Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I remember seeing somewhere a Lotus recommendation to coat the RotoFlex couplings with silicone spray periodically. I have newly installed (this year) RotoFlex and am wondering whether to use silicone spray or ArmorAll?
Any ideas, experience, opinions?

Never heard of that recommendation, never did it in 38 years of ownership, what purpose does it serve?

Well if you think about it, that sounds like a pretty good idea to me. As I am someone who will NEVER go over to the new fandangled driveshafts of anyones manufacture, anything that helps or increases the life of my rubbers would be great. A layer of silicone on rubber must surely protect the rubber from the ingress of water, drying out, salt, if you use the car in winter, and a host of other things no doubt.

Cant think of any downsides, and would be interested to hear the thoughts of others, especially if anyone knows of any detrimental effects silicone might have on rubber before I go spraying.

Leslie

The idea of protecting the Rotoflex's with some type of Lubricant sounds fair but it's worth checking with the Manufacturer on the compatibility of the Product with the Rubber used.
Many lubricants will cause premature aging, softening, hardening what have you.
I remember using Soap as a Lubricant for Rubber Band powered Model Planes when I was a Kid.
The Planes crashed before the Bands broke so no knowledge on Durability gained

Cheers
John

PS Miserable Weather here today, so suffering from "Cabin Fever"

Something like this might do the job

Wurth Rubber care http://www.properautocare.com/wurucaa.html

Very similar to Gummi-Plfege

I use it on various rubber items on my cars.

Cheers
Jon

"Vaseline" Maybe?

John

D.J.Pelly wrote:"Vaseline" Maybe?

John

That's a petroleum product is it not?

Probably very BAD for rubber.

billwill wrote:

D.J.Pelly wrote:"Vaseline" Maybe?

John

That's a petroleum product is it not?

Probably very BAD for rubber.

Some of my posts shouldn't be taken too seriously

Hi there

I've used silicon spray on the donuts on my Plus Two for many years now and I've not noticed any detrimental effects. Don't know if it actually does any good but it does seem to keep them more supple. Just be sure to keep it away from the brake discs (also well away from the bodywork if you're ever going to be wanting to repaint the car in the future).

Andy

My abiding memory of dealing with the manufacture and design approval of automotive rubber products was the constant belief that the biggest danger was in Ozone cracking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_cracking

Even world class manufacturers had to make great efforts to meet the standards on this subject - so it comes to my mind that unless the "RoroFlex" producers (who ever they may be) make the rubber compounds to meet the neccesary exacting standards, they will remain a very suspect item.
It would be interesting to see how the current manufactured parts behaved in an Ozone test cabinet.

So in an attempt to answer the original question - you will need a coating that protects against ozone.

Hi

I have also used WD40 in the past which seemed to help prolong Rotoflex life.

Regards Gray