33 Comments on “Why You Shouldn’t Adjust Your Surface – #MoMonday”

  1. I always try the box finish first on a fresh drilling. Only way to collect the data you need. I usually wait until at minimum 3 league nights or 12 games before making that decision. Bought 3 radical balls this year alone, only changed the surface on 1 of them.

  2. Makes sense. My question : is there such a thing as “break in” for bowling balls? Is it related to the area where each individual ball tracks? If yes, after how many games does it form? Thanks !

    1. @Rudy Sanders Do we assume it exists or did someone show it by some test with special equipment? I remember mr.Hickland saying he threw a bowling ball 10-12 times in the gutter, and it still got lane shine. So he concluded it is created mostly by the ball coming in contact with all the machinery. Now that doesn’t exclude a track forming when the ball is on the lane….i just don’t know where this info has originated from.

      Also…if we are talking about dull balls, this break -in is irrelevant as after 3 games the dull ball has lane shined and it needs resurfacing. Si i can see this “track” that formed, only having meaning for balls that have compound or polish on them.

    2. @Jeff T I am not sure what you mean by “break in” and by “saturation”. Could you explain? I agree that if one does not wipe the oil off, it slowly accumulates in the ball. But how fast that can start to reduce performance, i do not know. Personally i wipe the ball quickly as it returns so i will probably never experience this i guess.

    3. @The Therion Lane shine and track are the same occurrence resin ball is softer than lane surface therefore lane shine plastic ball harder than lane surface therefore track

    4. @The Therion If you roll a ball on any surface, there’s going to be a gradual change in grit for both the surface of the ball and the surface thrown on, even if that surface is the gutter. Lane typography and ball surface grit changing over time proves this. But really it’s any two materials rubbing together. They just call it “lane shine” because it’s assumed that you’re throwing it on a lane.

      In regards to your second point, the track is meaningful for any ball, just in different ways. Dull balls get shinier and shiny balls get duller because they’re trending towards the grit of the surface rolled on.

      At the end of the day, it all depends on what you want the ball to “feel” like. “Break-in” is just getting the ball to the point where you can throw repeated shots that feel relatively the same so you can hopefully be more consistent and make shot adjustments more predictably.

      Edit: Also, I wouldn’t say a dull ball NEEDS to be resurfaced after it’s gotten lane shine. Sure, sometimes you want a ball to be as close to factory as possible at all times, but most people just get a ball to lane shine and use it in that state until it deteriorates past the effective range you’re aiming for. With some of my balls that’s 3 games. With others it’s 30. Depends on the coverstock and what I want from that specific ball.

    5. @Rudy Sanders About the “track” : I know that lane shine is fairly straight forward. But that is about balls shining up. What i want to know is if a new ball as it rolls for the first x games, has that area “change” compared to the rest of the ball that doesn’t touch the lane.

      About dull balls : I was saying that if we keep a ball dull, we probably want it that way. So those need resurfacing often. Which would eliminate any “track” that was formed.

  3. The title is a bit vague for the overall good message of this video. Overall I agree that changing the surface shouldn’t be done immediately and if it is changed should be in a process (500-1000-2000 type increments) for consistency.

  4. I get it, but i also feel that mo lead bowlers who like to think and use knowledge of the ball as opposed to maybe say storm, were they just don’t ask anything, know anything and use the ball that they tell them. Not knocking storm, but mo took a hugely deeper know how about stuff then other companies seem to, then even the usbc maybe, and if were gonna say now we didn’t like that aspect, that ain’t it i don’t think. Now i understand too if some of these people maybe are not knowing and scuffing the ball and YOU really think they are missinformed and don’t really understand something, then that perfectly fine and right inline with what i see from radical. I’m not a die hard life long radical person but liked what mo said and how he said and did things and so i now like radical. Just what i think.

    1. @Jose La Regina Lane shine is similar to a 4000-5000 grit surface. Your ball will “shine up” to this grit level within 2 games.

    2. Marshal craft Radical is a great company and makes very good bowling balls.With that being said Storm is still #1 in bowling and I wouldn’t knock rhem.There is a reason why people are winning with Storm roto grip and 900 Global. Just look at Michael hogan Jr and how he is bowling now!!

  5. Would there be a way to go back to the factory surface with home DIY tools? I feel what we want is always to keep things consistent the best we can.

  6. Should the ball be cleaned prior to sanding? If so with what and can we make a hone cleaner?

    1. Had to check you out after that comment. Man, where do you bowl, in the Sahara? Lol. Nice collection of balls 🎳.

  7. Completely disagree. Studies have shown that factory surface isn’t consistent. The factory is using Hauss machines and 3 pads. Is your ball the first one with a new set of pads? Or the last one before the pads get changed?

    I know if I hit a new ball with a fresh pad I can replicate that. Case in point, the February bowlers journal talks about the radical results plus. It’s a 500/1000 SiaAir and then crown factory compound. It’s scans at 4570. Not every ball will scan at that exact spot. I can use my TruCut pads and polish and get the same surface every time on a spinner.

    1. Any ball that has polish or compound is so shiny that it doesn’t matter much if they have small deviations. What you are saying IS however important for all other cases of dull balls, anything that is below 4000.

    2. Companies to it on Hauss machines? I though they had larger sheets of abrasives to do many balls faster. Are you sure they put balls one by one in those machines? (of course the fact remains that some balls deviate due to abrasive wear).

    3. @CDownes1982 Ah thanks. Ok then there are 2 variables. The main large sheets of abrasives, and the smaller last one.

  8. Phil talks about how each of the balls are built to feel a spot in the arsenal, but how???? because of the RG and Dif are different for each ball? The only way that I can see this coming into play is if a person drills every one of their balls at the same angles and pin to pap or pas distance, so no variable in the layout.. Also, what about “factory finish” if the manufacturers do not change the pad on every ball then the first and last ball will be nowhere close to the same finish. There is no such thing as a factory finish, Surface is the key to a bowlers success.

  9. there is so much to think about when becoming a consistent and accurate bowler, idk why everyone jumps the conclusion its the balls fault when a split happens. thanks to mo and phil bowling to me is much like trying to draw a perfect circle by hand twelve times in a row!

  10. I feel what you’re saying. I just hate polish lol
    The only ball I’ve intentionally maintained the polish on is the Phaze III, because it never seems to skid out, even on heavy, for me. Every other polished ball felt inconsistent on the backend (obviously attributable to a variety of things including personal inconsistency, but the game is about feel, so screw it lol). That being said, I usually don’t buy much shiny stuff to begin with. Just the Rebel, Rebel Yell, Flawless, Hydra, and the Phaze III. Everything but the P3 got taken to 4-5k w/o polish and maintained there.

  11. Common sense to the rescue… find out if something is broken before “fixing” it!
    Yes – throw it with out of the box surface and see what it does.

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