Rubber doorseal restoration/repair

[Daniel Wood <dwood@efn.org>]

Jeff (AudiDudi) --

It seems your warm, dry climate is pretty hard on rubber parts.  Maybe I 
can offer something that'll help (I believe you had the quattro-list 
question regarding doorseal restoration.  If not, sorry!).

Go to your nearest SCUBA-diving supply center and pick up a can of liquid 
neoprene.  It'll come in a small can with a brush in the cap, and dries 
to a matte black finish. It's great for repairing tears, especially in 
the "skinned" surfaces that comprise the outer surfaces of many doorseals.

Just paint it on and - voila! - instant repair.  For stubborn cases, you 
might try (either) supergluing the broken pieces together *first*, then 
coating (or) coating lightly, then supergluing and recoating.  If the 
final surface should end up a little tacky, just dust it lightly with 
some talc after it's cured.  It even takes surface protectants of the 
"AA" variety well.

If you can't find it locally, e-mail me directly and I'll send the 
name/addr/ph of the bottle I have.  I "discovered" this stuff after my cat 
jumped into the open trunk of a new car, using his little crampons on 
that nice, soft new trunkseal.

S'matter of fact, it's a great fix for nearly any rubber surface that 
shows weather-scaling, IMHO.  YMMV.  Let me know how it works for you if 
you try it.

Best,

Dan.