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I am having a continuing problem with new hood bumpers from Steele Rubber products that are failing. The rubber is so thin that the metal slices through and chips the paint on the side of the hood when the hood is opened. See picture included here. This is a brand new rubber bumper that was not installed on the car yet but the metal is already slicing through the rubber even with gentle pressure from my finger.

I have had three sets of these fail so far and the brand new paint job on the hood is chipping as a result.

As a temporary move, I have added black tape on the edge of the hood and vaseline to keep from doing further damage to the hood paint.

I thought that maybe the spring clips that hold the hood down while it pivots might be too tight but there is no way to adjust them.

Added to this, now I have one that fails right out of the package shown here.

If I cannot get Steel Rubber to get me a good set, is there another source of rubber products that I could consider?

I would appreciate any inputs.

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Here is one that failed on the car

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I'm curious what Steele had to say when you presented them with the problem.

Several of Steele's rubber parts seem to have a similar problem. IMO, the rubber they use is too soft for many of the items. One of the forum posters confirmed with actual measurement that Steele's V8 rear axle bushings were definitely softer than the factory item. Windshield weatherstrip is another item that people have had problems with being soft and not supporting the glass well.

I believe Max now uses Steele but at one time when rubber was discussed on the forum and someone said that all the vendors sold the same Steele items, Fred Kanter replied and said his rubber was not supplied by Steele. Unless that has changed you might see if Kanter has the bumpers. They offer a full hood rubber set but I don't know if they offer individual items or who might make them.

I cast my own 47 bumpers out of fairly hard urethane rubber so if you can't find another source that might be an option too since it sounds as if you have some extra metal cores.

If you slit a piece of vacuum tubing and slip over the end of your metal plate then dip it in the liquid rubber used to coat the handles of tools you will have a bumper that offers more cushion and will last. I used this method on my taxi 19 years ago and have never had points deducted at the car shows I attended.

Steele said that my springs were too tight. But as you know, there is no way to adjust them.
The proof of the quality problem for me was the failure of the new bumper with light pressure from my finger without even installing the bumper on the car.
I am waiting for their response on the new failure of the one that has not been installed on the car.

Issue is perhaps more tear strength than hardness per se, but it looks to me that the rubber is peeling from the metal core. The metal core should have an adhesive before overmolding to get the rubber to stick. If not, the movement between them can cut the rubber. Polyurethane would work better but need not be ultra hard, it's tougher than most EPDM rubber

Way I see it, you can wait on Steele to do something or take matters in your own hands. I don't know what the durometer spec is on the originals, but you can buy different durometer. {probably >60}sheets of rubber or get scraps/samples. I'd cut to fit, remove the old rubber, and glue* on, or encapsulate as HH did. The original rubber is gone off all mine, so someday I'll face this problem and may have a better solution.
If I had to make an engineering guess, Steele probably doesn't vulcanize the rubber to the backing as they would have done back in the day. They are probably injection molding and therefore use a more flowable compound. They're just up the road from me, so next time I'm up there, I'll ask.
Reproduction is just that, not remaking original parts.
* - some of the new glues {E6000, Go2glue, liquid nails fuse it} are very good at adhering rubber to steel. Contact cement also works but you have to scrupulously clean both pieces and tooth the steel, blast or sand. I just did a test for my Cad, and found these to be good. I just don't know how long they'll last in service.
Another thing to do is get some of the clear "body guard" adhesive backed clear sheet. It's used on newer cars around the gravel guard areas. Put that on the painted side to protect the paint.