I'm a Mac guy, I'm a L-Pad guy.. simple.. They CAN be a problem usually from NOT using it. I move L-Pads once a month on the gear I'm using.
I lube L-pads on stored gear pretty good along with silicone treatment for the foams, before I decommission gear.
A cotton swab of peppermint oil goes a long ways too. Rats hate peppermint oil. I hate rats, squirrels, mice, moles, hamsters, gerbils, minks, ferrets, weasels, or nutria NEAR my gear.. Peppermint oil, no critters. I'm happy, they are too..
The reason for the little story, a buddy had a rat in a pretty expensive speaker that was stored.. The passive radiator on the bottom was blown out and it was stored in his garage, we couldn't figure out WHY the L-Pads (BOTH) quit working on one speaker.. That's right! They chewed pissed and crapped on EVERYTHING. I fixed it for him VMPS RM40s.
LOL I was gonna buy them, I wound up selling a pair of mine to him..
I forgot about those.. GREAT speakers..RM40s
Regards