Turbo Garage Tips #4: Restore Your Rubber Seals! 

Hi Guys! I just wanted to add that 303 Aerospace protectant is an excellent all-around protectant that is also perfect for keeping your rubber seals in great shape. www.goldeagle.com/product/303-aerospace-protectant Shin-etsu grease from Honda is also great for rubber seals, window rails and more. www.amazon.com/Honda-Genuine-Shin-Etsu-Grease/dp/B006Z9TZ9M

Restroing the rubber seals is a good video, a lot of people do not know how good silicone spray is. Great for cleaning and making seat belts work better. Thanks from Australia.

I also use dielectric silicone grease from Permatex. It's in a tube with a consistency like vaseline. I massage it into the seals by hand with a rubber glove then buff off after letting it set for several minutes.

for bringing back old rubber I found glycerin works really well. Just slather it on and leave it for a week. It's messy but can really bring back rubber seals. recently imported a car and this saved me big time. for regular cleaning I love mothers back to black aerosol.

I have been wondering about this for years! And now I know what to do to maintain it on my 2012 Chevy Sonic. The weather strips still look new on that car. Bought that car in early 2019 and I'd like to keep the weather strip looking that way for more years to come. Thank you!

Side note: If you will be doing any type of paintwork on the car, keep the silicone away. The silicone is extremely hard to remove, and will lead to fisheyes.

I heard this tip before but it really is a good one so great content Tom. Another one that I can think of would be for a seatbelt that does not retract itself. Yep, you guessed it, fully pull the belt out and hit that sucker with silicone spray. Works every time.

Silicone also prevents your doors from freezing shut in some climates when it rains during the day and freezes over night!

I put also 5mm soft rubber hose (you can buy those in pet store, used in aquarium) inside those door/pillar seals, prevents cracking and keeps them in mint condition

Great vid. I wish my old socks looked that good.

I like the tips - weather seal restore/protect, heat protect, salvage yard. I think more on the maintenance of a car would be beneficial - helping people deal with servicing their coils, vacuum hoses, greasing joints, and other out of the norm maintenance items.

Good tip. You probably heard this before, but you look like a young Gary Busey.

Good tip Tom! I like to use 303 Aerospace Protectant for this same job. Made seals I thought I'd have to replace, look like new!

Silicone spray is awesome stuff. I use it in my window jams to keep my power windows running smooth/squeak-free, and even on my shovel in the winter to prevent snow buildup.

2 peeps don't like good seals. Thank you for sharing Tom, I had not taken the silicone treatment seriously before. Now I have a chore waiting when I get home, lol

These tips are incredible I've already used most of them

On a scotty video. He use a at205 reseal to protect the rubber on the cv joint,absorber,mounting and many more.i know that at205 reseal costs a heck of a lot.is there any cheaper alternative available to perform the same tasks which give the same result?is aerospace 303 up for the job?or maybe something else which is more cheaper?

Many technicians don't realize how important good seals on the doors, the trunk and sun/moon roofs are to the A/C system. If moist air is allowed to infiltrate the car then it defeats the most effective ability of the air conditioning system, removing the moisture from the air inside the car. Once the moisture is removed from the inside of the car the A/C can easily cool the air down since it weighs less, as much as ten times less! Also check the outside air door on the circulation system. It's the door that closes when you switch from outside air to Max A/C, the one that makes your A/C get louder inside the car.

They kicked me out of zoo because seals are allergic to silicone

I use heavy duty silicone for a lot of things - from refreshing my window seals, to refurbishing retro laptop plastics. Works great.

Just put shin etsu grease all around my 99 CRV and it did wonders!

I just use interior detailer for the rubber seals. Since it stated that it protects rubber,plastic, and etc

What would you use to protect engine rubber hoses?

What about 303 protectant? I soak the seals down with 303 then do the silicone spray, works wonderfully.

Ironic that it was a miata used as a demo vehicle. I was searching how to restore my '90 mx5 door seals! Thanks mate!

Nice extension to this video would be how to grease and clean sunroof rails to keep it from breaking. I hate when my sunroof get stuck open then i have to pay hundreds of dollars to fix it

What about at205?

You can use olive oil and vegetable oil as well, both work really well and will do no damage to any paintwork be it your car, caravan etc.

Thank you for this video, I have a question. The exterior rubber (or whatever it's made of) weather seal on my back window (25 year old Lincoln Mark VIII) has a couple inch or two areas where it's kind of worn looking, it sort of looks like it has a dry rash with small pock mark craters and such. Is there a way to fill that and smooth it out before I put on the silicone? Much appreciate any advice you can give.

Great video. You earned a new subscriber!

Anyone else notice the corvette flag on his intake under the hood? I’m pretty sure that little Miata is pushing an LS3...redefining Zoom, Zoom, Zoom...;)

I spy with my little eye... the 20-ton press from Harbor Freight! I was thinking of buying the 12-ton model for my miata's bushings and ball joints but ya know....HF. How has yours held up over time? worth getting?

Fantastic tip✅

Thank you Mitch I love your pop Gary Busey!

so my sun roof has rubber seal on top and cracked and ripped a little due to the long term of dryness. Can you also restore this kind of symptom?

Not sure if CRC has petroleum in their silicone spray and not sure if that will harm the rubber so I used the silicone I use for the treadmill.

Silicone lubricant and an old sock... hmmmm.

one itsy-bitsy problem with this recommendation, the reason why the application sock is turning so black is because CRC silicone spray is about 50% acetone and other petroleum distillates aka solvents which are great for penetrating and cleaning but hell on plastic and rubber. Silicone is a good idea but only if its real silicone, unfortunately real spray silicone like the kind they make for use on treadmills is almost impossible to find anymore and even it has propellants in it that can be adverse to things like door seals as they are not really made from pure rubber, a better solution is to go to napa auto parts and get a tube of Sil-Glyde which is a silicone based grease made for professional mechanics to use on disk brake pins instead of petroleum based grease which can cause the rubber brake boots to swell and deteriorate prematurely......

