Let's just call it what it is; the "grip ring". And yes, both that and the loading belt can cause the player to not switch to Side B.
When you have a bad grip ring, it will cause slippage during high torque start up of the disc and poor braking when the player is trying to stop the spin during end of disc or side change. What this means in many cases is that player will take forever to start the side change process because it can't stop the disc fast enough to essentially tell the sensors that it's a thumbs up to safely begin the side change. If this process ends up taking too long, the player will simply stop and not allow the change to occur at all.
When you have a stretched loading belt; it will cause all sorts of issues from the loading tray moving in/out erratically or not at all, the clamping process failing to lift and lock the disc properly, and the tilt adjustment not moving properly. The process that usually keeps the side change from happening (at least in my experience) is that the tilt process is not moving properly just before the side change and it jams up the laser assembly from making the switch.
So yes... sometimes you clean that grip ring and it may be having a positive affect but it won't last if it's on the last leg (FYI: grip rings on the 53 and 99 are known issues but on the 3080 they usually are not). In any case, you should simply replace those loading belts first and see how the player performs afterwards. If the player suddenly starts to work more consistently, you can hold off on the grip ring until you start hearing more slippage issues (loud squeal during disc start up and braking).
jesuslovesgood wrote:
thought this was the belt? This isn't the belt?
Now let's get something straight.
I'm sure you've seen many mechanical things in your life and it should be obvious what a belt is supposed to do. It turns things like pulleys and they come in all sorts of styles from rubber belts to bicycle chains. A grip ring, just by looking at it, is doing nothing like that.
So now you know and I hope this opens your eye about learning how all this stuff works. You're going to need this knowledge if you want to continue growing your LD hobby.