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What should I use to clean a bowling ball?

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jtlawson20 asked:


I have my friend’s bowling ball and I would like to clean it because it has lost its hook. It is a Shark made by Elite with a particle coverstock. I don’t want to mess the ball up using the wrong cleaner.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 1:01 pm and is filed under Other - Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “What should I use to clean a bowling ball?”

  1. nas88caror 300 Says:
    May 2nd, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    one of 2 ways buy a cleaner from any bowling alley most of them carry cleaners for those balls
    also what works good is cover the holes of the ball
    and put in your kitchen sink and use DAWN liquid dish soap and let it soak for about 30 – 45 minutes
    and then take it out dry it off..i have done this numerous times.just make sure you cover the holes with duct tape works the best

  2. The Answerer Says:
    May 5th, 2008 at 2:10 am

    Don’t use hot water because that can damage ur coverstock, i would recommend using laundry starch because it wont create any friction on the coverstock and just slides off, if u want u can also use rubbing alcohol just dont use bowling alley cleaners they suck

  3. DJSMesser Says:
    May 8th, 2008 at 1:07 am

    As I’ve encountered, most companies that make the bowling balls, in this case Elite, also make cleaners for their products. The only drawback to matching the manufacturer’s cleaners to their bowling balls is that the cleaners get a little pricey. If price is of no concern, then I would recommend going this route to ensure the right cleaner for your particular cover stock. There are companies like Neo-tac that offer a good medium grade cleaner like “Liquid Sandpaper” and restorers like “Hook It” for a wide variety of cover stocks.
    If you are on a budget like most of us are, good ol’ fashioned rubbing alcohol is an alternative. As mentioned by another, I’ve heard that using Dawn liquid detergent works well, but I personally have not tried this. Hope this helps! Good luck!

  4. mclevine Says:
    October 20th, 2008 at 8:44 am

    Most of the company-made cleaners are just fine, personally I’ve found Powerhouse’s Power Wash to be an effective cleaner that leaves the ball tacky. Clean n Dull also works great, but will take a bit of shine off of a polished ball. Alcohol can soften the coverstock of a ball, and should be avoided if possible.

  5. The Dude Says:
    February 8th, 2009 at 11:46 pm

    obviously alot of time has passed since this question but hey. If you have an old ball u want to help get some hook back or even a new ball u want to maintain. As mentioned Water and Dawn works wonders.
    U should develope a maintenance plan, as lame as that sounds…lol Wipe the ball during games and clean it with a cleaner you can buy specifically from pro shops or online (match it with ur coverstock type), do this after ur bowling session.
    Now the water and dawn thing is a monthly thing, Use Hot water(important) and dawn allow an hour or so in room temp to dry. Heat is ok not oven heat but water will heat evenly and boils at 100 degrees so u should be fine. Somw balls will soak up a little water but that is expected and thats why it should have time to dry.
    To rejuvenate old balls The (hot) water and dawn thing might have to be repaeted a few times but…..here comes the hook again! And as prev mentioned tape up the finger holes, glue holds those things in guys!

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