This is off a yoyo I got secondhand. It’s got a small tear in the bearing shielding, should I just replace it? Will it even affect it?
It looks like a silicon shield that the previous owner was removing so the bearing could be cleaned and lubed. Take a small pin and just remove the shielding. You don’t need it. As long as the metal isn’t damaged. If that’s the case, just replace the bearing.
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Agreed. If you keep the shield on, given it’s old, it might keep crusting up/deteriorating and clog up the bearing. 
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Thanks guys 
What yoyo is this?
It’s a recess firecracker
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That bearing is intended to be responsive. The rubber shield was just taken off so the bearing could be packed with lube, and the shield was put back on to help keep the lube inside the bearing.
If you want it to be unresponsive it’s probably worth buying a new centering size D bearing, instead of bothering to clean the flat.
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^ This
The original firecracker came with two bearings a narrow responsive rubber shielded one (what you have) and an unresponsive one. Any C sized bearing will work. The 2nd run of Firecrackers were D bearing. It looks like yous is the original C variant.
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