Most of the rubber on my bike is dirty grey and generally pretty horrid looking. I've tried lots of things to make them looking good - like soaking in ATF, but this my current method.
1. Dirty - This is a rubber off the battery case - the best one I could find.
2. After Washing - in warm soapy water (dishwashing liquid) and a nail brush.
3. After Acetone - I soak an old towel (paper towels and smooth cloths don't work so well) in acetone and rub the part. This dissolves the old dried up grey surface and takes any residual dirt off. This may take several applications. Old rubber will end up on the towel, and as a consequence makes the part marginally smaller. Don't soak the part in acetone it will dissolve entirely.
4. After grease - I smother the part liberally in red rubber grease (same stuff you use on brake seals) leave it in the sun for an hour or two , then buff off.
This may not be the best way - I'd be interested to know what other people are doing.
POD, I think you may be on the right track but acetone is a strong solvent, and I would minimize any contact with any rubber I want to keep. The grease at the end of your process is probably good as it forms a barrier to keep oxygen from the rubber. We have ARMORALL for that, which has silicone in it. I would be concerned about the long term effects of the acetone on the rubber. Maybe a less aggressive solvent would be better. Much of the aged 'white' surface material is often a coating to preserve the rubber, but has dried up and gone crumbly. Oxidized rubber generally shows cracking in the surface. What Would Tiger Do? ;)
I've had fairly good results with a paint removing heat gun. Keep the gun moving over the surface of whatever rubber part you're trying to recondition and watch the black come back to life.
Steve
I'm using break cleaner instead of acetone, which is "rubber friendly". As grease you can also use glycerin.
I saw a tip on the RZ site about using anhydrous lanolin on a vinyl seat cover with very good results. I wonder if it would work on rubber?
Friendly products like armorall brake cleaner I found to have poor long term results. The reason I use acetone is precicely because it is not "rubber friendly" It will slough off the top dried out UV damaged layer, leaving nice new rubber beneath.
I've not thought of trying a heat gun on rubber, but I have on plastics (actually I prefer a fine sand first then hit with a gas torch) and the results are pretty amajzing.