I bought my Ebonite Clash about 4 months ago. I had it hooking really good a while back, then it started losing its hook. I cleaned it with some diluted simple green and the hook came back better than ever. It had a ton of backend. I continued using diluted simple green to clean it every now and then and it still started losing its hook again.

I just recently bought some Powerhouse Clean n'Dull and have been using that. I also tried the soak-in-hot-water method of cleaning it. It still doesn't have anywhere near the same hook as it used to.

Am I using the wrong stuff to clean the ball? Clean n'Dull says it will work on any ball, but do I need to use something to bring back the shine as well?

I am still a beginner and can't figure out why my ball has lost so much of its backend. This is the first ball that I have owned so I am learning as I go.

The ball is probably too dull, and rolling out early. Take it to the Pro Shop and have them refinish it - it will likely need sanded and polished.

Using Clean n'Dull on a ball with a polished factory finish is what's caused the lack of back-end. Like cgeorg said, the dull finish the ball has now is making it burn energy earlier where it is hard to see it. Have the Pro Shop take it back to the OOB finish and it should be fine.

Thanks for the feedback guys. What types of products should I use to clean the ball and preserve its finish after I get it re-finished? Is there a product I can use myself to get its polish back or do I need to get it re-finished?

Another quick question, is re-surfacing the same as re-finishing? I called the Pro Shop near me and asked if they could refinish my ball and they asked if I meant re-surface. I just want to make sure that's the same thing. Sounds like it would be.

Just get a regular cleaner, one that does not dull the ball, to use after each series. As far as keeping the polish up by hand, you can't really get the proper finish without a spinner. I would probably have the polish touched up every 20 games or so.

Resurfacing is generally a more in-depth operation. They will take a ball down to a very low grit (500, 320, 220) and sand it down to remove surface scratches, etc, then bring it back to the condition you want (usually box condition). Price around here would be 15-20 bucks. Usually only necessary when the Track of the ball is getting very worn, lots of nicks/scratches, etc.

Refinishing usually just involves "refreshing" the ball to a certain grit/polish level, and could be anywhere from free to 5 or 10 bucks.

Hmm, so refinishing is actually different than resurfacing. I think I am going to try a different Pro Shop because many times when I read info on this forum, I ask the Pro Shop about it and they look at me like I'm an idiot.

So I should get the ball re-polished after every 20 games? Interesting. I just read up on polishing a bit and I always assumed it would mean less overall hook. I was way off!

Thanks for the feedback!

Clean 'n Dull doesn't actually dull the ball. It's just a cleaner. I've used that and Simple Green and I actually like Simple Green better.

Interesting, I thought it had abrasives. Looks like I was wrong.

http://powerhousebowling.com/products/products.php#cleaners

That is interesting. Makes you wonder why they call it that. Maybe it should be Powerhouse Clean'n'Clean .

Powerhouse Clean n'

Z33tec, instead of asking to have the ball refinished, ask to have it polished, since that is the finish on the ball. Most pro shops, and bowlers in general don't call it refinished but as taking it back to OOB (out of box) condition, which for a polished balls means polishing it on a spinner with ball polish, and if its dull sanding it to the grit it was from the factory.

To polish a ball, you should first take it to an appropriate grit with abralon pads, or some other sanding surface.

I took it to a another shop today (which was alot friendlier, so I will probably go there from now on) and they are bring it back to the OOB finish.

He is doing what cgeorg mentioned in the post above. He said he was going to take off the thin contaminated (something like that, he said the top layer was very dirty because I hadn't cleaned it for a while) layer and use abralon pads then polish the surface back to what the OOB specs are.

Thanks for all the helpful feedback guys! I appreciate it.

Oh, I also got some regular cleaner called "Extreme cleaner" which they sell in little bottles for $7.99 and will refill for $5.99. It looks like simple green but has a different, stronger smell to it.

I got it since he said that the Clean n' Dull was fine to use but it will take off the polish over time. He said it's best to just go with a regular cleaner and nothing more.

Again, thanks for the help!

Simple Green is good, but I've had better success with something called LAs Totally Awesome. It gets the job done, but I still haven't compared it to the Powerhouse Energizer cleaner (I ran out) I used to get. Why spend 40 bucks on 32 oz of cleaner when I can get twice that amount with about 5 dollars?