ouch! that sounds harsh! i'm not using very stiff springs on my setup, ITR inners and outers with ITR retainers for my CTR cams, those retainers are aluminum, but the springs are not that stiff, so i shouldn't have a problem. but, if you are upgrading the springs to something much stiffer, definatley get Ti retainers, why do you think every single company that suggests/sells springs and retainers only have Ti retainers?