Nice job, Brandon.  Although I haven't needed to change surface on the Brute, I did add some gloss to the Intellect since I play little closer to friction than you, and it became something that will be hard to put down. 

Frankly, the three summer releases and these two have me at quite the quandary as to which to use on any given night... eeny, meeny, miney, mo is usually the deciding factor!

spencerwatts,

Yes, just make sure you're going the right direction with the changes.  If you're seeing lots of oil the ball would be great around the 2000 grit area, but many people assume they need to ADD surface when in actuality they need a touch of shine to create the faster response time to friction late on the lane.  It depends on how deep you're playing and whether or not you're seeing adequate skid from lane oil, or if you play farther right (like me) the shine helps.

I don't have a rev rate of 450, so my changes would not necessarily be the same as for Brandon, in addition to the various lane surfaces and oil volumes we see.  My "A" game would be something closer to Robin Orlikowski's (with just a few more revs) except that she does it better.  It's fun to watch various styles have success with the same ball.  Once again, the guys at Brunswick are doing a marvelous job with that.

dougb, Thank you.

The Brute goes longer with a stronger motion when reaching the friction. The LT-48 isn't as hard off the spot.