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Wintergreen oil for revitalising rubber parts

Hmmmmmm.......we phoned the Shoppers Drugmart here in Sooke,said they didnt have any.
 
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Yeah but I already got and used the Rubber Renue to good effect.Good info for others at this point,might be helpful in the future as I really didn't like the xylene in the RR.
 
"just randomly throwing the information" Thanks,though. Ideas welcome.

I've been trying the experiment with straight wintergreen from the healthfood store-heatgun to warm,Q-tip to apply. I'm doing this Outside, because too much wintergreen vapour might be like smoking Aspirins... It vapourises quite easily. (Who here remembers the good ol' Vick's Vapourizer?)
The Wintergreen Oil is almost instantly absorbed and some softening is happening.
My next experiment would be to put some oil and the rubberpart in a sealed glass container (might need weights) and put THAT in the crockpot with some water to maintain a temperature.
My thinking is, I don't want to do harm, a-la the guys "polishing" their tires and inadvertently removing solvents , thereby drying them out.

two weeks later: wintergreen on the part in a jar works very well. I just put a carb-boot painted liberally with wintergreen oil in a jar, put the sealed jar in a pot of water on the stovetop and simmered at low low heat for several hours. My hope is that ,the wintergreen vapourised and permeated the rubber interstices. It did indeed vapourise. As to penetration, I don't expect much depth but I will need to cut the both boots sectionally to see and compare flexibility.(Neither boot exhibited any cracks before the test. ) Compared to the un-treated boot, it did soften the boot and it seems lasting .
 
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Glycerine or it cheaper related cousin glycerol commonly available is the old time rubber conditioner and also works as an antifreeze preventing freeze damage.Not tried it on gs boots but worked good at revitalizing door and windscreen rubbers on my old 2002 and other subsequent vehicles.
 
daturat100r said:
Glycerine or it cheaper related cousin glycerol commonly available is the old time rubber conditioner and also works as an antifreeze preventing freeze damage.Not tried it on gs boots but worked good at revitalizing door and windscreen rubbers on my old 2002 and other subsequent vehicles.
Click to expand...

Glycerine, glycerine and glycerol are different names for the same chemical compound. Chemistry students are taught how to name chemicals based on structural characteristics, as this focuses them on the properties that derive from the structural characteristics. The systematic name is 1,2,3trihydroxypropane.

Glycerine is an alcohol, which means that an -OH group is attached to a carbon atom. An -OH group is called an alcohol group. Another name for the -OH group is a hydroxy group, because the group has a hydrogen atom attached to an oxygem atom. Oxygen has two chemical bonds, so after a hydrogen atom attaches to it, it has one bond left over to attach to something else.

Methanol = wood alcohol is the simplest alcohol. It has a single carbon with 3 H atoms and an -OH group attached.

Ethanol = grain alcohol is the next simplest alcohol. It has two carbon atomes attached to each other. One carbon has three H atoms attached. The other carbon has two H atoms and an -OH group.

Propane is a string of three carbon atoms. Carbon atoms use four bonds.
Propane has three carbon atoms. The one in the middle has two H atoms attached. The carbons on the ends have 3 H atoms attached.

1,propanol has a single -OH group replacing one H atom on one of the end carbons.

2,propanol has a single -OH group replacing one of the H atoms on the central carbon.

1,2,3trihydroxypropane has three -OH groups. Two -OH groups are attached to the end carbon atoms, and the last -OH group is attached to the center carbon atom.

Fats have glycerine at the center. The hyrogens from the -OH groups are replaced with long chain carboxylic acids. Vinegar has about 5% acetic acid from natural fermentation. Acetic acid is a short chain carboxylic acid, having only two carbon atoms in it. Its systematic name is ethanoic acid.

Glycerine has a slightly sweet taste. It has low toxicity.

1,2,dihydroxyethane is the systematic name for ethylene glycol. Ethylene glcol is the main ingredient in automotive antifreeze. Glycerine could also be mixed with water for use as antifreeze.

End of chemistry lesson for today.
 
themess said:
Glycerine, glycerine and glycerol are different names for the same chemical compound. Chemistry students are taught how to name chemicals based on structural characteristics, as this focuses them on the properties that derive from the structural characteristics. The systematic name is 1,2,3trihydroxypropane.

Glycerine is an alcohol, which means that an -OH group is attached to a carbon atom. An -OH group is called an alcohol group. Another name for the -OH group is a hydroxy group, because the group has a hydrogen atom attached to an oxygem atom. Oxygen has two chemical bonds, so after a hydrogen atom attaches to it, it has one bond left over to attach to something else.

