I need to replace the rubber door bumpers on my 32 coupe. being Plymouth I haven't found any aftermarket parts. I have done some research and I should be able to cast them in a silicone mold. I do have one original I can use to make a silicone mold. but finding a source for rubber or urethane in black of the correct hardness for making the actual part is a bit complicated . can someone suggest a product that would be suitable for making these parts ?
I am very surprised you have not found repro 32 ones? I had a 32 Ply convertible coupe in the 80s, and I thought they were available then. Is Lynn Steel Rubber parts still in business? They had good quality parts. Ok, I now own oddball early 30s cars that have no repros for door bumpers, but an oldtimer who has a farm, handed me a saw and told me to go to his junk tractor tire pile and cut off a few of those big tread cleats. Took them home, rough cut, then shaped them on a bench grinder. They look as good as a repro, and are still soft to work as a door bumper. Silicone might be too soft?...and more work to make? .
If they are not too tall, you can use windshield glue. I made some hood bumpers out of the stuff by just putting some electrical tape on a work bench (for a release agent) and squirting some glue out shaping it with a screwdriver, Let it set up just a little and put a pre-made sheet metal tab on top and reapplying some more glue. After drying i shaped it with a grinder and had a metal cored rubber covered hood bumper that had two tabs that get bent over to and hold it just like the oem ones. It is a little messy but it worked fine and looks good.
Thanks for correcting my spelling for Steele ...and to the OP, I just noticed your car in your avatar is not a 32 PB like mine was, yours is earlier perhaps the early 32 called a 1932 PA. If so the bumpers should also be the same as the rest of the Chrysler built makes from 29-31
I checked the steele website they have them for the PB but not the PA . as F&J suggested tire rubber should be about the right hardness. I could call a urethane casting supplier and see if the they have black urethane in a shore number similar to tire rubber.
Australian auction, but every Ford house will have them. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/57-58-5...R-DOOR-BUMPER-CLIP-IN-STYLE-NEW-/191716828321
I had no luck finding anything like the original door bumpers. thanks for the links and suggestions . I do some lost wax casting and had some mold materials. My silicone mold making material was a few years old and had set up in the container. A friend had given me a gallon of smooth-on 301 polysulfide rubber molding compound, it was ten years old when he gave it to me and I have had it about as long, but it was still good so I took one of the original bumpers, filled the cracks with bondo, painted it and made a mold. I found RTV Urethane Molding Rubber Kit 80 Hardness on ebay along with some black tint. I cut a small piece of 20 ga. galv sheet metal to reinforce the screw hole placed it on the screw hole dimple inside the mold, secured it with a drop of hot glue then filled the mold with black Urethane. The sprue hole and vent had to be rather large, Urethane is pretty thick . repeated the process four times.If I had to buy all the materials for the whole process the cost would have been near $200. just the Urethane , dye and mold release was about $80, quite an expense to make some small rubber parts. My coupe is much less a rattle trap now. I am working on the door latches next.
Sorry I didn't see your original post. I make door and hood bumpers for Dodge brothers cars and trucks. None of mine seem exactly like yours. If you need some help PM me. And yes, the materials are expensive.
Just a thought, you could look for a local truck tire retread shop. They might sell you some raw rubber. They would have it in either a thin sheet form, or a 3/8" rope. You could cut into strips and warm it up on a old hot plate, then could mold it into shape while warm. Then you would need to cure it. Not sure if it is the consistency you want, would be same as the tractor lugs in another post.
What you have shown looks very similar to the 1932 Ford coupe door bumper with the exception of the hole but a drill bit could fix that. HRP
The Jalopy Journal
