Rubber Renue & Vintage Audio Gear?

[thattreeguy]

Hey Audiokarma.

The tonearm on my newly acquired Sansui SR 525 (awesome sounding turntable!) would swing outward whenever I put the cart over the record and let go. Turns out the little rubber piece on the arm lifter had gone bad and the rubber was no longer tachy allowing the tonearm to slide right across it. I cleaned the rubber piece with a product by MG Chemicals called Rubber Renue and it made a world of difference. The arm more or less stays put now.

I was wondering if anyone out there has used this product on vintage audio gear? Specifically I would like to know if it would be beneficial and safe to use Rubber Renue (or similar product) to clean a turntable belt? What about the rubber surrounds on a speaker woofer? A rubber platter mat? Has anyone had good results? Does anyone out there think this would be a bad idea?

Thank you!

Analogue is King!!

 

[62vauxhall]

I used it once to "restore" a rubber idler in a cassette deck. Could not locate a new one the right size or pare one down that was too thick. Nothing to lose so I removed the original and let it soak in Rubber Renue for a couple of hours. That worked splendidly for a time but the effect was temporary. Not a forever fix.

 

[Marine0811]

I wouldn’t suggest using it on a belt. Rubber renew works great on TT rim drive wheels, but it won’t make a TT belt shorter. It gently softens the rubber. It might make the belt worse. As far as anything else, I guess you could try it

 

[drumbum]

Clean your turntable belt with a little Naphtha, just to remove some oxidation.

 

[totem]

I bought a bottle to use on a TT mat that had discoloured and had tried a variety of things
before I went the rubber renue route knowing what the chemicals used in it were.

I would say this particular mat would be the most difficult to deal with due to the number of fine ridges
and its soft nature originally.
It did take more than one application but the matt was on a very rare table and worth the time
and effort. Turned out very well looking deep black again.
I then used it on a Garrard 301 mat that had issues and it was a breeze comparatively speaking.

*You might want to use it out doors and wear gloves due to the solvents.