Methanol = wood alcohol is the simplest alcohol. It has a single carbon with 3 H atoms and an -OH group attached.

Ethanol = grain alcohol is the next simplest alcohol. It has two carbon atomes attached to each other. One carbon has three H atoms attached. The other carbon has two H atoms and an -OH group.

Propane is a string of three carbon atoms. Carbon atoms use four bonds.
Propane has three carbon atoms. The one in the middle has two H atoms attached. The carbons on the ends have 3 H atoms attached.

1,propanol has a single -OH group replacing one H atom on one of the end carbons.

2,propanol has a single -OH group replacing one of the H atoms on the central carbon.

1,2,3trihydroxypropane has three -OH groups. Two -OH groups are attached to the end carbon atoms, and the last -OH group is attached to the center carbon atom.

Fats have glycerine at the center. The hyrogens from the -OH groups are replaced with long chain carboxylic acids. Vinegar has about 5% acetic acid from natural fermentation. Acetic acid is a short chain carboxylic acid, having only two carbon atoms in it. Its systematic name is ethanoic acid.

Glycerine has a slightly sweet taste. It has low toxicity.

1,2,dihydroxyethane is the systematic name for ethylene glycol. Ethylene glcol is the main ingredient in automotive antifreeze. Glycerine could also be mixed with water for use as antifreeze.

End of chemistry lesson for today.
Click to expand...

Too much information for my pea brain.

Will dunking carb boots in antifreeze soften them?
 
cant answer that Ed...but I know the Glycerine is next to the band aids at Walmart..6 OZ bottle for just a few bucks.
 
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Over 2 months

Over 2 months

Mine are still soft after more than 2 months. They still smell minty too. Just used the wintergreen and good ol' hot water. Had the carbs off again last weekend, and they went back on without any hassles.
 
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How long did you let them sit in the hot water? Would like to use that as a baseline for my Glycerin experiment currently underway.
 
20 mins

20 mins

I only let them sit for about 20 mins, keeping the water just under boiling. Had planned on longer, but they were swelling and I freaked out. They did come back down to the correct size after a couple hours. I lightly clamped them onto a spare set of carbs to help aid the reforming.
 
According to the chemist here the product labelled as glycerine is about 4 times more expensive as the glycerol next to it on the shelf,maybe a purity thing causing price differential or maybe synthesis costs,but thank you for the lesson been many decades since last studied chemistry and in this case price outweighed the need to research the difference as i wasnt going to injest it only soften rubber which it did most effectively
 
Ive sat boots in the undiluted green anti freeze for days on end without change..this was like 3 hrs of soaking with the Glycerin on the stove at low heat.See my Glycerin experiment thread for pics of what I did. .....so thats my experience with it.
 
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I haven't noticed any swelling, where the liberally "wintergreened" boots were heated sealed in a closed jar (of course a plastic sealed baggy would work too, per chuck's glycerine test http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=216817 )
They are definitely softer and still soft today. I have plenty of my tiny bottle of wintergreen remaining....

In what I would call the "open pot method" where the wintergreen is added to water and the rubber just simmered in it, the wintergreen vapourises at a low temperature and much of it is lost to the air. The "sealed method" would seem to be thriftier, and far less smelly. I believe the swelling is far less too but I have only used the sealed-method and so I don't have that comparison.

Even without taking the boots off (or other rubber) I think it's worth warming stiff rubber and applying wintergreen. There is some softening this way. It stinks though and is not really good for you. Stand clear. I'd like to know if glycerine can be applied successfully "on the fly" because it seems cheaper and less smelly??? as I mentioned, Wintergreen can be seen to vapourise at quite a low temperature.

A mixture of the two might be especially effective! but maybe the a chemists out there can speak to this, before somebody accidentally reinvents an explosive....

Weirdly, I'm still looking for plain glycerine locally. It used to be in every pharmacy, but I guess nobody uses it anymore...was it a laxative like mineral oil or what?
 
Skin conditioner..Walmat has it in the band aid section...dont ask me why its there, but thats where i found it here.
 
Ive always just ran to the dollar store and picked up the cheap equivalent of Pine-sol. Boil boots for half hour or so. Softens them up nicely.
 
chuck hahn said:
Ive sat boots in the undiluted green anti freeze for days on end without change..this was like 3 hrs of soaking with the Glycerin on the stove at low heat.See my Glycerin experiment thread for pics of what I did. .....so thats my experience with it.
Click to expand...

I had a set of s[are boots in antifreeze for a year or so. Kust left em in and they did not soften a bit.
 
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