What to use on hard exterior rubber?

[imported_RedlineIRL]

What do you all reccomend using to protect hard exterior rubber from the outdoor elements with? The rubber trim I am working with surrounds the side windows on my car to give you an idea on what I am working with. I don't want to use anything greasy or with an artificial shine, just provide provide protection. Is there anything out there that you all can think of that will work for exterior use and not run off?

 

[Accumulator]

It probably sounds weird, but I use the same LSP-based approaches that I employ on most exterior plastics. E.g., the backlight (hatch glass) of the Yukon is surrounded with a hard rubber-coated frame, and there are similar pieces around the other glass too; I use the Klasse twins on it. Also, the XJS has a lot of hard rubber trim, and I use Souveran on 95% of it. And I do the Klasse twins on the MPV's rubber bumper pad too. The old Volvo wagon I used to have has a *lot* of hard rubber exterior trim, and I used 845 on that, from what I hear the current owner is still doing that.

 

[Jim D.]

I will make sure they are clean, sometimes using a warm car wash solution and a detail brush a few times a year -- on one of my cars, I there are crevices that collect dirt and that's the only way to get to them.



After a thorough wash, I usually use Mothers Protectant. If that doesn't do the job, and on some of my trim it's faded, I'll use Mothers Back-to-Black applied with an old terry sock (I'll usually wear a nitrile glove because some of my trim just turns the applicator black with the old oxidation). Let it work a few minutes and buff lightly with a cotton terry towel to a natural shine.