All the ideas sound good. Well here is one more. If you can find a heavy duty truck inner tube, it will work great. The inner tube is about 1/8" thick and should last a long time. If rust is a issue, then I would paint the metal contact points with Por 15 Rust Preventive paint before installing any pad. I made my own pads, they are 2 3/4" long X 1 1/2" wide.
