Boosting European rubbers

[MaggiGoreng11]

I've recently boosted a Hurricane 3 Neo Blue Sponge with 2 layers of Kailin, and I messed up pretty badly. The topsheet now looks like a mess and the sponge is chipped because i couldn't cut the rubber properly. I'll admit it's a mistake on my part, but that's not important.
Is boosting a Japanese/ European rubber viable? I'd like to experiment with boosting ESN rubbers, using Kailin. Notably the Bluegrip C2, Xiom Jekyll and Hyde C55 and the FastArc G1. My concerns are:

1. Will this help the rubber in any way? In terms of spin, speed etc.
2. Will this affect the rubbers ability to play at all? I don't want to blow 50 bucks on a rubber and waste it.
3. Has anyone had any experience with boosting tensors? Doesn't have to be Kailin, just in general with something like Seamoon or baby oil.

I understand it'll be kind of useless to boost them, but I'm curious as to the effects that may happen.
I thank anyone in advance.

 

[Lazer]

No need to boost ESN rubbers, they are bouncy enough anyway...
1-3. It will add a degree of inconsistency. Yes some speed, but they are fast enough anyway...

Only second hand experience...

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Yurifi]

I think you would just be getting uncontrollable rocket launcher ... don't see any reason doing it ...

 

[Dr Evil]

Is boosting a Japanese/ European rubber viable? I'd like to experiment with boosting ESN rubbers, using Kailin. Notably the Bluegrip C2, Xiom Jekyll and Hyde C55 and the FastArc G1. My concerns are:

1. Will this help the rubber in any way? In terms of spin, speed etc.
2. Will this affect the rubbers ability to play at all? I don't want to blow 50 bucks on a rubber and waste it.
3. Has anyone had any experience with boosting tensors? Doesn't have to be Kailin, just in general with something like Seamoon or baby oil.

I understand it'll be kind of useless to boost them, but I'm curious as to the effects that may happen.
I thank anyone in advance.

It's viable. More than a few pro players do it. It can increase speed and spin at the cost of reducing control and durability. It's much easier to over-boost and trash ESN compared to H3, so start with one very thin layer and go from there. I was also curious about this and experimented with Seamoon (good effect), Falco (not much effect except softer sponge) and used but still playable T05H, so can't speak to Kailin and the rubbers you listed, but I'm guessing it will give you decent results if you don't over-boost.

 

[TensorBackhand]

I've recently boosted a Hurricane 3 Neo Blue Sponge with 2 layers of Kailin, and I messed up pretty badly. The topsheet now looks like a mess and the sponge is chipped because i couldn't cut the rubber properly. I'll admit it's a mistake on my part, but that's not important.
Is boosting a Japanese/ European rubber viable? I'd like to experiment with boosting ESN rubbers, using Kailin. Notably the Bluegrip C2, Xiom Jekyll and Hyde C55 and the FastArc G1. My concerns are:

1. Will this help the rubber in any way? In terms of spin, speed etc.
2. Will this affect the rubbers ability to play at all? I don't want to blow 50 bucks on a rubber and waste it.
3. Has anyone had any experience with boosting tensors? Doesn't have to be Kailin, just in general with something like Seamoon or baby oil.

I understand it'll be kind of useless to boost them, but I'm curious as to the effects that may happen.
I thank anyone in advance.

It varies from rubber to rubber. I've tried boosting seamoon on various ESN rubbers. Some have tremendous benefit (notably the Tronix ZGR), most have little or no benefit (Dragon Grip), and some seem to have some moderate benefit like Bluegrip C2.

I've never seen a rubber get worse from booster though...so I wouldn't worry about that unless you are putting obscene amounts of booster in the sponge.

Tensors like G1, MXP seem to have little or no benefit.

