YYF 19mm pads keep falling off after only 3-4 weeks. Any permanent fix? Can't get permatex flowable silicone or Red RTV silicone

Yo-Yo Mods and Maintenance
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So I have 4 yoyos in my collection:

UNPRLD Recognition

UNPRLD Nostalgia

YYF Edge Beyond

YYF Edge Infinity

The 2 UNPRLD yoyos were my first, and I actually used the stock white pads on them till they were worn down to the metal (well, the inner half of the ring was completely worn down, while the outer half of the ring was only half thick)

I replaced them with YYF Yellow/Pink pads and I absolutely love them. However, I noticed that they fall off way too quickly before they have a chance to wear down.

I am very anal about cleanup so when I replace pads I completely wipe down any residue, clean it with acetone and zippo lighter fluid to remove any and all potential remnants of gunk. I then apply pressure all around the rings until it lays completely flat.

Of course they play beautifully right after I apply them but the adhesive seems to come off rather easily after only a short amount of time.

The thing I noticed is that the stock white pads are perfectly fit and rather hard to get off, but the replacement pads are a tiny bit thinner, and the adhesive doesn’t seem that sticky.

After 3-4 weeks I notice some areas of the pads slightly bulging and eventually they fall off.

I have no problem swapping pads out once they get slippy but I’m sad to see them fall out when they are perfectly snappy and during that sweet spot broken in phase.

I’ve tried supergluing them which seemed to have worked much better than just trusting the adhesive on the pads but even with that, it seems to fall out after a few more weeks.

Is this a common occurrence? I throw quite hard and often bind when the yoyo is spinning really fast which may be applying too much friction and twisting the pads off but I wish the adhesive would be stronger than that. I never had stock white pads falling off but I find them slippy. I like the yellow/pink pads soooooo much better in terms of feel but they fall off too easily.

I’d love to use flowable silicone but I live in Korea and don’t have access to the community favourite permatex flowable or their red RTV silicone (I mean technically I could but they cost like 40-50 bucks a pop which is way too much since they are only sold in these third party international retailers that markup the costs way too much).

I’m not sure which flowable silicone to use and afraid I might mess up something if I happen to use the wrong type of silicone.

There seems to be a lot of different types of silicone for house interior maintenance and car maintenance. I think the closest thing to permatex flowable is window sealant silicone? There isn’t a specific word for flowable silicone in Korean and people just use the term “liquid silicone” which is an umbrella term for any silicone that’s liquid including gasket makers, pretty much all silicone that comes in a tube, as well as mold making silicone, etc.

I’d appreciate any insight on this. I kinda want to stop buying so many replacement pads each time my pads fall off. Their costs add up to a decent amount and I really don’t wanna waste perfectly snappy pads…

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Hi, since you said it’s thee yyf pads so far, try another brand? You said you throw hard, this is a bit telling. Other thing to do is swap yo-yos a lot.

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Make sure the acetone or lighter fluid is completely dried before applying the new pads.

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Use rubbing alcohol after the lighter fluid.
The lighter fluid is still an oil.
The rubbing alcohol will take that oil off.
Let the area dry for a few minutes then apply the new pads.

Hope that helps.

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Permatex flowable is window sealant silicone :slight_smile: And you can also use the gasket maker stuff. Worst case scenario if you don’t like how it works, you can clean it out and you’re back at square one.

Here’s some advice from someone in a discord when someone asked about which silicone to buy

oh man candy land of rtv
let’s see what’s on offer
if i had to pick one, i’d get the gasket maker
because it’s automotive parts formula rtv
the auto/marine sealant is mega grip
but wears out just about as fast as flowable
both flowable from permatex and auto/marine sealant from DAP are window sealants
so more geared towards water resistance
and flexibility after curing
I’m guessing the gasket maker isn’t formulated for the same stuff that the permatex automotive formulas are
but it’s probably decent to try out
the biggest difference when you use the permatex ultra formulas is just the density of the material after it’s cured
that density just adds a lot of durability and life time to the resulting material

they also posted a step-by-step guide on how they mix and apply silicone:

“Mixing and Applying RTV Silicone for Yoyo Response - the codenamesource method.”

[Album] Mixing and Applying RTV Silicone for Yoyo Response - the codenamesource method.

reddit post link: Reddit - Dive into anything

in that post they were asked the benefits of mixing silicone and this was their response:

tldr: yeah there are benefits, research is needed, mostly for durability reasons. Ultra Black is a good single-formulation to use if you want to do your own response. I know EU guys who like to use motorsil red but that’s not available in the states.

like i said in my guide, formulations are geared towards set targets. the rtv red that i think most people might be familiar with is an automotive-industry formulation geared towards temperature resistance and usually cures into a somewhat flexible final product because it has to withstand the wear and tear of engine gaskets and the like. The issue that most people will experience is that the cured material doesn’t last all that long against friction wear leading to pads tearing out prematurely and fast wear rates. Permatex Flowable offers super easy application with it’s thin consistency and self leveling and offers decent grip at the cost of durability/lifespan. It’s main purpose is to seal windows and small cracks from water and gases so it’s concern is not for direct wear and tear but adhesion to surfaces, flexibility, and obviously forming solid seals once cured. It’s resistances are mostly in environmental exposures.

So if you can mix in a rtv formulation that firms up the final product and gives it some density without sacrificing too much of the texture that provides the grip, you end up with a more durable pad that still offers up good grip over it’s longer lifetime. Instead of finding that unicorn formulation it’s usually easier to identify components that offer up those attributes and try to mix them together in ratios that contribute enough of each factor to form a suitable final product.

best example is the two i used for my demonstration. DAP Auto/Marine sets up like Permatex Flowable, plenty of grip but not a great lifespan. Permatex Ultra Grey sets up as a very durable pad but is slick textured which means it has somewhat slippy binds even on a fresh-flush pad. Reason why I suggest using Ultra Black if you want to stick to just one type is because it sets up to be pretty dense but also has decent grip. Grey + Black just reinforces the durability factor better than Grey + DAP because DAP is just not as durable as Black so the middle-of-the-road quality in durability is just lower.

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I should probably try some other pads for sure. I’m just wondering if I would end up liking them. I was actually surprised to see a pad swap making such a big difference, so I’m kinda worried if getting pads from a different manufacturer would binds feel way different than I am used to.

Are there any pads you would recommend if I didn’t like white yyf pads (too slippy for me) but like yellow/pink yyf pads?

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I did make sure the surface was completely try and dust-free after cleaning with lighter fluid and acetone. Actually, I noticed that the adhesive actually stayed on when the pads came off.

You know when you get new pads the sticky side looks like it’s some extra layer that’s been applied on top of the silicone ring? I kinda feel like the adhesive isn’t the problem but rather the pad itself detaching from the sticky layer since the sticky layer seems to stay on the metal fine.

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I’ll definitely try cleaning the surface with alcohol after cleaning it with acetone. Thanks for the advice.

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I heard This a couple times about YYF and pads falling out. Try scratching the response area with a needle so it’s not so smooth, this is allow the adhesive more area to grab too.

Personally, I love RSO landing pads! I’ve never had an issue with them falling out. I’d say try them! They come in 2 different hardness, so you can customize it to your liking. I prefer the pink 40 pads, they give super tight binds

Any silicone will work, but “window sealant” or flowable is the easiest. High temp RTV “gasket maker” is definitely stickier and is harder to remove. Which is what you want in your case.