You can get this product here ctdbowling.com/products/the-clear-basic-package?variant=29205186773090

Reading the comments here it seems to me that too many people are quick to jump on this fellow. For almost as long as reactive balls have been around, there have been 'restoration' products and people have debated their usefulness. Ebonite introduced one of the first products that required the entire ball to be encased and I believe the product looked like wood chips/shavings. People also put their bowling balls into ovens to bleed the oil out of them both at home and using specialized equipment or filled a box with cat litter to try and draw out the oil. I ran a pro shop in a 74 lane house for years and in that time I was never able to conclude whether any of these things were effective but I never criticized anything I didn't feel was harmful or fraudulent. Ronald Hickland seems to me like a man who loves the game and enthusiastically posts videos for people to enjoy, so what's the problem? If you don't agree with his opinions- fine, don't use his advice. But there's no need to go beyond a polite, respectful dissenting opinion.

I dont bowl, have my own ball or shoes, yet I know how to renew a ball. The deep paths of KZfaq

Nice job!! Thanks for the information!!

I recently started bowling again and have a Brunswick ball I received as a gift in 1978. The ball certification with the date was still in the bag. I've been looking at ways to clean the ball and appreciate your video.

Great video brother and love the amount of pride you take. Found some bowling balls at the thrift store and was curious about how to bring them back.

The first ball looks like it may have crossed and could have hung a little on crossing back into the oil at the 5 board which makes the initial throw a touch sketch. If the video gets remade I'd like to see a handful of throws on the before and after.

I think it's a cool thing to know....especially the science part. Seeing there was an hour in between shots....it looks like the 2nd shot had more loft and rotation on it. Would love to see it in our shop. We have some of your products. And I support you %100 Ron.

Informative. Thank you. It's been years since I've competed. Maybe I'll give mine new life and get out there.

@RonaldHickland how much of the performance improvement was due to “The Clear”, and how much was from re-finishing the ball to 2000 grit?

This video was awesome!! So great to see and learn, thanks! =) I may both do myself or go to my pro shop even more often now, thanks!

The last time I bowled was in the 70's. Like everything else, times change. We used to have this machine, sort of looked like a washing machine with a clear window. You would put in 50 cents (Hey, a pack of cigarettes cost 50 cents), and it would spin the ball for 5 minutes, and out would come a clean ball. Getting off all the oil from the lanes. Nice job on the video.

Yeah 150$ is too steep just to rejuvenate an old ball. I’d rather spend the little extra and get a brand new one.

Things have changed so much over the years... My era was JP LT48 or the red Columbia 300....Yeah, I know, I'm old...thanks for the video..

The kit should include 3 plugs for the holes.

WOW! I am impressed with how consistent that shot was and the difference it made. Good job on this video!

very cool product! I learned something new!

First person to modify the surface of a bowling ball was pro bowler Don McCune back in the early 70's.. He came up with the "soaker" which, if I can remember, was soaking a bowling ball in ethyl methyl ketone.. He won a lot of titles one year having the advantage of a ball that hooked more and delivered more power... They outlawed the practice because it was very flammable and dangerous... Just a little useless trivia....

This vid was sent to me by a friend. Reading through comments, it's crazy to see how many people question the product knowledge of one of Ebonite's previous key ball designers (I'm guessing they don't know that). I bet if the products were free, the skepticism would be less. I get the whole "well, I can just do XYZ at home", but even though the immediate result may be similar, we don't know the potential long-term effect. Consumer choice to buy a product or not, but if choosing not to, great - move on. Haven't had a chance to try the products yet - I just don't know where to start. Keep up the good work with keeping bowling great!

You are the best man!

Please dont listen to these people. I can already tell half of them are divorced and the other half only have one friend... the bartender that doesn’t reciprocate. Keep doing what you are doing I didn’t realize in the bowling niche there were so many professionals... Ill be watching the tour on espn looking for some of the commenters on this video

Another way to clean your ball is heat it up outside (if it’s hot) or you can bake it in the oven. This makes the oil in the ball come out and you can get more hook from your ball. Hope this helped!

Very nice

They've legalized soaking? Somebody call Don McCune!

Believe it or not, you can bake your ball in your trunk in the summer. I did this accidentally by leaving my ball in the trunk in 90-degree heat. When I pulled my ball out of the bag, oil was dripping everywhere. Luckily, I had a towel under my ball that absorbed most of the oil. This is a great video on how to really clean the pores of a bowling ball. Although, the cost of the clear is a bit expensive right now. Thanks for posting.

