You doing that to your DM? I swear we keep working on the same projects all the time... Changing to Red Rubber was next on my list

What about blue?

more bounce and faster game play,keep the red rubbers

I have a friend who uses yellow flipper rubbers and the difference is very noticeable-I don't like them at all. It's like having a sponge on the flippers.

I'm picky about flipper rubber. Anything other than red or black is too bouncy for me. I pick either red or black based on how the game plays.

A friend has The Shadow and he was complaining to me about how difficult it was to ball trap compared to my machines. I went over and played it and he was right. He had purple flipper rubber on it. I changed it to red and it made a world of difference.

I asked that question on Rec.Games a couple of months ago and got crucified...

I didn't realize they defined durometer by color, I thought it was just a color scheme for the theme of the playfield

Neither did I. This is really good info to know.

I usually go with red unless it just looks out of place. I had red on my DM and then I put the chrome flippers from Terry on it. The black looked so much better with the chrome I had to go with the black. I think the chrome flippers look nice on the DM and it plays fine with the black flipper rubber.

I like to use what came from the factory. It was designed that way.

I changed from black to red on BR and noticed an immediate difference. They are definitely bouncier and cause more spin on the ball. My first thought was "I hate these things" but I have adjusted to them over time and actually appreciate that it makes the game just a bit more challenging.

That is why we stay at pinside.
We all love the game.

Had yellow on my Spy Hunter and it sucked. Put on the red and what a better game.

good info, great post!

I kinda like the ones that glow in the dark

Pretty sure I read somewhere that most are designed and tested using white rubber - but switched to black when they are manufactured due to lower upkeep for operators (?)

On maintainance:

Black lasts longer, but at the expence of dirtying flipperbats and surroundings somewhat more.

On gaming:

Drop catch on reds is a lot more difficult without the ball bouncing down the flipper instead of rolling. Likewise on red, spinning balls giving funny bounce angle is seen to more extreme.

Reds exclusively for me, except for my old Ballys which mostly have yellows. I find the reds seem a bit more sticky and can grab the ball better than the black rubbers.

I had been like this, however I'm toying with the idea of doing all blacks. I usually like harder, but I find on some games, I just don't like the bounce of reds, and find even learned shots to be somewhat unpredictable where on the same machine with black, a learned shot is dead on accurate.

They are still all red, but I'm subbing here and there to test.

If you're getting a bounce as the ball comes down the inlane onto the flipper, the bottom of the return lane isn't level with the surface of the flipper rubber. If you loosen the screws securing the ball guide, there's some play in it, and you should be able to adjust it so it doesn't "hop" when coming down the return lane.

I agree, that if the ball hops when it hits the flipper after coming down the return lane, the game is not playable.

It definitely does depend on the game though, whether red or black is appropriate.
I've got red flipper rubber on my TZ (and it plays much better than black rubber) and black rubber on my No Fear - and, while I havn't tried reds on it, I don't think i'd want the flipper rubber to be bouncier on that machine - it sends the ball screaming at the flippers a lot - fast enough that even with black rubbers that bouncing it off the flipper sometimes causes it to bounce high enough that it hits the opposite slingshot (usually not hard enough to trigger it, thankfully).

when I got my Dolly Parton it had yellow. I changed it to red and gameplay was so much better. Never thought to try black for less bounce, I always heard to stay away from it because it dirty's the playfield alot. On Dolly Parton it wasn't bad as its a slower game. I am finding on my Swords of Fury that the bounce of the red flipper rubber is more noticable. May be time to switch to black.

Makes sense black flippers less bouncy as compare white and black rubber in the slings.......whie way more bouncy.

I will now try out blue, orange, purple, green etc!!

I Like: Red, Purple, Blue & Green

DO NOT LIKE: BLACK, YELLOW or WHITE!

I replaced the red on AC/DC to black and it helped noticeably in ball control.

I would love to know the durometer values for colors such as purple and green which can make a game pop nicely (color-wise)

I'm also kind of surprised that no company has taken it upon themselves to offer [speciality] flipper and post rubber in a variety of colors, each with a range of durometer values

Yes I changed the main flipper rubbers on my AC/DC to black too for the same reason. Haven't changed the lower playfield ones yet, does that make any difference to the game down there?

I prefer black flipper rubbers to any other on my games. I once had some orange ones fitted to my MM, and they were so bouncy it made the game far more difficult to play.

*back in the day* they used to make white rubber that was dyed black.

So you had the lively white feel, but the easy to keep clean looking black.

It will be interesting to see how Gene's new clear rubber will play.