I'm going to do a full review/writeup but couldn't hold back any longer as I reached this milestone a week ago.

What if you replaced the rubber with a nylon part. I've seen a lot of nylon tubing that may fit, just cut to length. Still have a little cushion but no grip...I wasted 2 days trying to find a source for new rubbers or a suitable substitute without success so I decided to try and recondition/reform the wet clutch shoe rubbers.