This is helpful for discontinued bowling balls that they don’t make anymore

“Phazing looks alot better”. Realizes it looks the exact same and turns ball over. Yeah okay makes sense

Crediting "the clear" for performance improvement yet ignores the fact one ball was shined...the other dull. Of course you will see more performance. " this eliminate phasing" ...didn't eliminate the phasing at all. Lol

Anyone else here ever put their bowling balls in the oven on real low heat for 15 minutes? Pull it out clean all the oil off. Rinse/Repeat? Always worked great getting all the absorbed oil out of the balls and makes your house smell like an ally

What a great video

Could you do a comparison video of that ball with the clear with no resurfacing vs a resurfacing? How much of that gained hook is just from adding surface to a lane shined ball?

Ronald what was the surface on ball before you started and when you ended...I'm surprised you didn't show that with your little grit counter🤔🤔

I use dish soap and hot water...works the same and is much cheaper

Awesome work like always! Question will this procedure replace the oil extractor machine oven thing at pro shops? Meaning is this it's intended purpose?

Kinda thinking it would do about the same thing from 1st shot to 2nd shot with the sanding alone.

I can tell you that resurfacing a bowling ball is effective. When resurfacing doesn't restore a ball's reaction, baking the oil out of the ball is a surefire way to restore it.

Ronald I love your videos it's been a long time since I step foot in a bowling Alley I have A couple ball that need TLC one in particular is a old Manhattan Rubber ball 16.8 or less It was my fathers ball then I got it the ball it now 50 years old the ball has a lot of nick and some deep gouges in it I was thinking of getting it re surfaced so I could use it again I had a mean hook averaging 232 - 242 more or less any suggestions.

Hey Ronald, you should really consider selling those Products international, i would love to have some of that Clear, and True Cut pads in Germany.

Here watch this video as well. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l7B0gqdh1pvXdYk.html

I’m two years late to this video but good lord the amount of ignorance in this comment section is off the charts. I’m very happy to be an educated member of #teamCTD

It would have been nice to observe the difference between the sanded ball (no soaking) and the original.

Great Educational Video Ronald....Thanks

Could start with green 3m household scrubber then used auto grade wet dry sand paper in above mentioned grit. $13. Clean with lighter fluid and buff with auto polish. Less than $30. I used to do this at a pro shop in the 80's as a 12 yr old kid. I had a ball spinner in the shop which made the process quicker. Never got any complaints.

hey i know this vidoe is old but if you took my suggesten that would be great! im new to bowling so i was wondering if you could do a video on how to get better on splits

I don't bowl,and still enjoyed this.

Hi, this is Rome. Can I have my ball back now?

Wow

Mr.Hickland I have an old bowling ball it's a Columbia 300 Karma but it has a crack down the middle i was wondering if I could fix it of if not how to properly discard it?

Damn that looks like Burr Oak Bowl before they remodeled it. Love this alley

The ball got agressive because it was pre sanded and stripped off of polish and oil residue. Lacquer thinner could've done this a lot faster with a much, much stronger ball reaction, without pre sanding if this is all that this chemical can do which looks pretty expensive.

Hey Ron if all steps are followed correctly how often should this be used to clean a bowling ball?

I saw how this product was able to stay clean after the ball was worked on how long can it be reused if all the proper steps are followed? I have a 4 ball arsenal 3 high performance and 1 polyester for spares

The first shot hit the half board/ end board while the second hit was way more in maybe 3-5 boards, and I saw no change in what you called Phazing. The avalon pads probably did everything and those are cheap.

Sweating an old used bowling ball in the sun for max five minutes for about 10 times draws most of the absorbed oil by the ball starts to come out, wipe the oil every time after sweating it and repeat the process about 10 times and make sure you don't leave the ball for too long in the sun as it might crack the ball and let the ball cool down before repeating the process again then finally you can put the ball with the thumb hole facing down and wash it with liquid soap to remove the oil and dirt and let it cool down and then finally wipe it clean and dry, this method also helps in removing excess oil absorbed by the ball over a period of time and gives you better reactive action on the lane.

I think my “newest” ball is 11 years old. Brunswick C-System 3.5. It’s still a scorer on the right conditions.

To all the naysayers, if you’re me , you’re still trying to duplicate your old X factor Ace! And can’t! It’s a crapshoot often times , getting a new ball drilled up , hoping it reacts right to your game... The only thing keeping me from doing it , is the Ace has already been resurfaced too many times and is 16 lbs. I throw 15 now . But the concept is good !

This is timely

Lol so he did all that cleaning and the ball and pins just stayed there for him the whole time. The second time he threw it just clearly had more rev

I wonder if you bake it first then the clear protocol would be even more performance.

