If you own a bowling ball and you want to keep it in the best shape possible for playing, you will want to clean it when it gets too oily. While there are numerous ways to clean your bowling ball, not all of them will clean your bowling ball as well as you want them to. But what about the product Simple Green?
Though the cleaner was not made specifically for cleaning bowling balls, Simple Green can be used to clean them, and does so very well. In fact, a cleaning cocktail with Simple Green is used by many people in the bowling community to clean their bowling balls.
Simple Green is also a cheaper alternative to cleaning your ball, as the product can be found in many pharmacies, supercenters, and even online at Amazon. You won’t have to take your ball in to a professional, or use expensive cleaning agents to make sure the ball gets cleaned.
What’s Simple Green?
Simple Green is a powerful all-purpose cleaner, that’s environmentally safer to use due to it’s biodegradable formula. It’s perfect for removing dirt, grease, and stains from anything including counters, carpet, equipment, and more. No matter what you need to clean, Simple Green will be a helpful tool to get the job done.
Due to its powerful ingredients, it’s recommended to dilute the solution before using on any surface, and it should never be used on suede, leather, unfinished wood, opals, or pearls. The dilution can be at your discretion, but the company themselves recommends no more than a 1:1 dilution, meaning you should never allow it to be the more prominent ingredient in your solutions.
It also comes in two additional scents, lemon and lavender, to fit your home’s preferred smell, if you don’t like the unscented/standard version. The ingredients it’s made with do have a scent to them, and might be found to be too overpowering, but this can be masked with either of the other cleaner scents.
To check the current price and availability of Simple Green All Purpose Cleaner, click here to view it on Amazon.
Why Is Simple Green Good For Cleaning Bowling Balls?
The main reason you will want to clean your bowling ball is to get the oils out of it. The oils in bowling balls are be accrued from your hands, or the bowling alley itself, as the lanes are oiled well to allow for the balls to glide down them easily.
This makes Simple Green ideal for cleaning your bowling balls, because one of its primary purposes is to degrease all sorts of different materials. It will work on extracting the oils from the ball, turning it back to store-bought quality, and the residue wiped off with a paper towel can be thrown in the compost.
The outside of bowling balls, where the oils will get stuck, is made of plastic, urethane, reactive resin or proactive, so Simple Green will work well with it, and will not corrode or damage it.
Is Using Simple Green Better Than Other Cleaning Methods?
While there are many ways to clean your bowling ball, Simple Green is one of the simplest ways to clean it. It’s sustainable due to its biodegradability, it’s not a complicated process to clean the ball, and it’s not going to damage it.
Another recommended way to clear your ball of oil is to “bake” it, in a sink or tub of hot water. This process involves using hot water, usually up to the max temperature your home faucets can go, to extract the oils. This practice works well, but if the water is too hot, your bowling ball could crack.
If you want to have your bowling ball “baked,” it is recommended to go to a professional cleaners’, to make sure the cracking doesn’t happen. When using Simple Green to clean your ball, you won’t have to take your ball in to a professional to clean it, which makes it not only a simpler, safer way to clean your ball, but a cheaper way to do so as well.
We recommend using Lane Ghost Bowling Ball Cleaner. It is USBC approved, and does a great job at cleaning and removing oil, scuff, and belt marks.
How to Clean a Bowling Ball With Simple Green
To clean a bowling ball with Simple Green, you will need to make sure you have a couple things handy; the solution to your preferred dilution, and a paper towel or cloth to wipe down the ball afterwards.
Start with a dilution of ¼ cup of Simple Green, and ¼ cup of either water or rubbing alcohol. Both solutions will provide a good clean, that will rid your ball of most of the oils. If this is too strong, try using 2 tablespoons of Simple Green, to ¼ cup of water or rubbing alcohol.
Then, apply the solution to your ball. This can be done with either a spray bottle, or by gently pressing a cloth into the solution, and dabbing it all over your ball. In either situation, leave the solution on for a minute or two before wiping the ball down, and rinsing off.
Repeat if the ball is not cleaned to your desire, or scrub at the residue left over.
Cons to Using Simple Green on Your Bowling Balls
While there aren’t many cons to using Simple Green on your bowling balls, it does come with some drawbacks.
The first is that whether mixed with water or rubbing alcohol, some Reddit users have reported that Simple Green can leave a residue on your bowling ball that will need to be wiped or scrubbed off, before your ball will start looking brand new again.
Another drawback is that Simple Green may not be able to extract all the oil from your ball like you might want. The only way to truly get all the oil out of your ball is to take it to a professional.
Final Thoughts
Simple Green is a great way to clean your bowling ball. While not designed for bowling balls exactly, one of its primary purposes is to clean grease, which is perfect for the oils trapped in and on the exterior of a bowling ball.
It’s a cheaper alternative to professional cleaning, while achieving a similar result. It’s also not going to damage your ball, like other methods of cleaning can.
Finally, Simple Green is also biodegradable, and is a great cleaning agent if you are looking for a more sustainable way to clean your ball. Just make sure to properly recycle the container after you’re finished using it.