How do you polish a plastic bowling ball?

Maybe..More then YOU wanted..Information wise..But what the Heck..Hope it helps,

Kind Regard,
S

General cleaning can be best accomplished with Windex or something similar. There is some alcohol in Windex, although not quite as bad as straight rubbing alcohol.

RR balls seem to resurface quite well. Since I have a ball spinner (as well as a complete pro shop) I can accomplish this task quite quickly. I have successfully resurfaced both Rhino's with great success both for myself and many others. Everyone has been pleased that the balls react much the same as out of the box. Depending on the wear before starting I wet sand in the spinner with 240, then 320, then 400, then 600 then some stuff a body shop buddy game me called EXTRA FINE, which I believe is around 1200 grit. Anyway, after this I use white and orange 3M rubbing and polishing compound followed by the 3M Finesse-it II Finishing Material. At this point I use a clean dry soft old washcloth and use the finnesse liberally. In the spinner the ball will get warm. Keep going until the finesse dries from this heat generated and then use another clean dry soft cotton rag or towel to "buff" the haze from the ball. If you've been diligent, your ball will shine like a mirror and react the same as out of the box (or at least out of the box and polished with Finesse for the teal).

The down side of this is that the Finesse-it does not seem to work well at speeds generated by hand and a spinner is a must in my opinion. This stuff is designed to remove swirls from the final 1500 grit sandout. That it really does. It is also not cheap (around $25.00 at professional autobody supply centers) or a rip off at around $30.00 from bowling supply houses that buy it from the auto supply centers and then mark it up to us, just like any of the other stuff that you can obtain locally if you look hard enough, such as the wet or dry sandpaper, sandscreen, scotchbrite pads and the like. The good side is that a bottle seems to go quite a way as I have had mine for a little over a year (1 qt) and it is only about 2/3 gone.

The way I see it is that if kept up (that is resurfacing every 75 games or so) most of the RR balls will continue to react pretty much just like out of the box.

E. What is "Legal" for Cleaning Bowling Balls
Steve then scribed the following in regards to teh ongoing debate about ball cleaning substance abuse… -bill

Chris Cooper at Bowling Headquarters told me today that their tests have shown that denatured alcohol DOES tend to soften up some bowling balls, thus is not permissible for use as a bowling ball cleaner. He was kind enough to fax me a copy of the official bowling ball cleaners acceptable and unacceptable list. It is below. While not on the list, he indicated that Finesse-it by 3M is an acceptable agent as it does not chemically attack the ball, but just polishes it. In fact he said that for the most part it is their cleaner of choice at the testing center at Bowling Headquarters for most any equipment. Again, everything that follows between the double lines is verbatim from the fax from ABC/WIBC Equipment Specs department, courtesy Chris Cooper. Thanks Chris!

Bowling Ball Cleaners

Commercial Ball Cleaners
Acceptable

Clean Shot – Earth Clean Systems
Maz's Ball Klean – David Mahaz
Oil B Gone – Pro-Tech Ind. Chem.
Perfect Grip – Bowling Concepts
Pro Grip – DBA Products
Protrac 19 – Richardson International Corp.
Reacta Clean – High Score Products
Reese Brothers Ball Clean
Strike It Clean – Bowl Products, Inc.
U-Clean U-Score – High Score Products
Clean Shot Reactive Ball Cleaner – Earth Clean Systems
Pro-Grip Reactive Ball Cleaner – DBA Products
Squeeky Clean – The Wax Shop
Bowling Ball Cleaner – Forrest Enterprises, Inc.

Not Acceptable
Strike Power – Veterans Products
SS-25
Varsol
Dull It – INX Corp.

General Solvents and Other Chemicals
Acceptable
Rubbing Alcohol (Isopropyl)
"Simple Green"
"Windex" window cleaner
"Armor-All"

Not Acceptable
Other Alcohols (i.e. Denatured Ethyl Alcohol, etc.)
Acetone (nail polish remover)
Kerosene, Gasoline, other fuels
Ethers, Esters and Ketone (MEK)
Most commercial solvents (Xylol, lacquer thinner, mineral spirits, chloroform, Methyl Hydrate)
"Cutex" non-acetone (nail polish remover)

As a practical matter, we recommend using rubbing alcohol to clean a ball. Our tests have shown that, even under prolonged use, it will not change the hardness of a ball. Also, it evaporates quickly, is inexpensive, readily available and cleans the ball well of oil and dirt.

Ball polishing machines are also acceptable as they merely bring the ball back to it's original condition.

If you encounter any products that are on this list as unacceptable, a warning should be issued to the bowler using the product. If a product is not on the list, obtain a sample and send it to the Equipment Specifica- tions Department for testing.
References :
http://www.tripod.com

why would you polish a plastic ball in the first place? A plastic ball is basically as polish as you can get for any ball. A plastic ball is made to travel straight down the lane. If your asking how to clean a plastic ball, then use a towel and any ball cleaner sold in your local pro-shop. I recommend Ebonite's Power House cleaner.
References :