Bolt-shot bootlid stopper nearly took my son out

[megastream]

-5 outside this morning, I'm de-icing my car, opened my boot - after about 10 seconds there was a crack, followed by an 'aaarrghh'

The boot lid rubber stop bit had fired off the mount on the inside edge of the bootlid under the force of the spring and hit my lad

Looks like the plastic has split around the rubber bit, guess the cold temp didn't help.

Anyone ever heard of this happening before?

Thankfully no damage done but could have been nasty if it'd hit him in the face.

[RW1]

Have you used anything on them to lubricate or prevent icing?

C.

[megastream]

Nope, only had the car 1 week!

[RW1]

Hmmm, the stopper is only held in by a thin lip of plastic internally from springing apart, about 2mm wide. Must have been faulty in manufacture.

The thought I had was use of petroleum based lubricant or lock de-icer. They are made of re-cycled plastic which melts when a petroleum product is applied. Had two shoot off 10 feet down the driveway a couple of winters ago within about a minute after trying to stop them freezing in the compressed state. The internal spring is pretty powerful.

C.

[arlurt]

What is a safe product to lubricate these with? Spray silicone lubricant?

[RW1]

At £5 a pop, I've used nothing since. Just lift the boot lid by the lower lip as the boot lock opening actions when they are frozen in the closed position.

If you want to experiment.......

not vaseline,
not WD40
not VW Lock De-icer
not bearing grease
not oil

C.

[zenekor]

My spring loaded stops also broke in several high speed bullets when I treated them with WD40

[SC60_CCO]

This happened to me as well, luckily the dealer replaced them under warranty. Since then I've been treating them with a product I picked up back in Germany a couple of harsh winters ago. I cant remember the name of it but I'm sure it's made by sonax. Basically a liquid you use to treat the rubber door/window sills to stop them deteriorating. Gummipflege or something similar.

[RoccoScientist]

I think I've lost at least one each winter (so that's two, at least) and it's a common problem at least in Finland. It's a design fault. I wouldn't expect lubricating them to help, as the rubbery part is still perfect for collecting any water running down the inside surface of the boot lid. When that water freezes, it will eventually break the weak plastic bits holding the stopper in place. So keeping your car free of ice and snow will help more, as will drying bootlid, the stoppers etc. carefully after washing the car if the temperature is below zero degrees celcius.

Edit: I tried lubricating them one winter, didn't help. Might try again this winter, though.

[buster]

This happened to me as well, luckily the dealer replaced them under warranty. Since then I've been treating them with a product I picked up back in Germany a couple of harsh winters ago. I cant remember the name of it but I'm sure it's made by sonax. Basically a liquid you use to treat the rubber door/window sills to stop them deteriorating. Gummipflege or something similar.

just to say used gummipflege to free off the ones on mine, 3-4 weeks ago as i had got the dreaded rear door rattle, on inspection the r/h stop was seized with a rusty powder covering, and having this stuff to hand thought i would try it so just got the sponge soaked and wiped it on and around the two and gently losened the seized one so far they have not popped off.

[RoccoScientist]

Update: Tried lubricating my stoppers a few weeks back. Lost one of the stoppers as I was lubricating the other one. Lost the other during the following trip to a nearby store. Haven't replaced them yet...