Being from the Great White North, I have adopted a number of simple “Indian Tricks” when it comes to car maintenance with a run of pretty good luck over the years. I am more of a traditionalist and am not a fan of any Japanese car care products, I find them overpriced and generally not effective. I still wash car metal parts with gas. Best way to get ‘gunk’ off of anything!
Over the years I have always used vaseline for a number of things for a sealant. Works pretty well. Because of the winters I encountered in the past (-40), I found it was exceptional on the door/sunroof seals as a protectant in the cold. Does it work in the hot summers here as a protectant on rubber exterior parts?(Door protectant, sunroof, various trim, misc)
I’ve read somewhere that Vaseline is relatively mild/non-aggressive for a petroleum based grease, and (vaguely) remember hearing somewhere that its used by plant operators as a go-to of last resort for delicate hydraulic seals.
However, its still a petroleum-based product, and its generally held that these attack rubber, though I don’t know what the mechanism of action is. Its probably rather complex.
That, I assume, is why you aren’t supposed to use it with a condom. At -40 you’d maybe get away with it, but at -40 you might not need to.
In Taiwan rubber suffers from UV and ozone attack rather than cold embrittlement. I use sunflower oil as a rubber protectant, rust treatment, and weather sealer here. My rationale is/was that, since the oil is reactive, it protects both as a physical barrier, and by reacting competitively with free ozone to protect the rubber from crack initiation and propagation. Vaseline is (I think) fairly inert so it might not have the second mode of action.
I recently started using sunflower oil on my tyres, and noted that it seemed to be absorbed to a surprising extent. The consequences of having a reactive oil inside the tyre structure are not predictable (by me) but might not be so great.
I’ve considered using a less reactive vegetable oil. Castor is the obvious candidate (and I have seen it recommended as a tyre protectant) but it isn’t readily available cheaply. Rapeseed oil also has a history as an industrial lubricant and is relatively stable. As the genetically modified Canola oil it is readily available as a food oil.
It might be worth researching this properly, but of course, as with most punk-technology open source ideas, there’s no money to be made so not much chance of commercial or academic interest.
hahahaha… Vaseline and rubber… hahahaha :roflmao:
I should have said that, since it becomes sticky quite quickly, sunflower oil isn’t suitable for door seals etc that have to make and break contact.
OTOH it seems to be quite good on static items like window seals.
As these harden with age, they can shrink and separate a little from the window surround, allowing leaks.
SFO creeps into these cracks and then polymerises very slowly, acting as a weather sealant and protecting the rubber and metal from further deterioration.
Came across this when looking for something else, so I’d better update it., over a decade later
I no longer use sunflower oil on rubber car components following an episode where it softened a crunchy radiator hose (good) which then burst (bad). I wouldn’t use vaseline either.
If I need a rubber-compatible grease (as on brake pins) I use some silicone grease I bought in a motorcycle shop in Japan.
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Most automotive rubber bits aren’t rubber any more.
They’re mostly silicone blends nowadays, with various additives to help prevent weathering.
‘silicone blend with various additives to help prevent weathering’ is the current descriptor?
The best I could come up with on short notice. Pretty neat stuff actually, especially when it comes to things like motorcycle tires which can now have gradients of blend varying from harder compounds in the center of the tire for better wear on the straightaway to a gradation of softer ones closer to the edges for better grip on corners.
Other stuff seems to depend more on temperature of the use case, e.g. different formulations for radiator hoses vs other random bits, (e.g. spark plug lead insulation).
The only keyword common to all seems to be silicone, if that helps? 
In which case it isn’t the current descriptor, it’s your preferred descriptor.
Oh, do enlighten me, is that like a preferred pronoun? 
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Not sure I believe you.
If I had to bet, I’d say there was still a lot of natural (as well as butyl rubber and other synthetics) in use, notably in tyres, though whether butyl rubber (or the many other synthetics) are compatible with sunflower oil I couldn’t say.
I had a quick look for sources and was impressed by the amount of utter crap (my preferred descriptor) out there. Is it just me or is the Internyet getting worse?
Maybe I should ask ChatGPT.
In any case my car is 37 years old, so “any more” wont apply to its original components and may not apply to those on the shelf.
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I would agree that UV protectors and anti-oxidants are more helpful in Taiwan (and other tropical hot sunshiny places) when it comes to protecting your ‘rubbers’.
have you tried that zinc cream that Aussie cricketers and lifesavers use? it might make the rubbers change colour somewhat, but you can choose various iconic shades of fluorescent pink and green as well as the traditional white.
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Apparently there is no emoji for ‘pissing in yer pocket’.
WTF?
Whitewall tyres ought to be a good idea here or, for that matter, anywhere else.
Pissing in your pocket perhaps not so much, though it’d be a good trick even so.
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