Re: 1938 Packard Eight running board mats

Posted by bkazmer On 2010/3/15 12:33:15

at the risk of pedantically beating this to death:

vulcanizing cross-links the rubber - it has nothing to do with attaching it to the metal, which is a separate thing(although they can be done in the same process, I believe).

My own experience is with the 1941 running boards - as you see on the photos in this string, they follow the contours of the metal. On some older boards, the mat profile creates the pattern on a flat metal substrate. Spray-up womt work on these.

The Steele mats were two extruded EPDM rubber profiles, and 2 outer corner caps. They don't make them anymore (not sure why). You stuck them to the boards and there are seams.

The spray PU is a newer method and gives a seamless appearance, although typically a little shinier than original. It does cross-link, but not technically by vulcanization. Again see the photos for some nice jobs.

I think this comes down to understanding the original pattern and how it was achieved.