I have a winterhoff (like alko) hitch stabilizer and did not remove the coating from a new towball so on the advice of members of this forum I gave the pads and the towball a light sanding with 120 grade emery cloth. This got me thinking though about other contamination. When I take my van in for a service they use a small tractor to move the vans around but what would happen if the previous van it moved had a bulldog type stabilizer and a greasy towball - presumably my pads would become contaminated with the grease?? Similar situation with site storage where the owner drags them out of storage ahead of your visit. Does anyone else worry about reduced stabilizer performance or am just being paranoid?