My only concern is using silicon around car panels as it's impossible to paint over if you need to do so in the future.

great video thanks Tom

Old sock? You buy sock what? Once a week. 😂🤣😂🤣

I know it's been a few years since this video but can you help me with weather stripping around a hatch it's still in good shape it just does not keep the water out anymore I was thinking about putting something inside of it but can't seem to find that video I don't think it was from you any help would be helpful

Thanks Tom! I'll do it on my Lancer!

Once again a great and helpful video! I enjoy these shorter and slightly more formal videos, it makes the jokes that bit funnier when you throw them in.

Note: Be careful not to get silicone on any surface you want painted in the future.

rubber care stuff works also bean using that stuff for a while no issues

Will heavy duty silicone damage the paint around the window rubber trims and stuff

Just bought a WD-40 Silicone to fix my car doors rubbers. They are making a lot of squeaky noises. So going to fix them soon. Thanks for the video

Hey nice tutor vid, I'm planning to do this in my car. BTW would you recommend a silicone spray or a silicon tube paste would be better?

Oh, great tip mate, but what was the greatest thing I saw, was your MX-5! It looks like brand new! :)

how do you protect the rubber seal on the outside of the car door/window

Since I'm doing my LS Audi A4 build, what should I name it and for the 6 letter license plate, what should that be? Open to suggestions Tom.

question? what can swell rear main seal rubber, is there anything on the market thanks.

Does a hair dryer work too?

extremely clean engine for a 2004! just whoa...

That's way too easy. Thank you!

Darn good advice and well presented.

Why does your old sock look so new? Something is fishy here..

Silicon spray works. My boss always liked to use Dot 3 brake fluid to swell the seals up on cars that leaked, like T-Tops. GM's recommendation for T top seals was dielectric grease.

on my 1996 subaru legacy water is getting in on my pasenger side floor the weatherstripping is on poor shape I bought some 303 Rubber Seal Protectant. Will this help make the seals tighter or even just help keep the water out? I can barely find any new oem weatherstripping for the car

Can this stop a water leak issue I am having with the weatherstrip? It’s just going over the strip and the strip is sealed good on the car.

Doesn’t that hd silicone have acetone in it? Don’t assume I’m shooting down that hd silicone works I’m just curious. Acetone tends to very slowly break down plastics and rubber right?

hi could you please help me? if a small pebble goes inside the rear door rubber seal would it fall in the ground or its not open? like is it closed ?

Thanks for the info Tom. also another awesome video :D

Gummi Pflege is also an excellent seal maintainer. Just a tad on the pricey side.

Nice video,

Short and Sweet

my seals always leave a black mark on my arm when i touch them, do i have to replace them? Or can i spray something on them to stop that

Hi Tom Can you use silicon spray on the rubber suspension boots & bushings to help preserve the rubbers ? Thanx ?

What will next week be? A turbo rotary swapped minivan or how to change diff fluid? Who knows with this guy.

This feels like a Chrisfix video. I appreciate the tips though

Hi Tom, would it be a good idea to spray suspension bushings, rubber boots and struts with the CRC Heavy Duty Silicone lubricant to keep them from cracking and drying out?

Bro almost looks like a young Gary Bussey 😂

the fact am here for my Miata as well 😅 an was surprised by an NB

Hello, I have 2 questions Would WD40 Silicone Lubricant work too? Would you recommend using silicone on the vacuum & radiator hoses to keep them looking new and keep them from cracking?

Awesome tip! Been following you for a long while now and always loved your videos...... when are you going to do a video on the mx-5 after the swap?

hi tom, I have all purpose silicon oil I use for my bike components. Can I use that instead of spray?

ill be doing this soon

What about the rubber boots & seals under the vehicle?

Hey, what about 303?

Wurth rubber care is another good product for this task.

How often do I need to do this? I just performed mine today.

Tom, so would you advise against dedicated rubber seal protectants, or do you simply find them not worth their price?

This is smart. Says to do so in owners manual!

How often do you go over the seals like this?

You said "restore" in the videos title. You are showing us how to care for and routine maintenance. You did not restore anything. How is wiping them down restoring old and thin seals?

I am dissapointed, there was not a rubber seal joke...

LUBRICANTE MULTIUSO!!!!!

Gummi Pflege is a better option and available online.. It's magic.

Any headlight oxidation prevention tips? My car sits outside all day at our work parking lot :(

Did I see an LS engine right there?

This product only works on rubber that hasn't started to perish. If used soon enough and often enough it should extend the life of rubber.

Here’s the seals on my Miata…. Don’t mind the ls lol

Hard to find definitive information, but any kind of petroleum distillates are BAD…which unfortunately includes many of the added ingredients and propellants you’ll find in spray silicone products…aka VOCs…Volatile Organic Compounds…that’s the stuff that evaporates fairly quickly (like in spray paint). Read the labels on your silicone sprays carefully. And, if in doubt, spraying the product on a rag as suggested gives the VOCs a chance to evaporate before you apply them to your expensive rubber seals.

Maybe the police departments could use this advice to get the rear seals working on their explorers.......

But doesnt silicone spray have petroleum in it? Which is bad for rubber.....

is there anyway I can make my car rubber seals look like new again? It''s faded... :(

Old sock ?? That would be considered a NEW sock in MY sock drawer!!

Just don't walk into a paint shop with a can of that....It'll shut the place down!

I'm wondering if that sock is from his latest victim?