Spare Tire Wheel Well Rubber Profile

There was a question on the T34 mailing list on what the piece of rubber looks like that seals the spare tire wheel well against the body. Here are the photos of a fresh NOS seal.

Repro Rubber - Have Trouble With It Sometimes - Part II

Here is another example of "less than par" T34 repro rubber for the bumper overrider. An entrepreneur produced this with good intent but it cracked within ONE YEAR of installation. Again, it was not exposed to water, rain, sun, etc.

Looks like I am going to have to resort to T14 Ghia solutions to make things presentable.

Repro Rubber - Have Trouble With It Sometimes - Part I

I removed my front bumper today. It is the end of summer and snow can fly any day here in Tahoe and it is time to work on the car.

The front bumper rubber grommet in this photo bothers me. I always buy repro rubber from entrepreneurs to support them. In this case it was never out in the sun, got wet, or stressed it any way. Yet, it still cracked. It is 2010, can't we figure out what rubber doesn't crack easily?