Cleaning rubbers !

[Ahmad Arnous]

Hi guys
How do you cleaning your rubbers ??
My topsheet of my airoc m is dirty ,, and the sparkle is running off , i use it for 7 days only
Please help

 

[Cornel]

I clean them either with my breath or my sweat. Some players use special cleaners, but my coach says that you don't need to use such things unless you started using them(hope this makes sense).

 

[Archosaurus]

Breathing on it and sweat during games, then just rinse over with water to get all the crap to go away.

I use essentially indestructible, barely wearing 729 Super FX, which is like 10eur a sheet anyway. Some of the tackiness has decreased since I bought it months ago, but the grip is still very good.

 

[Sakumi]

@Archosaurus

Completely unrelated but I must ask: how do you stand using friendship 729 FX, it is a shockingly bad rubber from my past experience. It is alright if you are a more defensive player. Just want to know why

 

[Mtcollins]

My friend has a tiny little spray bottle and a sponge he carries with him. It works really well and only takes a few seconds.

 

[Archosaurus]

@Archosaurus

Completely unrelated but I must ask: how do you stand using friendship 729 FX, it is a shockingly bad rubber from my past experience. It is alright if you are a more defensive player. Just want to know why

I'm a beginner and it's my first setup.

It does what I'd expect it to and it doesn't like bad technique. Control is good. That's what counts for someone my level. I also like the Chinese hard sponge tacky topsheet feel.

Why do you feel that it's a bad rubber?

 

[FloKing]

My friend has a tiny little spray bottle and a sponge he carries with him. It works really well and only takes a few seconds.

Yep, a wet sponge is just what you need.
And once in a while, to completely refresh you rubber, a little bit of soap. Then you clean it a few times with your wet sponge.
You'll get a brand new grippy topsheet

As simple as that

 

[Boogar]

I wouldn't use sweat! The salt in it makes your top sheet even more dirty.
Water is enough, just not too much so it doesn't touch the blade.

 

[Sakumi]

Ok, it's your first setup and I guess it's alright for a beginner like you said it is. Try the Hurricane 3 neo for FH when you get better. It is alright for the backhand but these are the problems I had with it: flicking backspin when over the table, counter topspins are difficult (ball goes straight into the net), lacks power, away from the table requires effort, needs an active motion. But quite a lot of that is my opinion.

 

[Jirrex]

I'm using demineralized water in a small spray bottle and a microfibre cloth. Not sure if demineralized water is noticably better than just plain tap water, but I read some other people recommending it. It's less than € 0,50 for a 1 liter bottle, so still a lot cheaper than the commercial rubber cleaning products.

 

[redonix76]

I think water work just fine on newer rubbers. Just wipe in one direction to remove dirt and dust. Don't swirl around or you'll just push the dirt around. Also if you're the type to not change rubber too often, buying a commercial cleaner will be better because most of them has rubber conditioner built in to prevent your rubber from drying out.

 

[pingpongdingdong]

I found that wiping over the bat with a wet hand or sponge only takes a few seconds and keeps my tacky rubber tacky, as redundant as that sounds. Only takes a few seconds and my rubber is clean and grippy. Not to mention it's far cheaper and easier than rubber cleaner.

 

[Mtcollins]

I'd spring for the fancy store-bought water over tap water. A 1L bottle is a lifetime supply

 

[Lucas Nascimento]

Hi guys
How do you cleaning your rubbers ??
My topsheet of my airoc m is dirty ,, and the sparkle is running off , i use it for 7 days only
Please help

I've been using recently a product developed by a brazilian seller and TT player too, it's SpinTech's SpinUp rubber cleaner (http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/...acha-tnis-de-mesa-spinup-60ml-spintech-tt-_JM)... I just doesn't know if he ships worldwide, but as I've been using it, it made a HUGE difference to my rubbers grip and tackiness...

 

[suds79]

there use to be this cleaner that was called Kinetix Rubber Revitalizer but they stopped making it. Shame as that stuff was amazing. Could bring back almost any rubber back form the dead.

If anybody knows what they put in that stuff or something they claim to be just as good, let me know.

As for right now I just use a small water spray bottle. 99% of it water. 1 drop of dish soap only.

I hear you really shouldn't use tap water but i do. I do have a dehumidifier in the house. I should use that water for my cleaning bottles as it won't contain any other stuff in it.

 

[Cornel]

I wouldn't use sweat! The salt in it makes your top sheet even more dirty.
Water is enough, just not too much so it doesn't touch the blade.

I've been cleaning my rubbers either with my breath or sweat for 3 years and had no issues until now. My Hurricane is more than half a year old and is still very tacky.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Breath and hand, sweat from shirt, water, a sponge with water. You don't need anything else. Tap water works fine.

I happen to know that Der_Echte's real secret weapon is that the oils from his sweat have natural rubber boosting properties.

Try yours out. They may have the same.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

 

[Cornel]

Breath and hand, sweat from shirt, water, a sponge with water. You don't need anything else. Tap water works fine.

I happen to know that Der_Echte's real secret weapon is that the oils from his sweat have natural rubber boosting properties.

Try yours out. They may have the same.

I actually think the Der_Echte part may have a grain of truth in it.

 

[ttmonster]

when playing , I just breath on my rubber and wipe it off . When I feel it needs a little more cleaning , just use some water and wipe it with a sponge.
From my personal experience , all rubber cleaners change the property of the rubber and it tends to last less ...

 

[Archosaurus]

Breath and hand, sweat from shirt, water, a sponge with water. You don't need anything else. Tap water works fine.

I happen to know that Der_Echte's real secret weapon is that the oils from his sweat have natural rubber boosting properties.

Try yours out. They may have the same.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

Boogar mentioned the salt from sweat. He has somewhat of a point, but the oil from the skin will maintain the rubber anyway. I don't know about any noticeable boost effects though. Maybe with Der_ sweat.

I'm somewhat pragmatic: I barely clean my rubber during games apart from a wipe when it gets sweaty, to get some dust off, and then when I come home I put a little tap water on both sides, spread the water up the rubber face, wipe excess off with my palm then take a non-harsh towel and just towel it off straight off the face. The rest will dry very soon and I wipe some small excess off with my finger and the rest will evaporate.


I was somewhat paranoid about the rubber losing grip when I first bough it, because every single little visible particle in the air would stick to it, but it's not that tacky anymore although the grip is still great.

Then again, it is my first rubber and my technique has improved a lot, so I could just be compensating for less grip. So what do I know.

I've heard that excessive rubber cleaner use will turn your rubber into antispin over some months/years, and that some players purposely do this to get the effect. If that is true, yeah...


I am somehow sure that using special water won't provide any real tangible benefit. Apart from a strong placebo effect. Which could be good in itself.