I have the scuff remover/cleaner but It still doesn't hook as much as it used to. Any advice on that?

After all that work why not immediately polish the ball then bowl with it? Also i did I assumed resurfacing involved resin. The alley I bowl at the machine keeps leaving deep scratches all over my ball how would this product help wi th that issue?

With the Tru Cut pads, if I were to use them on a spinner along with water, will I still see significant longevity in the pads?

Why am I just now seeing this? I think I remember you from burr oak bowling alley🤔

170 $ for The Clear Complete Package Ball Restoration.... Then I´d rather spend 30$ more for a new on ahahahah

Also, it is pricy , as are most products for bowling . I personally use the Dawn bath ( watch the phazing!) but temperatures are hard to control and people say ball will die quicker next time around...uniform heating and cooling and all that about the plastisizer, etc. I have had balls crack , is it due to separation of core and stock due to uneven heating ? Don’t know , but it does make a difference in performance short term. A lot of work , doing all this , if it were more reasonably priced , it’s a hit ! Until then , maybe the Dawn every few weeks. And BTW, I have a ball rejuvenator , never get oil out like that , not me , anyways ...

How often can the clear be reused?

What if you don't have a thumb hole do you still stick where the thumb hole would be up when sticking it in the clear?

Maybe if you use those fine strainers they use to pour car paint. You could filter your clear through that for reuse

Can adding380 grit to a symmetric ball, change it to an asymetric ball motion

Ok so I’m new to bowling. Used to go maybe once a year. Just got my father in laws ball out of the garage and found that it has a crack starting at one finger hole and goes completely around to the other finger hole. We would like to try to restore it of at all possible

I know this is an old video. I'm just wondering are we saying that the gallon of fluid was absorbing through the surface of the ball and getting the oil to come to the surface and get released from inside the ball? So in essence, this is a different way to replace baking the oil out? Or is this more like detoxifying?

Sanding alone made the ball hook, without using any chemicals. When I sand my ball not using any comicals it reacts the same way.

My ball seems to be a tad white in certain spots after resurfacing do you know what i could i do avoid this if i resurface it again

I would have liked to seen the ball cleaned and resurfaced then thrown then due the clear and compare the three. as you have stated surface is everything. that way you can see the difference of each step

P.S. I have bowling league play for over 40yrs. Seen all the products come and go.

what the hell....you re throwing 2 shots and you think you did it like a bot with same speed, revs,tilt and rotation? if you throw it like a bot it would even hook ealier simply because on that same spot oil is gone from the shot before. if you dont hit it that accurate how do you wanna compare? specto shows very good that even the best pros dont throw it on the same spot and you wanna sell a bucket to improve a "used" ball? really? that hook comes from the (new) 2000 grit surface...thats it. rest is only inaccuracy. until this video it was nice to watch your videos....

How do you get the ball shiny again?

Don McCune was so far ahead of his time... He changed bowling long before Mark Roth with a 5 gallon pail of C4H8O in his basement in Indiana. Don't everyone start in on me... I KNOW this is different from several aspects... but the part about soaking a bowling ball in a liquid to make it hook more is the same.

When is an optimal time to use this product on a ball? Once a year? Once every 2 years? Every 6 months? As I’m new to bowling, I don’t know how long it takes for a ball to go bad.

Should’ve drilled a new one with the same layout and everything to show the comparison between a fresh new cover compared to an old cover, too resurfaced/de oiled

Dull makes to hook earlier giving the impression its hooking more....

How many balls wil one jug of clear do and how often should you do these processes

What bowling alley uses donated house balls??

So the fact that the ball was still wet (and there was probably liquid still in the finger holes) has nothing to do with the weight being higher right?

what kind of liquid for dipping the ball ?

Any reason you can't just flip over the absorption pad and use the other side?

How do I use The Clear on polished bowling balls?

My pro shop will "rejuvenate" (resurface, water bath) my ball for $20. It works...How is this any better?

What would a pro shop charge to do this?

So just a quick question. Other than the trash, is there a way to recycle balls other than just donating them?

What is this for bowling ball dip

For $109 you get quite a few items that's listed on the website

i repaired mine with jb weld, big chips around the thumb hole, i filled, sanded and i still cant bowl...

Where can I get these products sir

How do you know what pad to use?

My experience with all types of restoration, is that whatever recovery you get is limited and only works for a short period of time.

What determines if a ball is left or right handed?

What if we are a two hander with only finger holes? Do we leave the finger holes up or does it not matter?

I think the Sham Wow guy would have made a better pitch.

He did say that stuff is reusable, so you can maintain multiple ball too.