Quoted from porkcarrot:I’ve been curious about this. I see things advertised as feeling like real rubbers. So just use real rubbers. Maybe silicone is more durable for a really heavy location play, but home machines don’t need that. Why pay double or nearly triple the price? Very strange to me.
I like they way they look, easy to clean (I know real rubber is too), and I hate the way white rubber looks. After a while it looks gross no matter how much you clean it.
Real rubber, especially black, dirties up the playfield a lot. Silicone doesn’t leave rubber everywhere.
Silicone can actually wear faster on modern machines. That’s why lots of OPs switch to super bands because that harder material lasts forever under heavy play.
I have yet to have to replace a silicone rubber on a pre dmd game and some I have had for close to ten years. Just keep cleaning them and they are good. Seems that’s just as good as regular rubber.