Your pads will be fine, if only time unstrung involved is the shipping time. You don't even need them, just quieter. The thing to check is the bars that hold them. If the bow was ever dry-fired, they could be bent. They can be straightened if so. I've found w/ both of mine that changing from fff to excel is 4 clicks up at 20. [2"]. Excal did get some bad pads along the line sometime ago, they cracked like dry rotted rubber. that's a fault in matl, not due to leaving unstrung. How you getting along w/ manual safety?