Restoring rubber stair treads

[Bob]

I have rubber stair treads on my back entryway steps. They are black rubber with many ribs on each tread(very very narrow space between each rib). They are in excellent condition but although I vacuum and mop(with ammonia solution) them often, they never really look that good.

I am going to be repainting the wood portion of the stairs and would like to have the rubber treads look a lot better than they do. Removing them and going to new ones is not an option, so any ideas about how to clean them, restore them,etc would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Bob

[charlie]

what about the stuff they spray on tires at the car wash?

[RicodJour]

That was my first thought as well, but isn't there silicone in there? It would affect repainting and would might make the treads more slippery.

R

[Bob]

Great idea

Thank you very much!

Bob

[dpb]

Bob wrote: ...top posting repaired--don't do that... :(

see another's poster's comments on that before get _too_ excited...

--

[salty]

Just about any product used to "restore" rubber is also going to make it slippery as hell.

[EXT]

There is an industrial product called "rubber rejuvinator", very volatile, but it cleans rubber very well. Years ago I worked in a autobody shop and we used "tire paint" to refresh the tires after we painted and cleaned the car. It was thick out of the can, you thinned it to water consistency and painted the tires, rubber car mats and foot pedals to make them all look new for the used car lots that were our customers.

I saw some many years ago in an auto parts store, so I don't know if it is still available now.

[Jim]

Why not try rubbing alcohol and a bristle brush? I use it to rejuvinate the rubber ball on my mouse and the rubber comes back to new again.... Jim

[Nate Nagel]

That sounds like a bad idea... I think that's mostly silicone and while it does an excellent job of making rubber look good and protecting it, it also makes it slick...

nate

[aemeijers]

Brush with a stiff brush, clean with spray cleaner, and treat with armor-all or similar. Then to restore the non-skid properties, buzz the non-skid bumps with a scraper and a rag dampened with alcohol. You want to protect and shield the rubber surface everywhere except the high spots where the smooth shoesoles hit.

At work, a few years ago, they put that non-skid decking stuff in all the elevators. The next week, the cleaning crew waxed it. Those little raised dots became like walking on marbles in wet weather. So the trimmed a huge commercial doormat to fit and laid it over that. A few months later, they ripped all that out, and put in indoor-outdoor carpet squares. (Don't laugh too hard- your taxes paid for all of it.)

-- aem sends...

-- aem sends...

[Joe]

Check out the products at an autobody supply store. Second source, the catalogues of auto restoration companies like Eastwood. 3M has a large listing of amazing stuff available at such places. Janitor supply stores should also have things that might do what you want. Good luck shopping.

Joe

[salty]

I'll have to disagree with that. Re-Grip, which is the product you are referring to, would make for a very slick walking surface. It was only a temporary fix for VCR tires, anyway. It also comes in a very tiny bottle for several dollars. To use it on an entire stair tread, you would spend hundreds of dollars, befor discovering just how slick a surface it would leave.

[WW]

[Larry Fishel]

Danger Will Robinson!!!

Don't use Armor-all unless you have a pair of golf shoes to wear while climbing the stairs. (I've never tried it on stair treads, but I've made the mistake of putting it on a motorcycle seat before. It made riding "interesting".)

[salty]

What can I say, other than that you are wrong. Re-Grip leaves the surface wet and sticky just like honey would. Spread some honey on rubber stair treads and let us know about the great traction.

I assume you have a contact where I can order a 55 gallon drum of re-grip for a price that would make it economically feasible to use for rejuvenating some stair treads that really should be replaced?

[WW]

Danger Will Robinson!!!

Don't use Armor-all unless you have a pair of golf shoes to wear while climbing the stairs. (I've never tried it on stair treads, but I've made the mistake of putting it on a motorcycle seat before. It made riding "interesting".)

Hey Larry...I did that years ago. Bike moved out with out me. WW

[charlie]

everyone does that.....once...

[aemeijers]

That is why I said to wipe down the high ridges with alcohol or something, and scrape them, to take the sheen off. That would still leave the anti-skid properties of the rubber, but make the rest look not so nasty.

But yeah, the proper cure is replacement.

-- aem sends...

[Ed]

Ammonia was probably not the product to use on rubber treads. Ammonia probably caused permanent color change to the rubber. Contact a janitorial supply store for the proper products. A cleaner called "Profi" is recommended for cleaning rubber. Then there are specific coatings for rubber that won't crack or flake like those made for vinyl tile floors. Rubber generally doesn't have a high shine but more of a satin sheen. If rubber needs to be stripped of coatings be sure to get a stripper made for use on rubber.

[mm]

mAYBE YOU'D HAVE luck at a janitor supply store. I went to one when I heard they sold stuff that removed soot. They told me what they sold me was what janitors used, but it didn't work in the place I tried it. Maybe becaues I'd already tried something else.

Now I see someone sells treated sponges for soot. Maybe that will worrk better.

But that I had bad luck, doesn't mean you will. The place in baltimore is called Sterling Chemical. No mention of janitors, but I think that's who they sell to, and janitors with longer names.