I have a shower tray that uses synthetic rubber suction cups to hold it to the tiles. One of the cups has been affected by the elements - UV light, I assume
- and instead of having a tacky matt texture and appearance, it has become shiny and smooth.
Can it be restored?
Daniele
Probably not. Whether you can replace it is dependent on how its attached. Same sort of thing happens to those bath/shower mats. The cups go shiny then they crack and fall to bits. Also of course when the glaze on the bath starts to go as mine has its almost impossible to get anything to stick to it. Brian
Tried hot water & detergent?
Possible clean & degrease? I.e. brake cleaner, acetone, dishwasher, ...
I have had excellent results in restoring rubber pickup rollers on printers with a rubber restorer used by offset printers to wipe down the transfer sheets. I think this is not latex rubber, but something synthetic... You'd have to get some free from a printer -- they use the stuff in large amounts, and you'd need a teaspoonful...
For some kinds of rubber, a long soak (week or more) in fabric softener will restore part of the elasticity. I think this may be the exactly wrong treatment here, though, but I have been wrong before.
Thomas Prufer
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