I'm running a Goodall Spi of a slightly heavier cloth as well. It is just plain cloth not silicon or whatever (was actually the cheapest around)

I run the AHPC snuffer and I run a 4 mm dyneema line with a hard and rough outer core as retrieval line. He spi is of 2003 and it has definately been broken in (understatement).

This setup is predicted by everybody to show wear after even a small period of use. I however have no wear marks in my spi other then the two times I hung it on a broken strand in my forestay. Of course these don't count.

I never ever sprayed my spi with any lubricant whatsoever.

So there appears to be a trend that the cloth choice can have the difference between a spi that wears down or one that doesn't.

Other crews use silicone spis and spray the rings and use the very smooth D12 line as retrieval line. That seems to solve the problems for them. Downside, D12 is slippery in your hands as well; my dyneema has excellent grip.

Wouter