What cleaners are y’all using? I’ve been using the motiv gel stuff for about the last year, and and thoroughly unimpressed. It seems to want to get a ball clean for the most part, and I clean after almost every time I throw the ball, plus use a leather shammy before each shot, but I set my stuff out in the sun last night and oil just poured out or even my low game equipment. Even my blue vibe, which had maybe 20-30 games on it. I don’t feel like it pulls oil out of the cover stock the way it should, but just takes grime off the surface. Plus it leaves the ball feeling slimy.

I have used a few cleaners in my day, but I still go back to a few tried and true methods for cleaning oil and scuff marks off my bowling balls by hand.

For dull balls or balls with some surface, I use blue paper shop towels and a small bit of acetone to totally strip and clean the ball of any dirt, oil, and scuff marks.  I also use Clean and Dull if the balls do not need to be stripped.  Those two have worked well for me and I have not found anything that works better at deep cleaning a ball than those.  YMMV.
 
Now on to the polished equipment.  And this is where the fun begins...  I have used Alcohol, Clean and Shine, That Purple Stuff, That WoW Factor, Brunswick’s Big B ball cleaner, and other cleaners that amount to what I call “soapy water”.

Alcohol was used back in my Urethane days.  It would clean the surface but change the reaction over time.  I stopped using it a long time ago.  Clean and Shine would work well, but it would leave a haze over the ball.  I hated working hard to buff it off the balls.  Brunswick’s Big B cleaner was given to me by my pro shop owner as a gift for buying a few balls this year.  After using it a few times, I see why he just gave it away.  It’s trash.  No kidding.  It’s a surface cleaner at best and it will NOT remove anything that resembles a scuff mark by hand.

That Purple Stuff is not much better than the Big B cleaner, but it does a little better job of removing oil and some light scuff marks.  That WoW Factor is stronger than the T.P.S. cleaner, but it stinks.

As for polishes, Black Magic Polish by hand was always my reference.  However, I have recently used Brunswick Crown Factory Compound and Crown Factory Polish by hand before I purchased my new ball spinner.  They are not bad by hand, but you really need the spinner for them to be effective.  I also just purchased the CTD Tru-Cut 5500 polish, but I have not used it yet with the spinner.
   
As for the new ball spinner, I just recently purchased a ½ HP spinner from Innovative Bowling products and could not be more thrilled with the purchase.  I should have done that a long time ago.  It’s so new that I have only used it once to refresh and polish my Wreck-Em back to a factory finish.  I used the Crown Factory Polish to finish it off and it looks and feels brand new!

As for sanding pads, I like the CTD Tru-Cut pads.  They seem to last longer than the Abralon pads.  My complaint with the Abralon pads are that they are no good after a few uses.  Again, YMMV.  LOL! 
           
Hope this helps!  Peace!

Quote from: charlest on September 16, 2019, 04:09:28 PM

Quote from: kiefenstien on September 16, 2019, 02:18:32 PM

Simple Green

It leaves a film that should be removed with alcohol.

 
Yea, a convenient detail not mentioned regarding the use of Simple Green.


Even after removing the resulting crappy film with alcohol, it's not a top tier ball cleaner. I get that's it's cheap, and that's all that matters to many. So be it.

Not legal to dilute SG but a little birdy told me it works great diluted with water at home on a spinner along with white scotch brites.   Especially if used IPA lane side first.

To guy above using acetone that is not good on cover stocks long term (basically partially dissolving the urethane) and is against sanctioned rules for a reason (alters cover stock, unlike SG diluted with water). 

Quote from: Steven on September 16, 2019, 05:34:34 PM

Quote from: charlest on September 16, 2019, 04:09:28 PM

Quote from: kiefenstien on September 16, 2019, 02:18:32 PM

Simple Green

It leaves a film that should be removed with alcohol.

 
Yea, a convenient detail not mentioned regarding the use of Simple Green.


Even after removing the resulting crappy film with alcohol, it's not a top tier ball cleaner. I get that's it's cheap, and that's all that matters to many. So be it.

Not legal to dilute SG but a little birdy told me it works great diluted with water at home on a spinner along with white scotch brites.   Especially if used IPA lane side first.

To guy above using acetone that is not good on cover stocks long term (basically partially dissolving the urethane) and is against sanctioned rules for a reason (alters cover stock, unlike SG diluted with water). 

Too funny. No one cares what is legal or not when you have a an idiot like Chad Murphy driving the clown car.

I've been using the Vise Clean and Tacky ball cleaner and I would have to say it is pretty good.  Doesn't dry too quickly or take too long to dry.  Seems to clean well.

I recently bought the Pyramid/Monster gel cleaner and this is the best way I can describe it. My initial opinion on it, is it seems to work pretty well for the basic cleaning I want from it