The rubber coated steel is the same thing I'm running at the time. I went to them to set my deck height where I wanted it. The foam rubber coated aluminum ones they sell that are the same as what kawi now uses have a compressed thickness of 0.12". I agree that the ones that kawi have made for them work great but they are not a development of kawi, rather a development of the people who make the materials for making gaskets. These materials were used in other applications long before kawi started using them. It was companies like cometic who saw the benefit of these sweet new materials and started producing motorcycle gaskets out of them. Their are a few of us here who can't buy gaskets from kawi do to the nature of our engine building ideas so we have to be well educated on what gaskets work, who to get them from, and who will make you whatever you want. Cometic makes crap ass paper gaskets too, It's all about how much $$$ you want to spend.