Does a ball lose its hook?

[Ratt_bowling]

I had about seven weeks straight of having everything figured out and the bowling was relaxed and comfortable.  Now for about a week and a half nothing is working the same.  It almost seems like the ball has stopped hooking like it used to.  It had about a 100 games on it when this seems to have occurred.   

[tommyboy74]

Sounds like it's time for a resurfacing and/or having the oil extracted.

[BallReviews-Removed0385]

+1 to tommyboy74

These balls require some routine maintenance, and typically way before the 100 game mark.  For me, I'm doing an oil extraction every 60 games or so, and a light resurfacing every 30 - 40 games on average.  Your experience may vary somewhat, depending on your lane conditions and cleaning schedule.

[kidlost2000]

What ball or balls is it that have stopped hooking?

[Ratt_bowling]

I have Hammer Amp.  I have taken it to the shop every 30-40 games and after inspecting the ball each time they said a resurface wasn't necessary yet.  So I had them sand it and clean it both times.  I use EBI Power House Power Wash after every session and sometimes within a session too if I bowl several games. 

[kidlost2000]

May be due for having the oil baked out likely.

Just to double check, they said it wasn't due to be resurfaced but you had it done anyway?

If it has been resurfaced a few times I would say it is ready for oil extraction for sure. With box finish being 500/1000 it will  absorb some oil considering the performance line it is in.

[Ratt_bowling]

A resurface cost $30 and they stick it in a machine for 30 minutes or so to work out the knicks and scratches.  He advised I should wait until just before the next league season begins to do it.  For $5 he set it on a ball spinner and ran 1000 abralon all over and re-applied Clean and Sheen.

[Impending Doom]

At 1000, oil extraction for sure. That's very porous and if you're using it on the right conditions, its going to be oil logged. If they have a revivor/rejuvenator in the shop, get that done. If not, a bucket of hot water and some Dawn are in your future.

[kidlost2000]

Also after being used for several games and then being touched up with 1000 grit of few times you lose the underlying heavier grit of the 500.

I always prefer having the finish of 360/1000 or 500/1000 or 500/2000 ect ect for different bowling balls and reactions. The underlying surface is also very important to the balls reaction.

[Dave81644]

Could it be that the shot is a little different and the ball is using up all its energy in the front part of the lane?
What i mean is, if there is less oil than normal, the ball will roll early and not hook down the lane because it has used up all of its energy
it will appear that it wont hook anymore if this is the case

[cav]

Mine stopped hooking when they doubled the amount of oil conditioner on the lanes.

[MI 2 AZ]

Mine stopped hooking when they doubled the amount of oil conditioner on the lanes.

That sounds like a different oil pattern that may require playing a different line or ball.
But I have also had trouble hooking the ball when there was no oil on the lane so a lot of times it comes down to matching up the ball with the bowler with the pattern.  Not all balls will work on every pattern.

[coco3085]

Did the weather change?

[LuckyLefty]

I think many great posts and comments above.

I have very seldom have balls lose much reaction.  The times that I have I have sometimes welcomed it! 

Brunswick in some of their materials has a great coverage of this issue.  Not quoting but the paraphrase is, be careful if bowling on a wet/dry in rejuvenating a ball!  It will often then overreact and produce undesirable results.

I have on some jumpy sport conditions very much enjoyed balls that did not have quite enough hit on league shots.

On the other hand I have desired powerful fresher coverstocks on carry down.  Many of my pearlier Storm balls have often continued to almost seem immune to carrydown except for a small move wider on super backend slop.

In attending a recent seminar it was revealed that often the real culprit is dirt.  In addition it was stated that using a treatment like Adrenaline wipes takes out both the dirt and the oil gets and allows reabsorption to resume and reaction to be restored.

Two quick stories:

1.  A friend of mine was using a ball over 10 years old (a Ti Boss Pearl on a severe)  wet/dry.  He was tearing it up,  Tugging it held and pushing it out to the severe dry held also where most others crossed over with their newer stuff.  700s were raining down weekly and then all of a sudden a great 83X.  His Dad rushed out and got him a new Storm Pearl Assymetric.  The 450s rained down weekly for a few weeks and out came the Ti Boss Pearl.

2.  In our league they finally decided to strip the backends, oh my.  From 8 to 9 at the arrows with pin up balls the solution now became to move in to 15 even on the left and even pin down balls were making easy to square up to the pocket with a ton of swing.  One would have thought all my pin up balls for carrydown looked like over under/duds with no reaction.  Yet the pin down solids now looked sensational.  If only they had a good operator that night!

Regards,

Luckylefty
PS I have had some balls left in a very hot cold storage bin lose some reaction and weight over a few years. (Up to 1/2 of a pound) I believe the extreme heat in some un temperature controlled storage bins leads to leaching or bleeding out of some of the resin in the balls.

[Ratt_bowling]

When i had posted this i did go have the ball rejuvenated and resurfaced.  That certainly fixed things then.  Now i have put another 150 games on with no loss of hook.  Perhaps it is the Clean and Dull and Remedy Rx cleaners that is keeping going this time. 

I have also seen that center oil the lanes and not had that problem right after, so maybe their lane machine was dumping for a few weeks and I wasn't wise enough to suspect that.