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#1 Feature I Want From the DualShock 4: no more oily residue on the sticks >:|

Andrefpvs

Andrefpvs

Member
EDIT: READ -- This is a problem with some PlayStation controllers. This problem happens when you are NOT using the controllers. Please understand that implying people cannot maintain a basic level of hygiene is rude.

This is not an isolated case as well. Here's a previous thread from Dorimukyasuto regarding this issue.

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Original:

There's something about the PlayStation controllers that has annoyed me for more than one decade now. If you don't use them for an extended amount of time (a week seems to be sufficient), some sort of sticky, oily substance forms on the analog sticks. The rubber gets all gooey and you have to clean it off with tissues or whatever. It's kinda gross.

I've done this tens of times with the DS2, Sixaxis, and the DS3. I hope this trend stops with the DS4.

Does anyone who had hands-on experience with the DS4 know if it uses a different type of rubber for the analog sticks?
 
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oSoLucky

Member
This is the first time that I've ever heard of this. Sony systems have been my primary consoles since about 2002 and I have never noticed this at all. Is it something that only a small minority experience, or am I just lucky?
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
'Ever left your DualShock 2 or 3 controllers unattended for a while only to find the analog sticks covered by a sticky, yucky, slimy substance that seemed to come from nowhere and was really hard to remove? I sure did, and many others experienced that annoying surprise.

Suhei Yoshida hopes it won’t happen with the PS4′s DualShock 4, because the sticks are made of a different material, as he confirmed on Twitter.'

http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/06...icks-wont-get-slimy-stand-confirmed-separate/

I've personally never experienced this but it is apparently somewhat common.
 
Andrefpvs

Andrefpvs

Member
Doctor_Thomas said:
This oily residue... I have never even heard of it until a few weeks ago when yosp was asked about it.

Is it just sweaty hands?
Click to expand...

No, the residue accumulates when you're NOT playing with the controller. I assume it's some sort of reaction between the rubber and dust.

It gets especially bad under the head of the stick if the stick already has use marks on it.

Neuromancer said:
'Ever left your DualShock 2 or 3 controllers unattended for a while only to find the analog sticks covered by a sticky, yucky, slimy substance that seemed to come from nowhere and was really hard to remove? I sure did, and many others experienced that annoying surprise.

Suhei Yoshida hopes it won’t happen with the PS4′s DualShock 4, because the sticks are made of a different material, as he confirmed on Twitter.'

http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/06...icks-wont-get-slimy-stand-confirmed-separate/

I've personally never experienced this but it is apparently somewhat common.
Click to expand...


Aww yeah, thanks Neuromancer!
 
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K

Kazerei

Banned
Andrefpvs said:
No, the residue accumulates when you're NOT playing with the controller. I assume it's some sort of reaction between the rubber and the dirt.

It gets especially bad under the head of the stick if the stick already has use marks on it.
Click to expand...

I suck at chemistry, but I don't think it's some sort of reaction between the rubber and the dirt going on here...
 
Mikey Jr.

Mikey Jr.

Member
Yep, this exists.

I left my sixaxis out in the open for probably a few months with not touching it, and on the sticks is a sticky, grimy oil. Hard to explain. No idea why it exists.

And no, I didn't jizz on my controller or something stupid like that.

This only happens if I don't use the controller.
 
A

Amagon

Member
N

Nugg

Member
Neuromancer said:
'Ever left your DualShock 2 or 3 controllers unattended for a while only to find the analog sticks covered by a sticky, yucky, slimy substance that seemed to come from nowhere and was really hard to remove? I sure did, and many others experienced that annoying surprise.

Suhei Yoshida hopes it won’t happen with the PS4′s DualShock 4, because the sticks are made of a different material, as he confirmed on Twitter.'

http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/06...icks-wont-get-slimy-stand-confirmed-separate/

I've personally never experienced this but it is apparently somewhat common.
Click to expand...

I've have this problem. It's not sweaty hands, since the problem appears when I'm *not* using the controller for like a month. It's almost like if the rubber had melted a tiny bit. But it's not like the controller had been exposed to excessive heat or anything. Weird.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
They are using a different material for the sticks, according to yosp. So fret not, friend!
 
D

DJ88

Member
Ohhh so that explains it. The DS3 I regularly use has never had a problem, but my second DS3 which sat unused for months did get weird sticky analogs. I remember thinking how the fuck did this happen?
 
