I've been using Doc's Elixer on my Trauma Response from the start, and I've run up at least 400 games on the ball by now.  I left the ball in "box" condition, and I would clean the ball with Hook-It every 25-30 games, and recoat the ball with Elixer when the Hook-It evaporated off.  My league house doesn't track up balls hardly at all, so I really don't see much of anything of a wear track on my equipment (fortunately).  And, I'm bowling on heavy oil, so I typically wipe the ball off with a micro-fiber towel before every shot.

I decided that I'd continue to use the ball as is, until I started seeing a significant change in the ball reaction.  Well, in the past couple of months, I've noticed that the ball backend was getting a little bit weaker, and I was getting more skid from the ball.  So, last week, I decided that a rescuffing of the coverstock was finally in order.  I pulled out a fresh piece of green ScotchBrite (600 grit), and proceeded to do a 6-sided crosshatch scuff on the ball (with a dry pad).  After the rescuffing, I put another coating or two of Elixer on the ball, and it was back to the lanes to see if I had accomplished anything or not.

Well, I can report that the ball seems to be back up to around original condition again.  I've had to move back in deeper into the lane, and the ball definitely seems to be more aggressive again.  Evidently the 400 games or so had degraded the particle condition of the coverstock, and the rescuffing helped bring back the performance.   I would speculate that I'm getting somewhere close to the performance that I originally saw from the ball when it was new.  Based on what I've seen, I will likely start rescuffing around the 200 game mark or whenever I suspect that a rescuffing is in order, rather than waiting out to the 400 game mark as I did in this case.  Of course, I delayed the rescuffing as an experimental case, just to see how long I could go before I felt that I was definitely losing ball performance.  What really tipped me off to losing performance was the ball recovery shooting at the 6-9-10 combo....the ball was getting really sluggish at turning the corner and was skidding further.  After the rescuffing, the ball is much more aggressive at the 6-9-10 now.

Needless to say, I am very impressed at how the Elixer has helped extend the useable lifespan of this Response.  My guess is that if I had not used the Elixer from the start, I probably would have seen a permanent degradation of the ball performance somewhere around the 100 game mark due to oil absorption, based on my previous particle ball experiences.

Doc's Magic Bowling Ball Elixer definitely appears to be a product that most anyone, who plans on using a dull particle ball for an extended period, should consider.  At least in my case here, I firmly believe that the Elixer has proven to extend the useable lifespan of my ball.  As you can see, I'm sold on Doc's Elixer.

And, based on my findings with the dull particle equipment, I would also recommend the Elixer for even polished particle equipment, as well as dull or polished reactive equipment as well.  With the Elixer, it is much easier to keep the oil out of the ball in the first place than to get the oil out of the ball at a later date.

When I think back on how much lane oil that I've bled out of some of my reactive equipment over the years, it would have been so much easier to keep the oil out of the ball to start with.  Doc's Elixer offers that opportunity.  Besides, a bottle of Elixer is cheaper than a trip to the Rejuvenator (or Revivor), if you can find a Pro Shop that even has one!  And it beats the heck out of stinking up the house with baking a ball or two in the kitchen oven.