Running board rubbers

[Hugh Barnes]

Peter, I have recenty done this job with rubbers I had had in stock for many years and as Robin suggested, were rather thick.I used SIkaflex 221 as suggested by Nick, I experienced exactly the same problems as you and, in the end, I have had to give up and will start again with new rubbers when the Workshop has new stock. I spoke to technical support at Sika and we came to the conclusion that the adhesive was failing to adhere to the metal of the running boards, which allowed the rubber to blister up. I had removed every trace of paint etc before I stuck them down (though there is a school of thought that says they should be painted so as to prevent rusting if there is any water ingress) The chap at SIka suggested the metal should be wiped over with something to degrease before application. I was using thinners which he reckoned should be ok. In my experience, the adhesive stuck to the rubber but seemed to pull off the metal. His final suggestion was to put a blob of adhesive on the metal and leave it to go off for 24 hours to make sure it was sticking ok beofre final assembly. It caused me to tear my hair out (what little I have, anyway). I hope that helps though it isn't really a solution to your problem as such...

Let us know how you get on...