Rubber is everywhere in a modern car. Suspension bushings, grommets, O-rings, seals, hoses, ducts and exhaust hangers are just some of the places it can be found. Sooner or later, it will have to be removed and reinstalled in those places. That's where the problems start. Exhaust mounts with pointed mushroom ends are meant to push together easily and never slip out. Intake or coolant hoses are sometimes designed to be a very snug fit. Grommets aren't meant to slip out of their holes, and suspension bushings should definitely stay put. Rubber is nice in that it naturally has a lot of friction working to hold things in place. All of which makes changing these parts a real rotten potato. One can struggle for quite a long time to remove or install them.
Lubrication is the obvious solution. Many enthusiasts and some pros automatically reach for WD-40 whenever a general "easier if it was slippery" task is at hand. Unfortunately, WD-40 and most similar products contain oils and solvents that attack the molecular structure of rubber. Not long ago, I found an exhaust hanger once lubricated with WD-40 hardened and brittle; it came apart in my hand.
I learned about P-80 rubber lubricant the first time I replaced a car's suspension bushings with harder rubber ones. There happened to be a sample of the stuff where I worked, and it's tough to imagine having completed the task without it. I soon got my own bottle and have used it ever since. I had to show the guys with whom I share shop space what it was all about, but they now also use it frequently. One even got his own bottle of P-80 and voted it his "best tool in the shop."
P-80 is an emulsion of proprietary ingredients, similar in color to white glue but very different in consistency. It makes rubber parts as slippery as if they were greased, but dries and leaves no residue, letting them go back to being sticky so they stay in place. Even if the part gets wet, the lubricity won't return. The chances of damaging a part by tearing it are reduced, as is the possibility of injury cause by slipping when applying large forces. P-80 is non-toxic, perfectly safe to get on one's hands. The original is thin and tends to run all over the place. P-80 THIX is more like warm butter in consistency. It spreads easily but generally stays where it is put and takes longer to dry. These characteristics make P-80 THIX easier to use most times, but the penetrating abilities of the original often aid disassembly.
P-80 can make tasks that would otherwise take lots of force and just the right cuss words go easily and quickly, making you feel like a hero and saving the neighbor kids from getting their mouths washed out with soap when they repeat what they heard you saying at home.
