I do keep my virtual polished as whenever it is sanded, it just tames the backend reactionand becomes useless. I.    Also have resurfaced the virtual gravity and yet it still has no movement unless its polished. I feel I could just get a more predictable motion out of a new ball. I may still redrill this ball later as none of the bowling balls I own are drilled for me anymore. I have not got a new ball since my taboo spare whichnhas started to crack. But I have another question before I go on to buy a crossroad or vr solid. Everyone in the forum says the balls such as the frantic have too weak of a cover compared to the iq tour pearl's. Even though both are r2s. So how is it that a victory road has. A lightly stronger cover than the fringe? Is there something storm has said that I'm not catching.

+1 with Charlest.

As I've mentioned, the Crossroad and the Victory Road Solid have the Inverted Fe3 Core which was a high rg high diff core designed to promote backend reaction. The NOS core of the frantic is weaker than the Fe3. Thats the difference. The Solid, as Charlest has mentioned, has a solid version of the R2S, and is a really strong cover. As a matter of fact its a shade weaker than the cover on your VG, the R2X. It is well suited for oil.

The !Q Tour Pearl feature the R2S Pearl. Its weaker than the Crossroad, mine is 4/2 less than CR#1, and 7/4 than CR#2.

Of the stuff out there currently I would suggest the Victory Road Solid. As mentioned the Roto Disturbed might be a good ball also.  I will be getting one when they are released!!

2 handed,

When you're mixing coverstocks and cores, a lot of variables come into play, including the way people throw balls and the different oil patterns + lane surface on which they bowl.

Then there's the meaning of the word, "Stronger" as it applies to bowling balls. Sometimes people mean one ball has more backend than another, sometimes they mean one ball handles more oil than another.

Add in the fact that house patterns tend to hide the differences between balls and you could have people saying the Tropical Breeze is a stronger ball than the Virtual Gravity Nano.

If you could have one skilled bowler throw all these balls drilled identically on 2 or 3 port patterns, then you could more obviously see the differences between them.

Until then you have to listen carefully, look EXTREMELY carefully  and analyze what people say versus what you see to get where you need (not "want") to be.

Ok thanks for the Fact. Nice to hear a rational statement on bowling balls for a change.

Let me add something to what Charlest said and also help answer a question about why one ball with a cover hooks more than another ball with the same cover.  The thing about coverstocks, is that they start with a base and then there are additives added to the cover.  I am going to use 2 Columbia balls as an example; the Mass Eruption and the Freeze Hybrid.  If you look at their covers, they are "identical".  But what you dont know is that the Mass Eruption has more of an additive in the cover so that it will handle a higher volume of oil than the Freeze Hybrid.  Granted they have different cores.  But, that plays a part in why the Freeze is labeled as a medium to light oil ball and the Mass Eruption is labeled as a medium to heavy and they are at completely different price points. 

Another example is the Ebonite Black Ice and the Ebonite V2 solid.  One thing that led me to get the Black Ice, is I heard that the cover was "a version of the cover on the V2".  They are supposedly the same cover.  However, the cover on the Black Ice is weaker than the V2 due to the additives. 

If you want to talk about the R2S covers; lets say you take one test tube with the R2S base, and add 2 drops of an additive from a dropper, then you take another test tube with the same R2S base and add 10 drops of another additive, they are both R2S "technically".  But they will be quite different in regards to how they react.

So, there are a some examples to throw out there.  Just because 2 shelf talkers for 2 different balls advertise the same coverstock; that doesnt mean they are necessarily "exactly" the same.