I am a Storm user. I had an X Factor that had over 500 games on it before I gave it away to a friend of mine. Mind you, there was nothing wrong with it, he was just getting back into bowling after a long lay off and I told him I had a lot of balls and I gave him that one. Plus I had just bought another one waiting for that one to die. I have used my X Factor for two leagues for a full season and that accounts for over 100 games. Sttill has the same hit as the day I bought it.
Like has been stated before, keep your balls clean. I wipe off the oil before every shot. I also clean the balls every week. With my X Factor, I don't even know where the oil goes. It comes back clean after almost every shot. Supposedly the oil doesn't get soaked into the X Factor coverstock.
That being said, I have never had a bowling ball die on me. I also have a Blazing Inferno and the coverstock on the Inferno is very durable. Very little wear and tear.
It is true that pearlized balls seem to hold up better than particle balls. Particle balls are supposed to soak up the oil. The harder shell of the pearlized balls seems to help make the ball more durable. How a bowling ball reacts after soaking up a lot of oil, the opinions differ on that. Ebonite had an extensive study on just that subject and said that a bowling ball soaking up oil has no effect on a bowling balls reaction. You should go to the Ebonite website if you want to check that out.
The coverstocks of todays bowling balls have gotten better. Storm has the Monsoon coverstock. Brunswick has the Activator coverstock. I think it's Dyno-Thane that has the Soaker coverstock.
Like Mary said, a good Pro Shop guy will tell you what's up.

Again, "Ace, I just heard that Storm balls don't last as long as other brands. But, that's what I heard - it really doesn't mean anything!"

As Mary Allen and Smooth Stroker mentioned, a good Pro Shop operator will be able to be your bowling doctor!

Strikesbemw, no hard feelings..just trying to ask around and get different bowlers opinions...so as to get more knowledge.
We over here aren't as lucky as your side. Most Pro Shop operators here aren't as pro as those over your side. Most of the time we are the one who tell them what we want and what we want them to do and they seldom want to suggest. Sign

Maybe bowling here aren't as popular as it is in States..

Smooth Stroker,

I have a question. Right now, I use two balls together - one is Brunswick raging inferno and the other is Storm vertigo. the lane I play is heavy-oil. after practicing a couple of games, the inferno got oily as compared to vertigo. even I tried to wipe out the oil, the raging is still skippy. this won't happen to vertigo. any reason for that?

I guess, may be wrong, the raging soaks oil much faster the vertigo so that after a while it can't soak any more oil and therefore the oil has to remain on its surface.

It's possible the vertigo is more porous and therefore soaks in the excess oil while the inferno holds more of it on the surface. Or it's possible the inferno is "full" and can't absorb any more. When was the last time it had a good cleaning?

Squirrel,

I bought these two balls at the same time a month ago and I use particle polish to clean up them every time I finished.

I'll chime in since this is something I am going through as we speak.

I have a Columbia Blue Pulse which I have used for the 2003/2004 fall leageue season, a 2004 summer league, as well as the 2004/2005 season. Both fall seasons consisted of two leagues.

My ball began to lose it's backend about 5 weeks ago. At first I thought the lane conditions had changed (more oil), but all of my teammates were still using their same ball and same path to the pocket. So, this lead me to believe it was my ball's reaction that had changed.

Since this ball is discontinued, I cannot simply replace it. I have liked the results so far, so anything I can do to keep the ball is a plus. I wipe it down after every shot and clean it before league each week with ball cleaner.

I took my ball to be resurfaced last week and I will be picking it up today for use in my league tonight. I am excited to see if the backend comes back so I can return to where I am more comfortable throwing the ball, rather than down and in. I'll post agian tomorrow with the outcome.

Raynger27,

I have similar problem with my Columbia wicked. even after I have my Pro Shop resurfaced it, the wicked still can't perform as good as before.

Well, mixed results for me with my resurfaced ball.

I currently carry a 182 average. I bowled a 607, which could have been much better had I not chopped three easy spares or thrown splits to break up a string of strikes. My ball reaction on the backend was somewhat improved, but not like "new" condition. Overall, I was happy with the improvements, though they still fell a little short of expectations. I want to give it a few more weeks to make a true judgement.

Jusy my two cents.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">Originally posted by maf_south:
Squirrel,

I bought these two balls at the same time a month ago and I use particle polish to clean up them every time I finished. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">Sounds like the vertigo is more porous and soaking in the oil instead of leaving it on the surface. Kind of like comparing my strike and spare ball. I find if I don't wipe my strike ball regularly, the oil soaks into it, but it just sits on the surface of my spare ball.