Jim always uses Bump-Ons because he thinks they work best. He uses black ones and clear ones, but never brown.
He hasn't found a felt dot that is thick enough to serve the purpose of bumpers, which is to create a minimum 1/8" separation from the wall so air can circulate behind the frame. Felt has some initial loft, but then it compresses.
Also, most of the felt dots he has seen on frames coming in for repair or updating have moved around and left a gooey spot, presumably because the adhesive became mushy over time. Sometimes there's just a gooey spot where the felt bumper was before it fell off, and occasionally there's a small bit of the customer's wall paint stuck where the felt pad once was. As framing products, Jim thinks high-quality felt pads and high-quality masking tape are in the same category.
Ron's right -- Jim's idea was to put a small square (about 1" square) of Framer's Tape under each Bump-On. ATG might be messy and it wouldn't work. Better still, use the round spots of tape available from office supply stores.
The purpose of the tape patch is to increase the surface area of adhesion to the paper, using a material that will not rip off easily.
The Bump-Ons' adhesive is plenty strong enough to hold on a firm, integral surface, such as Framer's Tape or finished wood.
The problem is that dustcover paper has a loose-fiber surface that disintegrates easily, so the fibers stuck to the Bump-On's non-migrating, strong adhesive separate from the paper with little provocation.
Jim looked at torn-off Bump-Ons and saw the paper's fibers stuck securely to their backs, which no longer felt sticky because they were covered with paper fibers. Ah-Ha! he exclaimed.
Jim also keeps in mind that Bump-Ons have a pressure-sensitive adhesive, so he bumps his Bump-Ons to activate the adhesive to the tape.