Putting surface on a plastic spare-ball. 180 grit or 5000 grit to get rid of last minute hook? It’s said that low grit means less reaction/friction in the dry… so should I take my polished plastic spare ball and chew it up with some 180grit so I can make a 10 pin more than 50% of the time?

I believe a 180 grit ball would have less friction on the dry than a smoother 5000 grit ball. Similar to a car tires amount of grip being proportional to its contact patch. A 180 grit ball has deep grooves that wick oil away from the lane and allow more grip in the wet than a smooth ball at 5000 would. But at the switch to dry, the 180 grits grooves would put less of the cover on the lane keeping it from switching to roll phase, where that smoother 5000 grit would have a more solid surface with finer grooves, putting more coverstock on the lane surface, allowing for a faster transition to roll phase.

Different coverstock would also have an affect. A 5000 grit plastic ball will have a different line than a 5000 grit assymetric core ball because of the different resin used to make the cover, allowing for a different and much more grippy roll. Similar to using harder compound vs softer compound tires on a car.

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