So I have an older (from 2004) Arai RX-7 Corsair helmet, and the bottom black strip around the collar started coming loose. Originally it was just the end on the left side. I tried tacking it back with some gorilla glue, but that didn't work at all.
Over last season, it worked its way back a little bit. I tried elmers (on a whim) and that didn't last. I tried rubber cement, and again, the rubber / vinyl / whatever trim piece thew itself off. Gradually it kept throwing off the glue and working its way back until it was unsecured from the back of my helmet almost all the way to the front.
I tried throwing everything I could at the thing to make it stick. Crazy Glue - nope. Hot glue gun - sorry. Loctite Quickset 5 minute epoxy - stuck to the helmet VERY well, but not to the trim piece. Loctite Vinyl & Plastic repair glue - again, no luck. 3M spray mount artist adhesive - no love here either. 3M super 77 multipurpose adhesive - try again. I eventually rode out the rest of the season by using a strip of duck tape over it to secure it. While this functionally solved my problem, it was less than fashionable.
This past month I did some research online for some other suggestions, and it seems there are quite a few people with this problem posting on the net's various forums. I read suggestions from people that included everything I already tried, along with two new ones, RTV silicone, and something called Shoo Goo.
Another person said that Silicone is a terrible adhesive for anything with plasticizers in it (which is why nothing else sticks to the vinyl). I had never heard of shoo goo, but found it online. For some reason I didn't buy it. Two days ago I found myself wandering around the automotive section of wally world while the better half was off on her own. While I'm examining new headlamp bulbs, and spray on electrical tape, a friendly employee came up to me and asked me if he could help me.
Normally my gut reflex response is to just shrug these guys off with a "no, thanks", but somewhere out of the depths of my subconscious came a signal and my mouth uttered the words before I could stop myself... "I'm looking for a glue... for rubber," I said.
"For rubber to rubber," He asked?
"For rubber to ... a painted surface," I replied, not quite knowing what I was saying, but my brain was quickly catching up to what I was talking about, and I realized that I was now thinking about that F-ing trim strip I had noticed still taped to the side of my helmet the previous day when the weather was getting nicer and I was thinking about taking my bike out.
"Well, this RTV silicone is really sticky and a great adhesive," he said as we strolled just a few feet down the isle I was already in.
"What about something called shoo goo," I asked?
"Uh huh, yup, that, if we have it, would be in the shoe department. There is also this 3M weatherstripping glue that is designed to glue rubber and vinyl weatherstripping to painted car parts."
Like Alfie in A Christmas Story at the sight of the red rider my eyes grew to the size of silver dollars. I think my jaw dropped a centimeter and I gurgled out a sound that must have sounded like "wow!"
"And its only $2.97 so if it doesn't work..."
I took the 3M weatherstrip glue and set to work that night. It said to thoroughly clean the surfaces. I did that. Then it said to use something like adhesive & wax remover. I knew I had some in the garage, but I skipped that step. Then it said to wipe the surface with alcohol. SKIP. Then it said to rough up the surface of the vinyl with sandpaper. This I did do, mostly to remove so much of the old glue crud that stuck to the vinyl but didn't do anything to adhere it to the helmet.
Then I pierced the seal of the glue. It said to apply to both sides and then let set up for 1 minute before joining them. I did this, found that the glue is VERY stringy, like a nice mozzarella grilled cheese sandwich that is still so warm the cheese just doesn't break when you bite off a piece... or really warm pizza. I began getting this stuff on my fingers, and man was it getting messy. I quickly tried pushing the trim piece to the helmet, and secured it in place with more duck tape. I tried cleaning myself up, but it was useless, this stuff, once on you, will take a day or so to rub off.
On the bright side, 24 hours later the trip strip is still stuck to the helmet with as much adhesion as the original factory glue from Arai holding the opposite side of trim to the helmet.
So, the lesson to be learned is...
When gluing Arai vinyl/rubber trim pieces back to helmets, the best glue to use is 3M weatherstrip glue from Walmart in the automotive section.
I wish I could put some key tags for google to find in this post, as I'm sure it will help some other people out. Then again, maybe the shoo goo would work, or the RTV silicone. But I discovered that this stuff isn't in the maybe category, its in the "works" category.
