Cleaning Cosmoline From No.5 Rubber Buttpad?

[rcathey]

Hi all.

I work in plastics and feel I have something to add!

EPDM (or “natural rubber”) will naturally harden with age. This will apply to a NOS pad just the same as an installed pad. The rate of this hardening can change depending on environmental conditions. For example, natural rubber isn’t a fan of UV light...this is why folks put covers on their RV tires.

This hardening is also seen in PVC. This is likely more familiar to most people these days. PVC will get very brittle with age while rubber will get progressively harder.

The company I work at deals in TPV which is particles of natural rubber basically suspended in polypropylene. It handles aging much more gracefully than EPDM or PVC.