Just got an order for a complete replacement set of rings for our Solar Ride here. Some of the rubber on this machine may have been original - which meant stiff, cracked, and generally not the best stuff. Plus two of the rings were BLACK replacements - ick on several levels.

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The manual called for white rings - we went with clear for everything, partly to help the GI on the playfield (now LEDs), and partly because I wasn't sure bright white rings would have looked good against the patina on the playfield. It looks pretty good. And it plays a lot faster than with that old, stiff, cracked up rubber. We even replaced the shooter tip and flipper rubbers, but those were done in the original colors.

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The manual did specify the white rubbers... on the other hand, I was pretty sure we wouldn't regret the clear, either, and I was right.

So far, our experience with Solar Ride is matching everyone else's... a definite improvement in gameplay with no issues of the rings being too stiff or too bouncy. The son of the previous owner was over... and beat my high score in a single game.

For the record, going on a year with our Titans in our Solar Ride... still going quite strong! I think that we'll definitely be ordering more silicon in the future, particularly if we get a second machine.

Just bought a bunch of white LEDs to replace the Comet frosted LEDs we bought last year... those had faded (pre ownership change), and decided to try a batch from Titan. Nice warm white, practically yellow.

I've pretty much settled on the idea myself that, any machine I have, if I'm going to replace rubbers and white is expected, clear is pretty much my first choice if I don't have a color scheme come to mind. White seems to be a little too stark and opaque now.