Over last season, it worked its way back a little bit. I tried elmers (on a whim) and that didn't last. I tried rubber cement, and again, the rubber / vinyl / whatever trim piece thew itself off. Gradually it kept throwing off the glue and working its way back until it was unsecured from the back of my helmet almost all the way to the front.
I tried throwing everything I could at the thing to make it stick. Crazy Glue - nope. Hot glue gun - sorry. Loctite Quickset 5 minute epoxy - stuck to the helmet VERY well, but not to the trim piece. Loctite Vinyl & Plastic repair glue - again, no luck. 3M spray mount artist adhesive - no love here either. 3M super 77 multipurpose adhesive - try again. I eventually rode out the rest of the season by using a strip of duck tape over it to secure it. While this functionally solved my problem, it was less than fashionable.
This past month I did some research online for some other suggestions, and it seems there are quite a few people with this problem posting on the net's various forums. I read suggestions from people that included everything I already tried, along with two new ones, RTV silicone, and something called Shoo Goo.
Another person said that Silicone is a terrible adhesive for anything with plasticizers in it (which is why nothing else sticks to the vinyl). I had never heard of shoo goo, but found it online. For some reason I didn't buy it. Two days ago I found myself wandering around the automotive section of wally world while the better half was off on her own. While I'm examining new headlamp bulbs, and spray on electrical tape, a friendly employee came up to me and asked me if he could help me.
Normally my gut reflex response is to just shrug these guys off with a "no, thanks", but somewhere out of the depths of my subconscious came a signal and my mouth uttered the words before I could stop myself... "I'm looking for a glue... for rubber," I said.
"For rubber to rubber," He asked?
"For rubber to ... a painted surface," I replied, not quite knowing what I was saying, but my brain was quickly catching up to what I was talking about, and I realized that I was now thinking about that F-ing trim strip I had noticed still taped to the side of my helmet the previous day when the weather was getting nicer and I was thinking about taking my bike out.
"Well, this RTV silicone is really sticky and a great adhesive," he said as we strolled just a few feet down the isle I was already in.
"What about something called shoo goo," I asked?
"Uh huh, yup, that, if we have it, would be in the shoe department. There is also this 3M weatherstripping glue that is designed to glue rubber and vinyl weatherstripping to painted car parts."
Like Alfie in A Christmas Story at the sight of the red rider my eyes grew to the size of silver dollars. I think my jaw dropped a centimeter and I gurgled out a sound that must have sounded like "wow!"
"And its only $2.97 so if it doesn't work..."
I took the 3M weatherstrip glue and set to work that night. It said to thoroughly clean the surfaces. I did that. Then it said to use something like adhesive & wax remover. I knew I had some in the garage, but I skipped that step. Then it said to wipe the surface with alcohol. SKIP. Then it said to rough up the surface of the vinyl with sandpaper. This I did do, mostly to remove so much of the old glue crud that stuck to the vinyl but didn't do anything to adhere it to the helmet.
Then I pierced the seal of the glue. It said to apply to both sides and then let set up for 1 minute before joining them. I did this, found that the glue is VERY stringy, like a nice mozzarella grilled cheese sandwich that is still so warm the cheese just doesn't break when you bite off a piece... or really warm pizza. I began getting this stuff on my fingers, and man was it getting messy. I quickly tried pushing the trim piece to the helmet, and secured it in place with more duck tape. I tried cleaning myself up, but it was useless, this stuff, once on you, will take a day or so to rub off.
On the bright side, 24 hours later the trip strip is still stuck to the helmet with as much adhesion as the original factory glue from Arai holding the opposite side of trim to the helmet.
So, the lesson to be learned is...
When gluing Arai vinyl/rubber trim pieces back to helmets, the best glue to use is 3M weatherstrip glue from Walmart in the automotive section.
I wish I could put some key tags for google to find in this post, as I'm sure it will help some other people out. Then again, maybe the shoo goo would work, or the RTV silicone. But I discovered that this stuff isn't in the maybe category, its in the "works" category.
