Quote:
Originally Posted by rotorwrench
Dot 3 with glycol ether base is good for softening rubber. It's formula helps the rubber piston seals last for a long time in brake systems.
Depending on how much carbon black and sulfur are mixed into the rubber, the rubber products can be from a soft rubber to a very hard rubber that is almost like plastic. Rubber bumpers are likely somewhere in the middle to the hard side.
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The term plastic is ambiguous, the definition taking in a number of very different materials having an initial ability to be malleable. One characteristic of most plastics and rubber products is their vulnerability to oxidation and other chemical attack, and to UV, all of which causes out-gassing. If initially encased in protective coatings, the out-gasing can be prevented or slowed down, however, no process or product can restore chemicals that have been lost to out-gassing unless the manufactured product is able to be re-melted and reformulated with the restorative compound. Failing that ability, what can be done is a softening of the outer surface, while lacking penetration to the interior in proportions of as original. Plastic headlight lenses is another example of possible restoration, which entails the removal of the outgassed surface, followed by an application of a protective coating.