In the end it is totally up to you, but, if your machines get a massive amount of play on a daily/monthly basis, going with Titan/Superbands is a pretty good choice.

If you get low plays keeping the "original" rubber on the games is still fine.

I use a little of both here on my pins. I put silicone on posts and such that get a massive amount of abuse (the chair on Addams..) and standard rings on less abused areas. Personally I like the old rubber as it gives a bit less action to the ball during play (the silicone stuff tends to give weird spin to the ball, and has a bit more "snap" when hit) but to each his own...

I've had a lot of titans snap in home use.

Marco's PRW seem to be the best quality and most durable I have used.

Off topic but...Snake Plissken Rules!!

Eh, Solid Snake is hotter if you're going for eyepatch guys. How often will you check on your pins? That's really the question. We use happ bulk rubber because it's cheap. Don't forget that public means people can and will abuse the heck out of it. If you see your pins often, I think standard rubber is better on all but hard-to-reach places. If you put them out and don't visit them again for 6 months, you're going to need something more durable.

Edit: Colorwise, white is going to look bad sooner, black is going to make your playfield look dirtier sooner.

What is PWR?

PRW. Pretty much the highest quality replacement traditional rubber out there. All the others that come on machines I get go in the trash.

I think he meant "PRW" which is Marco Specialties "house" rubber brand. From what I've read, it's based off of the "ABC" rubber that William's and Bally used to use years ago (which was very high quality).

From what I've read, it's pretty much the highest quality rubber available today. I tend to agree with those sentiments. It's much better quality than rubber I get anywhere else.

This post is a few years old--

"This isn't exactly on subject but CFH offers some interesting insight
here on pinball rubber. Taken from Pinside, but it was posted here on
RGP several months back:

-as many know, I don't post to RGP any more. But for this, i will make
one exception. I can offer some facts on rubber that perhaps a lot of
people don't know. You all may find it useful in rubber choice on
games.

First off, rubber today is WAY different than rubber from the past.
Since the end of "ABC" rubber (which Williams had a good share), things
have changed in the world of pinball rubber. ABC rubber was the standard
by which all other rubber was and should be compared. It was perfect
rubber in terms of durometer and durability. I think most people will
agree on that (at least those that remember ABC rubber.)

Today, largely, there is really just one maker of rubber in Taiwan. They
hold the molds for Terry (Pinball Life), Steve Young, Marco, and the
other guys that make rubber. So when you buy Pinball
Life rubber and you see "PL" on the rubber, it's really no different
than the other brands (generally speaking, though there are some
exceptions.) Same formula, just they use the molds belonging to whomever
is ordering rubber.

That said, today's White rubber is absolute trash. SR is quite right
that putting white rubber on games today is suicide. Today's white
rubber is way too soft. It has no longevity, and comes apart quickly.
(about 3 weeks white mini-posts fall apart or rip, and slingshots tear
and fall apart.)

I operate games, and frankly I can't use today's white rubber. For games
in your home, I'm sure it's fine. But out in the "commercial world", new
white rubber is junk. The formula is bad, improper, and useless, in my
experience. It's way too soft and way too white, and just wears really
poorly. For your game room it's soft and spongy, really white, and
probably works well for the 100 to 200 games you'll put on your machines
in a year. But out in the field, new white rubber does not work in high
play environments.

I've discussed this with Terry at PL. He doesn't want to change things.
His customer base is home owners, and they like the soft-like-bubble-gum
white rubber. So after considerable whining to Terry and Mark at Marco
by Tim Arnold and myself, Marco has come up with a NEW formula for white
rubber. We've been testing it for Marco, and I have to say, it's a HUGE
improvement over the stuff everyone else is selling.

So is the new Marco rubber better than ABC rubber of old? Frankly, no. I
would say the new Marco rubber is a lot like the HAPP and WICO rubber of
10 years ago. Not amazing, not perfect, but miles ahead of the stuff
everyone else is selling today. I've found it far more durable on my
games.
I believe Tim Arnold is getting about the same results too. Hats off to
Marco!

Now a little about the history of rubber. You'll ask how i know this
useless crap, but i *collect* white rubber. I have stock piles of ABC
rubber from 15 years ago, brand new, stored in ziplock bags, in dark
cabinets. I also have Wico, Happ, and a few other brands offered over
the last 15 years. I have this stuff in huge qualities too, so i can
test and compare today's rubber to the "rubber of old." (It gives a nice
point of reference, as I have about 10,000 pieces of white rubber in
inventory.)

