
@@dazecars I have a 1974 Honda CL200 that I used that technique on for the intake boots in 2012 and they're still pliable though they do seem to be stiffening up a bit.
Thanks for letting me know
It should be noted that since 2016, Pine Sol no longer contains any pine oil. 😕
Depends on where you get it. the pine Sol that comes from some suppliers still has pine oil listed as an ingredient. There are several other comments with more details.
@@dazecars old inventory likely....
no it seams to be new inventory. I would assume it depends on what factory it comes out of.
Sunflower oil
never tried it but would be concerned with it turning rancid with time
restoring or ghetto hacks that last all of a few days. please no. you can literally 3d print rubber stuff like this
You are incorrect, this is not a “ghetto hack”, and works extremely well . Because the pine sol permeates the rubber it fully rejuvenates it for years. I have rubber that this technique was used on to convert it from dry to “new” over ten years ago and it is as soft and usable today as it was 10 years ago right after coming out of the soak. And while 3d printing is an option, it’s not an option everyone has available to them especially in rubber.