For example, the dreaded 8-track tar , a horrible mess which fills your player with goo, is caused by decaying rubber pinch rollers. Check pinch rollers carefully before you casually stick unfamiliar tapes into your player. If your thumbnail leaves an indentation which doesn't spring back in a black rubber pinch roller, the roller is probably no good.
Most serious trackers have a number of extra cartridges around to use for parts.
Plastic pinch rollers can cause quite different but equally troubling problems. One of the very most common difficulties which 8-trackers encounter is crosstalk, or sound bleeding between programs. The tracks are so thin and are so close together that the slightest incorrect contact between tape and playing head causes this. There is no question, however, that tape slipping sideways on a plastic pinch roller can greatly exacerbate the problem. A plastic pinch roller simply cannot grip tape and keep it on its path the way a rubber roller can.