Door rubber seal maintenance

[Kris]

How do you guys maintain door rubber seal? I have not done anything so far except cleaning them with shampoo and water. I read that talk is good for lubrication. Anybody has any advice?

[red kiosk]

Kris,

Funny you should ask, I just treated my seals yesterday. Not that they needed them (since my MO is an 09' with 6500 miles), but because I want to start a scheduled "seal" maintenance to keep them in good shape. A detailer I know and respect very much, recommended Zymol "Seal" http://www.zymol.com/zymolseal85oz.aspx so I gave it a try. It's not cheap, (like the rest of Zymol's upper end products), but I followed the directions and my seals truely "feel like a dog's nose" now. FWIW, he also recommended mixing 50/50, the "Seal" and Zymol's vinyl conditioner "Vinyl" to treat the interior to achieve that original deep, matte finish with excellent protection. I can attest to 50/50 mixture, my interior looks like new… deep, rich color but not shiny and the orange creme soda that ended up on the dash last week wiped off easily without removing any of the treatment. Take care!

Jim

[mgthe3]

Lexol Vinylex.
Google it, it is way good stuff. It puts the essential oils back into the vinyl. It smells just like new vinyl.
I treated my 04's seals and some older car seals and they were like new in less than a week.
It comes in two forms, the trigger spray bottle and wipes.

I've used this stuff on rubber around windows on my wife's Tucson; it had sat at the dealer in the sun for about 8 months drying them up pretty badly. One application and they were like new and it's been over a year and they still look new. My son's 98 Exploder has the plastic lower windshield vent covers made of black vinyl and they were almost white with UV damage. Two applications and they look new.

I used the back to black stuff and was not impressed.

[Kris]

Thanks guys,

I will try some of the suggestions.

BTW - I tried Mothers black-on-black on my CTS and FX and it worked very well. The FX looks now like new…

[njjoe]

You learn something new every day. I never considered the door seals to be a maintenance item.

Are you doing this for longevity or appearance?

I have only had door seal problems on two cars and it was due to the design and not the pliability.

-njjoe

[Kris]

Originally posted by njjoe
You learn something new every day. I never considered the door seals to be a maintenance item.

Are you doing this for longevity or appearance?

I have only had door seal problems on two cars and it was due to the design and not the pliability.

-njjoe

Joe,

longevity. The FX is almost 5 years old and we decided to buy it after lease expires in Dec this year. I want to make sure I do not miss any maintainable item

[hfelknor]

Good move.
Door seals do go bad. Sometimes they tear, and many times they "take a set" and no longer push against the frame.
YOU slooooowwwllyy get a bit more wind noise and disregard it........

I bot the Zymol a year ago and used it on my BMW. Since I still had a lot left, I did the MO too!


Homer

[Frankie]

Originally Posted by red kiosk

Kris,

Funny you should ask, I just treated my seals yesterday. Not that they needed them (since my MO is an 09' with 6500 miles), but because I want to start a scheduled "seal" maintenance to keep them in good shape. A detailer I know and respect very much, recommended Zymol "Seal" ZYMOL SEAL 8.5 oz so I gave it a try. It's not cheap, (like the rest of Zymol's upper end products), but I followed the directions and my seals truely "feel like a dog's nose" now. FWIW, he also recommended mixing 50/50, the "Seal" and Zymol's vinyl conditioner "Vinyl" to treat the interior to achieve that original deep, matte finish with excellent protection. I can attest to 50/50 mixture, my interior looks like new… deep, rich color but not shiny and the orange creme soda that ended up on the dash last week wiped off easily without removing any of the treatment. Take care!

Jim

Sorry to reply to such an old post.. I was doing a search on leather cleaning and stumbled across your idea of Zymol Seal 50/50 with Zymol Vinyl cleaner.

Why use Vinyl cleaner for your Murano interior?

Isn't your Interior Leather?? Sorry if I'm miss informed, I just bought a Nov 2011 Murano and Leather is the only option.. So I'm guessing it's always been the case?


I too want to maintain that deep matt original look and feel to the whole interior..


Do you still use that 50/50 Mix?

I'm still struck on what to clean the driver's leather seat and steering wheel and gear knob with..


-Frankie

[Halwg]

Only the seating surfaces are leather. Everything else is vinyl. (And you thought paying $1000 you were getting all leather. Not from Nissan you aren't!)

[Pilgrim]

I spray my door and hatch seals with silicone about every six months. Another thing that's good for them is glycerin - I learned that from a gent who works on vintage car glass. Glycerin will add life to some pretty dry seals.