Revitalizing Gum Hoods?
02-16-20, 06:02 PM
#1
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Revitalizing Gum Hoods?
I am selling some NOS brake levers. Even though they are believed to be NOS, the gum hoods are hard and not pliable. Otherwise they look good. Is there a way to revitalize these to make the rubber more supple? Thanks - Chris
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02-16-20, 06:11 PM
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Don't know about making them more supple but If they are dirty , rubbing them with a white terry towel soaked in acetone might clean them up nicely. I have cleaned white plastic Carlton hoods that were yellowed . After wiping with Acetone they looked like new.
02-16-20, 06:17 PM
#3
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These look fine, they are just hard. May be partly because it is pretty dry in our house this time of year.
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02-16-20, 06:24 PM
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I'd be very surprised and equally impressed if anybody could reverse the ageing of gum hoods. You wouldn't be the first to want to make this happen, myself included.
By the way, I think those levers are gorgeous! Love the drill/machine work.
By the way, I think those levers are gorgeous! Love the drill/machine work.
02-16-20, 06:34 PM
#5
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Thanks! I have on thing I may try, I just don't want to ruin them since I have no plans to use them. I suppose I could try it on the worst of them and see.
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02-16-20, 06:52 PM
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I've used different rubber/vinyl rejuvenators with mixed results. As mentioned above, acetone will work, but it does extract a heavy toll, especially if you do not "feed" the rubber with silicone or lanolin afterward. I like silicone, but I've found that its tough to mix it with any other treatment. In the past, I've had good results from soaking then washing in hot soapy water, then soaking the dickens out of it with armor-all. Wet it good and let the armor all soak in. One thing that you can rely on is that it will never look new again, only clean and maintained, which is acceptable.
02-16-20, 08:43 PM
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Plasti-Dip?
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Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
New York City and High Falls, NY
Blogs: The Experienced Cyclist; noglider's ride blog
“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author
Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
02-16-20, 09:32 PM
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I've used different rubber/vinyl rejuvenators with mixed results. As mentioned above, acetone will work, but it does extract a heavy toll, especially if you do not "feed" the rubber with silicone or lanolin afterward. I like silicone, but I've found that its tough to mix it with any other treatment. In the past, I've had good results from soaking then washing in hot soapy water, then soaking the dickens out of it with armor-all. Wet it good and let the armor all soak in. One thing that you can rely on is that it will never look new again, only clean and maintained, which is acceptable.
i would not use it on original hoods.
some have made mention of 303 protectant
but i have not tried it.
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02-17-20, 12:05 AM
#9
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Believe it or not, WD-40 can do a good job of softening old dried out rubber, I have used it many times to soften old rubber parts in vintage electronics that I was working on. You can even soak parts in it but I wouldn't leave it for a really long time because it could eventually swell and become slightly misshapen. You just need to monitor it, don't go to sleep and let anything sit overnight.
02-17-20, 04:52 AM
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I have a bottle of Rubber Renu (sp?) and will try that and report back. It's the stuff that smells like wintergreen. I used it for carb boots and it softened them nicely, but it won't fix cracks.
02-17-20, 07:48 AM
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I use water based Aerospace 303 on C&V for auto and bicycles and have very old tires and hoods that look great, however, have never been happy with the few revival attempts I have tried.