 

[Yurifi]

It's viable. More than a few pro players do it. It can increase speed and spin at the cost of reducing control and durability. It's much easier to over-boost and trash ESN compared to H3, so start with one very thin layer and go from there. I was also curious about this and experimented with Seamoon (good effect), Falco (not much effect except softer sponge) and used but still playable T05H, so can't speak to Kailin and the rubbers you listed, but I'm guessing it will give you decent results if you don't over-boost.

how do pros do it, if boosting is illegal?

 

[joshmak10]

There is really not a point, they are fast enough and much softer than Chinese rubbers anyways, even the 55 ESN rubbers.

 

[Dr Evil]

how do pros do it, if boosting is illegal?

That particular law is what they call a dead letter.

 

[Conehead]

how do pros do it, if boosting is illegal?

They just don't care as they know they will not be caught.

 

[doppelmoral]

I wouldnt boost esn rubbers, messes with the lifespan / durability which is already short compared to chinese rubbers

I boosted old sheets of mx-s and d05 with haifu yellow before and the results were not great

 

[DarkMatter]

Black oil works great for esn rubbers since it doesn't soften the sponge much at all but tenses the topsheet

 

[igorponger]

Hi, guys
This herein looks much like a rogue den 👺. The old Auntie Jail wants you all, sorry. 🎃

 

[TheLimpUnicorn98]

Yes it is viable but it has the same issues as boosting Hurricane 3, once the booster wears out in 2 weeks time (the feeling is the best and strongest in the first 7-10 days) the feeling gets considerably worse and continues to worsen for the next few weeks after which the rubber feels significantly deader and worse to play with compared to if it was unboosted (even if the rubber was hard like a brick when new). If you can afford to change rubbers every 2-4 weeks and are at a level where you’d benefit from it and train over 20 hours a week then I’d say it’s worth it. Reboosting isn’t really a thing because you can only really do it when you under boost initially and leave a lot of performance on the table, because boosting already softens the sponge and intensive play further contributes to this reboosting will almost always make the sponge mushy and suboptimal to play with. So if boosting properly you can only really do it once and at the start if you want to get the most out of your rubbers. There’s also no such thing as gluing your rubber before boosting regardless of who it’s made by, Hurricane 3 NEO is not factory boosted as the effect almost isn’t there and you can just boost over whatever is already there after peeling back the white film. European and Japanese rubbers are very unlikely to bubble but slightly easier to over boost so I’ve put how heavy you can boost them whilst avoiding this bellow.

Now for the part that you want to hear. The effect is really really good (it feels like you’re in the speed glue era for the new ball especially when these modern hard and super hard rubbers are boosted to their limit just before overboosting in order to get the most out of them) the top end speed increases a bit but the spin, sound and feeling on contact improves monumentally. For Chinese rubbers when boosting it’s mainly the speed that increases but for European and Japanese rubbers it’s mainly the spin that increases but that’s also followed by a considerable increase in bounciness, speed, feeling and dwell time. For forehand rubbers that are 55+ degrees like T05H (56 degrees), D09c (57 degrees), Stiga DNA Dragon Grip/Power (55 and 57.5 degrees), Donic BlueGrip C2, J1 and C1 (55 and 60 degrees respectively) you can boost heavier by using 1-2 normal layers or one thick layer and BlueGrip C1 can likely take 2-3 normal layers or 2 thick layers. For backhand rubbers that around the 50-53 degree range like MX-P 50, D05/D80/D64 (53 degrees) and Stiga DNA Platinum XH (52.5 degrees) you can boost slightly heavier if using them on the backhand with one thick layer or 1-2 normal layers depending on feeling and how soft you want your backhand rubber to feel, but if using these rubbers on the forehand then you can only use 1 thin layer before overboosting and the sponge going too mushy as anything more would be too much. For Butterfly rubbers my best results have been with Haifu National Yellow booster but I’ve heard that Kailin is also good for these rubbers. Stay away from Falco boosters on both types of rubbers as they do almost nothing besides just soften the sponge, a really disappointing experience.

