Polishing Mouse Feet for Better Glides
Gaming on a hard/hybrid pad like the SkyPad 3.0/MPC450 means you are familiar with changing mouse feet often since the PTFE becomes “scratchy” in a couple of weeks of use. The easiest solution is to stock up on PTFE feet that you can buy in bulk and swap skates when they start to feel less smooth.
The obvious issue with this is that if you do not have fresh skates on hand or do not want to keep ordering new feet every month, you have to find a way to maintain your current set.
Polishing Mouse Skates
This is not exactly a novel idea, but one day when my mouse skates started sounding like sandpaper on my SkyPad I was curious what would happen if I polished them a bit. The reasoning behind this idea is that PTFE does not become less smooth over time, since it retains the same gliding properties.
The real issue is that the outer layer of the mouse feet becomes scratched up after prolonged use, and tiny pieces of dirt and debris get lodged in the soft PTFE surface resulting in the scratchy sound of the skates. This means that if you can remove this outer crust that has been exposed to these factors you should get to experience a smooth glide of virgin PTFE once again.
After a couple of tests on different types and sizes of mouse skates the conclusion was quite simple for me – this is quite a good idea and skates that I would otherwise throw out have become usable for at least twice the period of time.
The Process
To make this work all you need to do is purchase high-grit sandpaper (1000+) and polish the existing surface of your mouse skates to remove the scuffs and debris stuck in them. Ideally, you would remove the skates from the mouse, but since we all got better things to do you can just polish them while still attached to the mouse.
Give each skate a couple of swipes until the surface becomes glossy once again like when you just got the skates. You do not want to go too hard at the feet since you are technically removing the surface from them, shortening the lifespan of these skates.
Using lower grit sandpaper is also not recommended since then you will just scuff the surface even more resulting in the opposite effect of what you are trying to do (for experimental purposes I have tried this as well).
TL;DR
If you use a hard mousepad surface or a hybrid pad that eats mouse skates super fast you can prolong the lifespan of your skates by polishing them with high grit sandpaper. A couple of swipes until they become glossy again and you are back in business.