Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Some of Steele's products are contract manufactured, so Newbie you may know the manufacturers. I know Cadillac Rubber did some extrusions for them.

Yes, Bkazmer, definitely know of Cadillac Rubber. American Biltrite also made some rubber matting that looked very similar to some of the reproed running board profiles I've seen.
american-biltrite.com/rubber/ab-364-6494/
Spaenaur is another big player, especially in rubber moldings.spaenaur.com/products/rubber-plastic-extrusions/
Problem is, with a lot of the guys at the source level of these products, they either won't deal with private individuals or their minimums are prohibitive. Then when guys like Steele get their hands on them and resell, the markup gets pretty steep. I just bought 2 bumper grommets, a gas fill-collar gasket and a parking brake handle grip from them and with freight and exchange, etc., the bill was almost $300 CDN for 4 little pieces of rubber!!
Kind of comes down to 'do you want it or not?' and if you do, you have to pay the price. Personally, if I was re-doing running boards and 'had to have' actual ribbed rubber on them, I would look at cold bonding them with rubber-to-metal adhesive. Properly done (and anyone can do it in their shop) it will last as well and long as hot vulcanizing and I would guess at about half the price or less. Just my 2-bits worth... Chris.

I agree that how you bond the rubber to the steel is not the major issue. if the visible pattern is the same as the underlying steel, like 41-2, you can look at spray up. When the underlying steel is flat and the pattern is in the rubber, it requires a substantial tooling investment to do it.

The compounds required are not that special, most are exterior EPDM in the appropriate durometer