 

[Tyce]

I have reboosted several Euro sponge rubbers with regular seamoon, to flatten their curl mostly. It doesn't always work, but when it does there's a temporary increase in sound and elasticity as well as noticeable expansion of the sheet.

 

[Yurifi]

Hi, guys
This herein looks much like a rogue den 👺. The old Auntie Jail wants you all, sorry. 🎃

as per ITTF rules (and Falco’s promotional material, long story short):

if you do not touch the topsheet part of the whole rubber, everything is okay. the topsheet of the rubber is ITTF sanctioned and is not allowed to be tinkered with. sponge part of the rubber is a different story. some players take away original sponge, and add a different one, one that suits them better, i.e. this is also done by rubber makers themselves - Tibhar, with MX-P - same topsheet, but different sponges (74-013). same goes for Hurricane variants - 3 and 3 Neo always have 24-108.

so, in ordet to keep rubber legal, you should not touch the topsheet part (the colorfur part) but you can do almost whatever you want with the sponge - so boosting with Falco Tempo Long is perfectly legal, as it does not use illegal substances and impacts only the sponge part of the rubber.

 

[Yurifi]

I have reboosted several Euro sponge rubbers with regular seamoon, to flatten their curl mostly. It doesn't always work, but when it does there's a temporary increase in sound and elasticity as well as noticeable expansion of the sheet.

I got my Falco Tempo Long and am playing with it. in the process of boosting the Hurricane family (3 Neo Commercial, H8 40 and H9 Violet), but was tempted to try it on ESN rubber and I put one layer on Xiom Omega 7 China Guang which is already quite dead, to see the effect it has.

it is quite messy and time consuming, doubt I will be able to boost with the same effect every time, as it is hard to measure the booster applied, but we’ll see. I can see effects on the Hurricane 8 already as the sponge got huge, Hurricane 9 is a bit stubborn and doesn’t show any effect after two layers, Hurricane 3 Neo I was playing with baby oil before, so maybe that has some effect on it as well …
one thin layer on China Guang seems to be flattening the rubber, but will see tomorrow the real effect.

would mainly prefer to use it to enlarge the rubbers a bit, some of them shrunk really badly (Vega Euro H, Vega Tour, 8 Pro, 8 Euro).

 

[igorponger]

In response to @Yurifi

Hi, dear
Yes, we did got your idea. Boosters should be generally accepted as a harmless remedy, ... and Mr. Adolf Hitler was an innocent lamb. 😆😆😆

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

1. Will this help the rubber in any way? In terms of spin, speed etc.

as many said it is not necessary, but pros do boost

2. Will this affect the rubbers ability to play at all? I don't want to blow 50 bucks on a rubber and waste it.

as many said it is not necessary, but pros do boost

3. Has anyone had any experience with boosting tensors? Doesn't have to be Kailin, just in general with something like Seamoon or baby oil.

various pros I know use different brands, few of them uses a belgium brand, some others uses seamon, and haifu black oil

I understand it'll be kind of useless to boost them, but I'm curious as to the effects that may happen.
I thank anyone in advance.

for pros, they have that marginal difference they seek.
the worries they have is different to forum members, so you can't really compare.
but ESN by default is very usable out of the box,

 

[BlopChock]

for pros, they have that marginal difference they seek.
the worries they have is different to forum members, so you can't really compare.
but ESN by default is very usable out of the box,

Yes, they likely go through them faster than guys here do rolls of toilet paper. And they don't pay for them, so cost is inconsequential.

 

[Yurifi]

In response to @Yurifi

Hi, dear
Yes, we did got your idea. Boosters should be a generally accepted remedy, ... and Mr. Adolf Hitler was an innocent lamb. 😆😆😆

well, I don’t know if you know, but boosters ARE generally accepted. 90% of pros are using it, and, as I said - looking at the rules, they are actually not breaking any rules … they are not touching the topsheet, they are touching the sponge, which is actually allowed.

don’t know what Hitler has to do with all this, but my dear, to each their own.