Reconditioning Rubber Airbox Hoses

Anyone have any success resurrecting hard airbox hoses with some kind of rubber conditioner? Mine have no cuts or holes, but they are very hard, and I'm sure they have no chance of sealing properly. If I could make them soft again, they should work fine.

ive had good luck soaking parts in ziplock bag full of armor all,wont make them new but it definately helps!goodluck,happy wrenching!

Interesting. I might give this a try before I put my carbs back on. They were sure a pain to get off and anything that'd make them easier to put back on would be great.

I gave up and bought new ones. Even with new ones the carb rack can be a pain to remove and install.

- Nate >>

I can't offer firsthand experience, so check around on this. I heard you can spray silicone on them and let them soak in a baggie for a while.

I tried once to rejuvinate an old oring from my front caliper, so I sprayed it with PB Blaster and sealed it in a baggie. PB Blaster says it will rejuvinate rubber products....WOW..... this o-ring swelled up to twice it's thickness and it's diameter got larger too.. Viagra for rubber I guess.:whistle:
needless to say I couldn't use it.

del

There are some products that help. One is 303.

I use this to coat rubber parts to help protect them in the long run. This stuff also does help a little in reviving hardened rubber.

www.303products.com/main.php?infopage=protectant

I checked also at my local kaw dealer, they sell them seperately if you only need one or two. I think the outsides were 19 bucks each and the insides were 14 each, these are OEM kaw ones and are steeeep. I saw them on Z1 I think for around 40 for all 4. Dont quote me on that I am just dragging that from foggy memory. I am a cheap bugger and I am getting new ones. I do have a tip for the air box, I painted mine with black bumper paint. It has a flex agent in it, and it adheres to plastic great, it looks like new.

I bought a set from Z1, and they were well worth it. As xstreamcanadian said, they were around $40 at the time...

I agree that the OEM ones are steep. I looked on Z1 recently and they were around $40 still. That's not too bad, but if there's a "magic bullet" in a $3 can of spray somewhere, I'll give it a try. But it's beginning to sound like I need to just get some new ones. I may try some stuff I ran across this past weekend. I was at an RC car race and one guy had some "traction compound" that softens tires and makes them stickier. The stuff is used in the printing industry to clean and condition the large rubber rollers used to move the paper. Sounds like it may work better than anything else mentioned.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Here is a trick i use to soften up those harden air boots. I just heat them up with a heat gun for a minute or two and they are almost soft as new. To replace them i just heat them again and those boots pop right back in place. You have to work fast cause once they cool off they are just as hard as when you first started. If you don't have a heat gun i guess a very hot hair dryer will work just as well.

tw

wireman wrote:

ive had good luck soaking parts in ziplock bag full of armor all,wont make them new but it definately helps!goodluck,happy wrenching!

I'm with wireman on this one...but it takes time. When I disassemble anything on my bikes that includes rubber parts (or buy something on eBay with rubber parts) I drop them in a ziplock bag and liberally cover them with ArmorAll. I have some grommets/plugs/widgets that I haven't touched in several years and I pulled them out the other day and they were soft and pliable. The kicker being, if you are in a hurry, this won't work...I'd suggest if you are going to archive your scooter for the winter, this would be a great time to do this.