An ink jet printer includes a carriage mounted on a guide. The carriage provides a transverse movement to a printhead. The carriage includes an upper carriage component adjacent to a rear support wall of the ink jet printer and a lower carriage component mounted to the upper carriage component. A slider is disposed between the upper carriage and the rear support wall. The slider includes a rigid substrate with a hole or an eyelet forming a hole. A pin secured to the carriage engages the hole and allows the slider to rotate up to 360 degrees around the pin. The slider includes a fabric with extended fibers secured to the substrate or directly to the carriage in order to resist static charge accumulations and lower friction.