Hello,

Ok I have two balls, Storm Spit Fire and Ebonite Maxim.
At first I was playing with Ebonite Maxim, I was playing 4-5hours per week, for about 2,5-3months. And ball after this time looks very bad where fingertips are:


After these 2,5-3months I started playing with Storm Spit Fire. I also was playing a lot, 4-5hours/week. And again after ~3months my fingertips looks like that:

Spit Fire looks better but a little piece of ball is missing near ring finger fingertip

So my question, Am I throwing bad or what? Why there are so many cracks near fingertip?
When balls comes it has oil stripes near middle finger fingertip(in left side), but stripes never goes through fingertip. So from where these cracks comes?
I played only 3months with ball, so I should change 2-3 balls per year? It's veeeery expensive...

PS. What you thing can I still play with Spit Fire? I'm a little afraid if I will throw a ball on the lane and it will split to few piece

Thanks.

Depends on how often you have thrown the balls in the gutter. The area at the end of the lane by and in each gutter is usually full of things that can nick up your ball. That's what looks like happened to the SpitFire. The Maximm looks like it was drilled too fast with too dull drill bits and they got too hot resulting in the eventual cracking you see.

Either way, the SpitFire seems fine to me. Just a small nick. The Maxim may need to be drilled out, plugged and finger holes redrilled.

Erin

I agree with Erin, the Maxim needs work done to it. I've never seen a ball like that. The Spit Fire does have that chip, probably from hitting something hard, and I'm not sure if some of the other stuff I'm seeing are cracks or just scratches. A picture from a little further away like the picture of the Maxim would give a better view. I'm guessing both balls were drilled by the same person so there is the possibility of the Spit Fire developing the same problem if they did drill it slower with a sharp bit.

Well I didn't make many gutters, but sometimes ball hit hard to the corner(at the end of the line) then I throw to 7th pin. So maybe this causes that chip on SpitFire, but I don't think it can causes so many cracks like on Maxim...
Yes these balls were drilled by same person.

So basically I can play with SpitFire with no fear?

If there will be more chips on SpitFire so it can be "repaired" or it's impossible to "repair" ball with chips near fingertips?

Thanks.

YOu can repair it, or rather your Pro Shop can repair it. Both balls are repairable. I personally would not worry about the SpitFire until you have more reason for repair. That one is really not bad. And the plastic Maxim is pretty common to see such cracks. It too can be repaired but I'd just use it until you really need it repaired or get another Maxim. I know you are not in the states, but that's a pretty inexpensive ball here.

Bowlers in general have to keep in mind that you are throwing heavy object at more heavy objects. There is bound to be scratches, gauges, chips and some wear, its common.

Erin

Ok thanks. Actually now I'm playing only with SpitFire because I'm learning to hook. And Maxim stays at home
Yea Maxim is not problem, I can buy and new one, but reactive balls are expensive here. And sometimes it's cheaper to buy from eBay, even if shipping cost up to 80-100USD+customs taxes, but usually you can't choose PIN and TW then buying from eBay.

Well the Maxim or any plastic ball for that matter is great for throwing straight at spares.

are the grips sticking up on the ball.. I ran into that on one of my balls. The Pro Shop didn't get my grip flush with the ball and caused it to chip.. He of course replaced the grip when I noticed it.

Ok after few weeks we have this:



That nick is growing... I think soon I will need to go to Pro Shop to fix this ball..

And, you are waiting for....... what?

Time to go to the shop for sure. If you have a choice of pro shops I would suggest trying out another one than the original driller.

I don't want to create another thread so I'll ask here.
First of all Pro Shop fixed my Spit Fire. But now it looks same as in photo

But another thing.
I don't have videos, photos. But I painted how oil stripes goes through thumb and middle finger hole. Oil stripes always goes through thumb hole, and some times it goes through middle finger hole corner, but not much, maybe few milimeters and sometimes very near finger hole.



So can it be because of bad throwing?

When I drilled this ball driller didn't ask me about PAP, I didn't even know that PAP is. Now I understand a little bit. Itryed to throw a ball in few different ways, but it oil always goes through thumb hole, and near middle finger hole.
So can it be because if bad PAP?

Ball hooks, but still I think that oil stripes should be much more further from holes...

This is because your hand is on the side of the ball at release, and your thumb and fingers are coming out at about the same time. Keep your hand behind the ball and make sure the thumb comes out first, and your Track should move off the finger holes.

This type of Track happens when your thumb and fingers come out of the ball at the same time, try to let the thumb come out of the ball before your fingers. The easiest way to fix this is to stop bending your thumb in the hole, try to keep your thumb nail on the back of the thumb hole. If the ball feels like it is going to slip from your hand, then add enough tape to the thumb hole to where the ball stops slipping. If your thumb has so much tape in the hole that you can barely get the thumb in the hole, but it still slips, then you need to go more forward with your thumb pitch, I suggest 1/4" at a time.