Hey Y'all:
My distant memories of having spent far too much time tinkering with British cars tells me that this may well be a bad idea. If I recall correctly, most brake fluids are incompatible with natural rubber; they cause it to sell and soften to the point of unuseability. Of course, I would bet that most modern hoses and brake system seals are now a silicon rubber, but I doubt the same is true of vintage brake hoods.
Feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken.
Ta-ta,
Chris _________________________________________________ Chris Beyer Volvo Cars of North America, LLC Customer Relations Rockleigh, NJ USA
Telephone: 800.550.5658 E-mail: CBeyer2@volvocars.com
-----Original Message----- From: CMontgo945@aol.com [mailto:CMontgo945@aol.com] Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2002 2:23 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Re: Maintaining Gum Brakehoods
In a message dated 9/7/2002 10:24:44 PM US Mountain Standard Time, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org writes:
> Hello,
> I am interested in finding out the best way to care for and preserve gum
> brake hoods. Any suggestions on which products to use?
>
> Thanks,
> Joel Dressner
OK here goes, You're gonna love this. Maybe there's someone out there willing to try as I haven't and probably won't. No gummed hoods. BUT my brother-in-law and I were talking this problem earlier in the summer. He's an ace mechanic (cars). Ace enough to have restored his 59 Corvette from the frame up. Thinking dried brake hoods I asked him what he did for old rubber. No problem he said. I pop it into the finest Warner brake fluid available. Let it sit for a week or so. Pull it out, wipe it off. Brake fluid is designed to keep the rubber in the system supple, otherwise heat would destroy it in no time. So there you have it. The only problem I forsee is stained gloves. Any experimenters out there, let us know.
Craig in Tucson