Preventing Cracked Bowling Balls
Scott PohlDescription
Bowling balls are an investment. They require regular maintenance and upkeep to get the maximum performance out of them. Cracked bowling balls are useless. In this free video, Scott Pohl, owner of On Track Pro Shop, explains why a bowling ball can crack and how to prevent it from happening.
Cracked Bowling Balls
Below are some factors that go into why a bowling ball cracks:
- – Environment/Climate
- – Phasing
- – Sweating
Cores and coverstocks are made to expand and contract as temperatures change. Extreme cold and extreme heat can make a bowling ball crack. Phasing is a chemical reaction that makes the bowling ball change colors as it adjusts from being cold to room temperature. Sweating is another chemical reaction that occurs when a bowling ball is removed from hot temperatures and brought into room temperature. You will see oil on the bowling ball and will need to wipe it off.
A bowling ball generally doesn’t crack because you forgot to bring it in from the trunk of your car once in a while. It cracks because of a cumulative effect from repeat behavior or improper storage.
Crack Prevention
If you bowl in an environment where it is extremely cold or hot outside, do your best to get your bowling ball back to room temperature prior to throwing any shots with it. This requires getting to the bowling center earlier to allow enough time to make this happen.
Enemy number one for bowling balls is moisture. If you are storing your bowling ball in a garage, keep the bowling ball wrapped in a towel. This helps the bowling ball avoid direct contact with moisture, keeping your bowling ball safe from cracking.
Watch more great videos from National Bowling Academy on “Bowling Ball Maintenance” and “Maximizing Your Bowling Ball’s Performance” to keep up with regular maintenance and help avoid cracked bowling balls.
Scott Pohl here with OnTrack Pro Shop, three-time USBC Open Championship winner. And we're talking about today are cracked bowling balls and how the climate affects this. So a lot of different things happen to make a bowling ball crack. Number one is the environment that you're in. For instance, I'm in the Twin Cities area in Minneapolis, we see a lot of extreme temperature, especially in the winter time. Cold weather affects bowling balls. You'll notice if you live in the cold and you take your ball out of your bag, or your vehicle you'll see that it has a discoloration. We call that a phasing effect. What's happening there is, it's a chemical reaction in the bowling ball, causing a lot of things going on. Sometimes it's even where the cores are expanding and contracting. Okay. Vice versa, let's say you live in a very warm climate. You're going to see extreme heat temperatures. And a lot of the times, you'll pull them out of your bag or out of your vehicle, You'll see that the ball is actually sweating oil out of the bowling ball. That's a chemical reaction also going on and it's extracting the oil out, with expansion of the core involved on the inside as well. So how can we stop this from happening? Number one, if you're in an environment where that happens, the best thing to do before you bowl, do as much as you can to get that ball back to a room temperature. For example, if you're in the cold, try to heat the ball up, get it by a heater, anything like that to get it back to room temperature. Get to the bowling center a little bit early, maybe get that ball to cool down if you're in a really hot temperature as well. Okay. Another thing that causes bowling balls to crack and its worst enemy, if you will, is moisture. Another big factor involved there is if you're storing them in home or in your garage, try to keep it away from moisture. Wooden objects are kind of the enemy of moisture. They're going to create a lot of that to get up in the bowling ball. I recommend putting the bowling ball on some type of a towel or a rag, so it's not in direct contact with that moisture. All right. If you have any questions, feel free to see your Pro Shop for more information.
bowling balls are cracking and they are in our lockers at bowling alley. what do I do about this?
We had like 6 Storm balls last year crack on us..we keep our ball in our living room either on the rack or in there bags.All year long...lost alot of money in balls and still don't have an answer as to why they cracked..Can you tell me...
I have only had one ball crack on me, and I am pretty rough on my equipment. First off, I live in the Flint Michigan Area, we can get as cold as -20°F and as hot as 100°F Normally the temperatures do not stay at those ranges it is a peak and it is only for a short amount of time. The things I know I do wrong, my balls live in my car, I bowl every day or every other day, so getting my balls and my sons balls out and storing them inside is nearly impractical, and I have no place to store them indoors. Secondly I extract oil on some of my balls once a month at a minimum, which heats them up to about 125°F. Oddly I have never had a ball which I have used a lot and I had to extract the oil have a problem. The only ball I had an issue with was the one ball I bought and really did not care for after I got it and I just put it in the box in the garage over the summer, it never got particularly hot last summer, but it cracked. I suspect it had to do with the high temp, moisture and the fact it was not used. The oils from the lanes I think get impregnated into the surface and probably protect it somewhat from moisture absorbing into the ball itself. Just my best guess. The Good news was I was able to get a warranty replacement ball, and I like the new one more.