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Author Topic: Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?  (Read 1751 times)

pjr300

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Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?
« on: February 27, 2009, 02:10:13 PM »

Just checking if anyone is seeing a decline in their Virtual Gravity so far..... is it moving toward death like an Ebo, or is it lasting  longer?
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pjr300
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VideoBallReviews

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Re: Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?
« Reply #1 on: February 27, 2009, 10:25:05 PM »
I have had no death in any of mine what so ever...every few weeks (or longer depending what im throwing) when it starts to get some lane shine on it i hit it with a fresh 4000 abralon pad by hand and its good as new!
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Edited on 2/27/2009 11:25 PM

gtkpr31

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Re: Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2009, 10:39:16 PM »
I've heard from a few people that after about 30 or 40 games it loses some of its hooking potential but after a resurface it's back to new again...so if you're having that problem just do a quick resurface and you should be good to go
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Ric Clint

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Re: Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2009, 08:39:36 AM »
quote:
Just checking if anyone is seeing a decline in their Virtual Gravity so far..... is it moving toward death like an Ebo, or is it lasting  longer?


pjr300,

Are you seeing a decline in your Virtual Gravity?



tizzle

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Re: Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2009, 11:19:36 AM »
Every 20 games I had to resurface mine, and around 35 games I had to hot water bath it. That is why I don't have it anymore. 60 games on the magic and not any decline in reaction or pop!
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pjr300

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Re: Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2009, 01:35:39 PM »
quote:

pjr300,

Are you seeing a decline in your Virtual Gravity?


I don't own one.... yet.  I just want to get off the Ebo "death cover" train. Tired of wearing out balls in 4 months.  Hopefully the Storms will last longer.




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pjr300
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greenefam

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Re: Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2009, 03:44:28 PM »
You are going to see some cover death on any modern bowling ball - period.  I know it is fashionable on these boards to bash one company or another on this issue but the plain truth is in order to make the new resins react as strong as they do these days the covers need to be porous.  The more the cover does it's job the more you will see some loss in reaction as lane conditioner and other foreign substances clog the pores.

The good news is that you can make these newer balls last longer by following some of the techniques described in this thread and a bunch of other threads.  I clean my equipment immediately after use and every 20 games or so I hit the cover with abralon.  Others swear by baths or heat treatments but I have never seen the need for that.

I current own 10 Storm balls including a Virtual, and on average I get about 2 years of use out of them - around 200-300 games depending on the ball.  Using the simple method of cleaning immediately after use and using abralon every so often I really don't see any difference in ball reaction from when I bought them.

I hope that helps.

pjr300

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Re: Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2009, 05:25:25 PM »

Does anyone have success in extending the ball's life with Doc's Elixir?


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pjr300
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toomanytenpins

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Re: Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2009, 08:41:17 AM »
not to impressed with longevity . my ball has been touched up and cleaned and just took it to 1000 and its nothing like it was when i first got it. even at 1000 it shined up after 4 games . the move was only enough to nudged out the 10 pin. the performance of this ball imh has trully decklined to a point i really dont want to use it and i have only had it 2 months

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riggs

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Re: Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2009, 09:13:25 AM »
I have three VIRTUALS and have seen virtually no decline in performance from the initial lane shine level. FYI: I DO NOT LIKE HOW MUCH THE STRONGEST BALLS HOOK OUT OF THE BOX GENERALLY. The VIRTUALS lane shine somewhat after a few games but then have kept that reaction better than anything I've thrown. I no longer own any other of my sanded nuggets, other than one SPECIAL AGENT.

My maintenance is rubbing alcohol after every time I bowl. My strongest one I took down to 1,000 Ab and keep it there with 1,000 Ab as needed. I have occasionally used 4,000 Ab on the other ones.

People reporting any drastic loss of reax might be making the surface TOO ROUGH.


Dan Belcher

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Re: Cover Longevity of the Virtual Gravity?
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2009, 09:54:55 AM »
quote:
I have three VIRTUALS and have seen virtually no decline in performance from the initial lane shine level. FYI: I DO NOT LIKE HOW MUCH THE STRONGEST BALLS HOOK OUT OF THE BOX GENERALLY. The VIRTUALS lane shine somewhat after a few games but then have kept that reaction better than anything I've thrown.
This is a good point.  No reactive resin ball is going to keep the same reaction you get the first three or four games.  That brand new, untouched surface is impossible to recreate, even if you sand the hell out of the ball, etc.  The ball is going to hook a couple boards less and be a little smoother after a dozen games, and there's nothing you can do about it.  That's just how aggressive reactive resin bowling balls work.  As long as you don't get too used to that super-aggressive fresh out of the box reaction, you'll be fine.  (Which is great for me, since I personally hate that brand-new ball reaction, I get an over/under look from any new ball until I break it in a little)