Replacing your silicone response pad stickers

Yo-Yo Mods and Maintenance
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I’m going to create a brief topic here in the first post describing how to replace your silicone response pad stickers, with pics, so others can refer to it.

When should you replace your silicone response pad stickers? In addition to obvious visible stuff like seeing wear and tear in your silicone response pads, I’d say when you’ve already replaced / swapped

  • string
  • bearing

… and the response is still weird? Probably time to replace those silicone response stickers.

I noticed the old white response pads in this CLYW Canvas I got in a trade a few months ago were kinda messed up looking. They had a weird sunken depression in the area nearest the bearing and generally weren’t smooth and flat like I expect silicone response pads to be. Given the kinda overall beat condition of this particular yo-yo I assume they are original circa 2012-ish – in fact they look the same as the ones in this 2012 review – and could use replacement.

So I popped them out using a wooden toothpick, which left a bit of … icky sticker residue.

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I then used Q-Tips and 99% Isopropyl Alcohol (rubbing alcohol) to clean the response pad thoroughly. This took a bit of elbow grease and 5-10 Q-tips … it was in need of a thorough cleaning. I think the previous owner was a smoker, if you know what I mean. :wink:

You want the surface super clean so your new stickers can stay firmly attached, and the combo of rubbing alcohol plus the Q-tips did the job nicely.

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I had some “Dad Pads” from A-RT which are the same as CLYW Snow Tires and they fit perfectly. Just peel n’ stick.

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Ahhh, fresh silicone sticker pads, perfectly flat shiny and smooth. Response is now :ok_hand:

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All right, first post updated with photos I took from my donor CLYW Canvas. Whoo boy did this yo-yo ever need some new silicone stickers :wink:

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@codinghorror Do One Drop slim pads start out super grippy? I just put a fresh pair in and I might as well be playing 2A… :open_mouth:

Or do I just need to wear them down and practice regens??

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Perhaps? Is it binding inappropriately like a responsive? Or just binding really strong?

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Twas the bearing causing it mostly, binding really strong. Switched it out and it’s much better than before but the pads are fresh so there’s some grippyness to them.

I ordered some type 80 and 70 response pads, they’re supposed to “harder” as opposed to “softer” so I hope they work out well!

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Just a note, I think acetone might be better than isopropyl alcohol when removing stickers as it is bit better at getting any remaining sticker residue out.