How often to change table tennis rubber?

Shiro · Apr 27, 2016

Hi Everyone!,
I tend to play table tennis 1-2 times a week. When i do play, it is from 3-4 hours each time as that is the only time i can play. With these playing hours, on average, how often should i change my table tennis rubber. For example, i have been playing with my rubber since december, so about 5 months now. When should i change again?

ttmonster · Apr 27, 2016

My thumb rule with the european rubbers was that I can no longer do a ghost serve with the rubber , but that might be a little bit too extreme.
I got a hurricane 8 in novemeber, did not play for a month or so , but after that have been playing with that for 5 days a week 1.5 hours a day along with an MX-P on the backhand. Only thing I do is wipe the rubber clean before putting under the rubber protector sheets . At this point , I don't see any reason to change it .

Also, it depends on the playing style and how much drills you do. when I was working with a coach regularly, generally the rubbers used to last about three months. If you are just playing games , it might last longer.

Gelcu · Apr 28, 2016

I play 2 times a week, and I change rubbers 2 times per year!

Anders · Apr 28, 2016

It depends on a lot of things:

How often and for how long do you play? (you have already answered this)

What rubbers do you use?

Do you boost your rubbers?

Do you play tournaments or league?

What level are you at?

What do you want to achieve?

I practice a lot, and I play a lot of matches in both tournaments and league at a national level. I want to perform my best and set my demands regarding equipment by those standards. Therefore I change my rubbers every 3-5 weeks, depending on how much competition play I have.

My father plays just for fun once or twice a week and maybe 2-3 competitive matches over the season. He changes his rubbers once a year or if they get broken.

And somewhere in the middle you have the players (like yourself) that plays 1-3 times a week. If I was in this category, I would change my rubbers 2-3 times a year, and of course whenever they got broken.

(Butterfly has this "thumb rule" that one should change rubbers as many times a year as one plays over a week. That means 2 times a week= change 2 times a year.)

Ilia Minkin · Apr 28, 2016

You can take a ball and rub it against the contact point of your forehand (backhand) stroke. If it slides, the topsheet is gone. If friction is there, it is OK. Another thing is the sponge: it looks like some rubbers are boosted on the factory, so after a while booster wears out and sponge is not juicy anymore, in this case reboosting can help.

laistrogian · Apr 28, 2016

For me there's no real golden rule. If you feel like the rubber performance has degraded to the point where you feel uncomfortable playing with it, it's time to change the rubber.

The durability of the rubber is affected by your level of play as well. I hit 3rd ball with a crap ton of spin and then do explosive shots on my FH loops when I'm in position. Within 2 months, the center of rubber was left with marks and after 3 months, I could tell the topsheet is really dying and I'm creating spin with the sponge most of the time

varik · Apr 28, 2016

I bought my rubbers last summer, after 6 months they started to look dead. Applyed 2 coates of falco long booster on them and ... yeahhh plays like a charm. (i play 2 times a week 2 hours each)

Side note:
Please George RR Martin use some falco booster on Jon Snow next episode ahahahahahahaah

ttmonster · Apr 28, 2016

George R martin has fallen behind the series man, he is yet to pen the story, the series has overtaken his novel

varik said:
I bought my rubbers last summer, after 6 months they started to look dead. Applyed 2 coates of falco long booster on them and ... yeahhh plays like a charm. (i play 2 times a week 2 hours each)

Side note:
Please George RR Martin use some falco booster on Jon Snow next episode ahahahahahahaah

UpSideDownCarl · Apr 28, 2016

Yep. People have said it different ways. When you can feel that the topsheet is not grabbing the ball well enough for you to really generate decent spin, it is time to change. You should be able to feel it.

When my topsheet is starting to feel dead I put a little WD40 on it and it adds some grip back. I'm guessing from the comments that Falco will do that too. I usually can get an extra month or two by applying WD40 as the topsheet starts feeling like it is losing grip.

And as Anders stated quite clearly, what enough grip is has to do with your goals and reasons for playing.

At higher levels of competition a small loss in topsheet grip can be the difference between winning an important match and not winning it.

Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

Cornel · Apr 28, 2016

I think this question is something like how often should I change my mobile phone/computer. Like Anders said, it depends on goals, but it is also a very big personal preference. There are players that play 1-2 times a week who play really bad but like to change their rubbers every 3 months or so, and there are players who play at a pretty high level and change their rubbers once in 2+ years. Sometimes you don't even think to replace your rubbers until someone says that your rubbers have no grip or something like that.

So when do you buy a new phone? When you feel you can't use anymore your old one. That's exactly the same with rubbers.

ttmonster · Apr 28, 2016

Just to throw it in the mix, some actually suggest to wait for the rubber to become lose a lot of the grip before you opt to change it , especially if you are trying to improve your game. The reasoning being it helps improve your 'touch' , again this is a subjective statement. If I am prepping to play a tournament in recent future, I will not wait for this to happen, I know I would want to go to the tournament with a specific set of rubbers which are probably at the max a couple of weeks old, so I will not let me rubber die when I am in the run up to the tournament .

UpSideDownCarl · Apr 28, 2016

Cornel said:
...and there are players who play at a pretty high level and change their rubbers once in 2+ years.

Are you talking about Der_Echte agaaaain! LOL.

NextLevel · Apr 28, 2016

UpSideDownCarl said:
Are you talking about Der_Echte agaaaain! LOL.

Der_Echte is like Chuck Norris - everyone is talking about him, even when they don't know they are!

NextLevel · Apr 28, 2016

I change my rubbers everytime I hit a topspin

.

Ilia Minkin · Apr 28, 2016

Previously a had a habit of changing rubbers after I had a terrible night at the local league. Now I'm more patient

Der_Echte · Apr 28, 2016

NextLevel said:
Der_Echte is like Chuck Norris - everyone is talking about him, even when they don't know they are!

It appears that my reputation doesn't proceed me, it seems as if it is running like heck trying to keep up with it.

Der_Echte · Apr 28, 2016

Ever since I got in a big shipment from Nexy that slipped by the Goon Squad, I have been able to change my rubber once since I last metup with Carl and NL and MAtt and Ilia and everyone at LYTTC.

Matt Hetherington · Apr 29, 2016

A general rule of thumb based on average length sessions 2-3 hours is, number of times played per week = number of changes per year. So if you play 2 times per week you should change no less than every 6 months if you are seriously training etc.

I play every day but I use a separate bat for 70% of my coaching sessions so I change around once every 2 months and again before any major tournaments, so aout 7-8 times a year.

UpSideDownCarl · Apr 29, 2016

Der_Echte said:
Ever since I got in a big shipment from Nexy that slipped by the Goon Squad, I have been able to change my rubber once since I last metup with Carl and NL and MAtt and Ilia and everyone at LYTTC.

Oh, man, you must be on a roll. Do you mean the rubbers on your KJH are newer than 2 years old?

Let me tell you something. I think Der_Echte can play with anything and still put heavy topspin on the ball.

ttmonster · Apr 29, 2016

I bet he boosts it regularly with his radioactive saliva and sweat

UpSideDownCarl said:
Oh, man, you must be on a roll. Do you mean the rubbers on your KJH are newer than 2 years old?

Let me tell you something. I think Der_Echte can play with anything and still put heavy topspin on the ball.

How often to change table tennis rubber?

Member

Well-Known Member

New Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

TeamJOOLA

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Similar threads