Old Chinese rubbers

[Koichi]

Hey guys,
I've recently purchased Hurricane 3 Neo provincial (blue sponge) rubbers. They were original as I've checked with the code and it was all good. However, I noticed that the packaging seemed to be one of the older kind. So my question is whether the quality of a rubber (tackiness, speed, spin, etc.) can deteriorate with a rubber if its unused in its packaging for a long time??
Also, I've bought provincial (orange sponge) from tabletennis11.com and the quality seemed higher (great tackiness, spin!). Maybe because the model was newer?
Can anybody enlighten me? Thanks !

 

[SFF_lib]

The older rubbers are meant to have gone through a longer period of oxidation. Therefore spin of the topsheet and power of the sponge should have gone down. It explains the difference between your two sheets of H3.

It's great you bought it from TT11. The more often they sell the fresher the stock they keep.

 

[mart1nandersson]

Was the package vacuum sealed like more recent Neo?

 

[Koichi]

Oh yeah .. that's another aspect I noticed. It wasn't. Neither did it have the shiny packaging. Does anyone know how far back these must date then?

 

[SFF_lib]

Oh yeah .. that's another aspect I noticed. It wasn't. Neither did it have the shiny packaging. Does anyone know how far back these must date then?

The rule for the serial number printed on the sponge is that X=0,A=1,B=2,C=3…,I=9. For example the first four letters are ADXB, it is translated into 1402. It means it was manufactured in Feb 2014.

Hope it helps.

 

[Koichi]

The rule for the serial number printed on the sponge is that X=0,A=1,B=2,C=3…,I=9. For example the first four letters are ADXB, it is translated into 1402. It means it was manufactured in Feb 2014.

Hope it helps.

That's great help! Gonna check some time soon. Right now too lazy as I just assembled the racket yesterday. Haha
You seem to be experienced with Chinese rubbers. Do you know how to properly clean and maintain them? I once used butterfly's spin refresh and all the balls slipped off the sheet surface. So after that I've read on forums that most people simply clean it with water and a sponge. What's you take on this?

Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

 

[SFF_lib]

That's great help! Gonna check some time soon. Right now too lazy as I just assembled the racket yesterday. Haha
You seem to be experienced with Chinese rubbers. Do you know how to properly clean and maintain them? I once used butterfly's spin refresh and all the balls slipped off the sheet surface. So after that I've read on forums that most people simply clean it with water and a sponge. What's you take on this?

Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

Water and wipe it with my hand followed by a non-adhesive protective sheet. Works all the time.

 

[Koichi]

What and my hand followed by a non-adhesive protective sheet. Works all the time.

Hand followed by...?
I do use the non-adhesive sheet too
Forgot to mention

Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

 

[yogi_bear]

What was the code in the packaging? Usually it is good if the rubber is only less than a year in the shelves.

 

[Koichi]

Dunno... chucked the packaging. It said it was a genuine product so I guess it wasn't older than a year old according to your hypothesis ?

 

[lodro]

The rule for the serial number printed on the sponge is that X=0,A=1,B=2,C=3…,I=9. For example the first four letters are ADXB, it is translated into 1402. It means it was manufactured in Feb 2014.

Hope it helps.

Yes, thank you this helps.
I wish that the numbers would also be on the package somewhere because now that the rubbers are glued on I can not see the print
until i take the rubbers off to do the re -boost.
In case of the vacuum sealed NEOs it not very good to have to take the rubbers out of the package to see how old they are, it would be more helpful if the numbers were printed also on the outside of the package.