K

Krusenstern

Banned
A

AshiusX

Banned
This would rarely occur to me form time to time. I assumed it was the sweat from my thumbs dripping on the analog sticks's top layer was the cause of it.
 
A

Azure Phoenix

Member
Why am I not surprised to see a bunch of ignorant "wash your hands" posts?

No, it is nothing to do with hygiene, Playstation controllers just have an inherent problem with the analogue sticks being coated in an oily residue if left unused for a while. I've thrown away god knows how many PS2 controllers due to the problem, and I clean my controllers on a regular basis. Admittedly though I've not had it occur with the Dualshock 3, so I assumed they had solved it after the PS2 era.
 
N

Necromanti

Member
Yeah, this is happened with several of my controlled that I had hidden away in a box and then checked on years later. I always wondered where the very strong smelling oil was coming from, and where the rubber itself was perspiring some weird substance. People who have this naturally coming from their hands must either be mutants or robots.
 
S

Stike

Member
This happened to me.

I think I know where this comes from: If the controller is in the sunlight, the sticks are sticky afterwards. So it must be something with heat/direct sunlight!

Keep your DS3s cool and in the dark...

Try it for yourself!
 
D

DarkChronic

Member
No, I've had this happen to my sticks before, and I'm super anal about using controllers with clean hands (never eat snacks when I play, etc.)

The residue is actually sticky to the touch. It's bizarre.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Razlo said:
Never had this issue, not sure what people are doing to their controllers.
Click to expand...

Nothing. You can have dualshock 2s in a drawer sealed off from everything, not touch it, come back a few days later and it'll have some slightly greasy residue on the top of the analog sticks. Happens to the 3s too.

Never happened to any other analog controller i've used before, aside from Dualshocks.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
Teknoman said:
Nothing. You can have dualshock 2s in a drawer sealed off from everything, not touch it, come back a few days later and it'll have some slightly greasy residue on the top of the analog sticks. Happens to the 3s too.

Never happened to any other analog controller i've used before, aside from Dualshocks.
Click to expand...

Yeah I can confirm this. Mine are in a drawer. Think it's residual hand oil + dust + some odd reaction in the rubber.
 
K

katsubento

Member
Yes this can happen if the humidity is high enough.

I found an older Six Axis in a closet that had the same thing happen to the sticks.

Oddly, if you continue to use them regularly, they don't get that way.

It happened to my Ace Combat 5 flight stick as well. I had it stored away and when I took it out it is pretty much unusable because the rubberish coating had "melted" into a gooey slime. I should try Goo gone on the stick to see if I can get all the rubber coating off.
 
R

Rubius

Member
Cheetos residue is a feature of the 360. But yeah, wash your hands with soap before playing.
xbox-360-controller-cheetos-cheese-135074050681.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Woo-Fu

Woo-Fu

Banned
Some compound in the sticks is deliquescent and/or reactive to something in the environment. Good reason to choose a different material for the new sticks, lol.
 
F

FINALBOSS

Banned
I've used FPS Freeks (the CQC shorter ones, but I used the originals too) since the day they came out.


Before I had those I was using just simple rubber tops..never had an issue really.

Although with the new DS4 sticks I'll prob never use a rubber topper.
 
Hellraider

Hellraider

Member
I remember having this problem on my gamecube controllers.Never had a playstation but I know how annoying it can be.
 
J

Juice

Member
Yeah, I only play my 360 and my PS3 a few times a year (exclusives) and only in the case of my PS3 do the sticks become almost unusably slick.

Never realized it was "a thing" before this thread.

Any chemistry majors got theory?
 
S

SuperSonic1305

Member
I wash my hands before touching any of my things so this has nothing to do with that and it only happens when NOT using the controllers for weeks so don't act smart just because your controller doesn't have it yet.
 
M

Manmademan

Member
S¡mon;70436686 said:
Wash your hands. Seriously. That's where the oily residue is coming from.
Click to expand...

nah dude. oil spontaneously generates from sony controllers. The Beverly Hillbillies all got rich when Jed Clampett threw a dualshock at the wall and broke it.
 
R

Raymo

Member
I don't see how this could occur at all. Maybe it would be possible if it was in direct sunlight for the whole time, but there's no reason why an oily substance should just occur on the sticks.

Wash your hands.
 
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