I also have some black rubber too from years ago, but not nearly the
quantities to do much testing. I will say this about black rubber today,
it's better than black rubber of old. Today's black rubber is actually
pretty decent. Hence SR's usage of it today is really not a huge factor.
Personally I like (vintage) white rubber better than today's black
rubber, but that's me. I completely understand why SR uses black. I mean
I don't like it, but given the choice of today's black versus today's
white rubber, black wins in durability by miles. It still looks like
hell though - clean white rubber will always win in looks. (Sorry SR.)

I will say this though. We are operating all the new Sterns, including
SR's titles. And they all have vintage white rubber on them. People come
play them and are like, "Wow this game is really
different, i like it!" The games play more difficult, with different
bounce properties. spiderman is the perfect example. With black rubber,
I find game times to be fairly high (in excess of 5 minutes.)
Switched to vintage white rubber, and game times are about 3 minutes.
The game is a lot harder, and frankly a lot more fun! Personally i like
that, but that's me. Some people find it more frustrating, but in the
end, that just means they play more games!

We also use vintage ABC rubber on a lot of our games (both Tim and I
have some inventory of original ABC.) It's still the standard that all
others should strive. But I've largely moved to using vintage ABC on EM
games only, and use vintage white Happ and Wico (etc.) on the solidstate
games. The only "new" white rubber I use (other than the Marco stuff) is
mini-posts, as i have NO old inventory of white mini posts! This really
sucks because today's white mini-posts last about 3 weeks. PLEASE TERRY
LISTEN.

I hope this helps everyone. I won't do any follow up posts to this. I
just hope it helps. Also if you could all support Marco and his new
flavor of white rubber, I think that would be good move (the price of
his new rubber is no different than existing white rubber.) When
ordering you have to talk to Mark about getting it, the new Marco white
rubber is not the "default" rubber that he sells."

Depends on the era. If EM and early SS, everything will last for forever.

The best protective rubber use I’ve ever seen are these:

https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=66

Put these on the sling posts below the ring. The guy that operates the NYNY pins in Vegas does this. Fantastic idea and will save you lots of slingshot ring replacements.

Silicone rings on flippers and slings haven’t stood the test of time around here on location new sterns.

For durability (not necessarily playability), I’ve heard superbands rarely if ever break. They are really expensive though.

Wrong.

You try stretching those shit rubbers on a game like Stars and see how long they last. Or try installing one on a mini post. I don't like giving bad advice, which is why I try to do at least some research and testing before I quote something as fact.

I do not know about the sling shot as I have not tried anything but my very old stock on black B/W- Midway rubber from 25 years ago. Shit is still great . But as far as the rest of the playfield for a location pinball Super Bands on every thing . The Super-Bands™ polyurethane last for a very long time . It is a bit bouncy for the post but it lasts . The Super Bands are great for the flipper bats . Super-Bands™ polyurethane will due the trick . It is the slings shot I am still trying to figure out. But for the rest of pinball Super-Bands™ polyurethane last the longest . In my opinion . Good luck .
Note Order extra sizes . I followed the STERN Star Trek LE rubber guild and it did not work on the left out lane as it was marked in manual . Be ready just in case some weird issue like this happens .

https://cointaker.com/t/super-bands

100_0437 (resized).JPG

This might help with making rubber last, but makes games play like shit IMO.
They kill all the bounce from the top of slings and anywhere installed.
I remove them from any DE game I get with them, makes them play lively and more like a new Stern.

Imo that’s only when the rubber is old. The bounce on these games was no different than I was used to without them. Post passing was perfect. I’m insanely OCD on how games play too. Didn’t notice any difference.

Agree on the DE games though. I didn’t realize that was rubber until I was told about these post sleeves. They are always so hard I thought data east used plastic there.

I 100% agree I removed them from my sst plays so much better.

I’ve slowly switched to 100% Titans for all of my route games. I keep my games super clean, with weekly attention. Ultra heavy play. Titans wipe clean so much better than rubber. I do get broken Slings, but they show wear/tears way before they snap so you keep earning. I just keep those sizes on hand. Rubber just can’t keep clean on my route. And black rubber doesn’t show as much but it’s obviously just as dirty. And the dust! Never going back.

Resurrecting this old post to ask: is there a chart somewhere that I can't seem to find, that lists what sizes the various numbers on old ABC rubbers correspond to? We all know that rubber charts and rubber kits are often incorrect, and it would help to put a correct size to the old ABC "230" or "240" or whatever numbered original rubbers as they're pulled off a machine.