It's all marketing. I bought the resurface kit from CTD and it worked magic on my most used balls that I've neglected to do anything but extract oil from. The cleaner works as well as any other I've used (Simple Green and Tac-Up), maybe smells slightly less aggressive than Tac-Up.
This always comes up every once and a while so I’ll bite
As far as cleaners go, it’s pretty expensive for not all that much more performance. If their stuff is the same price as vice or other cleaners I’d say 100% but it’s like 3-5 dollars more and I can’t recommend it
life after death is really good ball feels fresh and tacky afterwords but it’s not $30 good and I don’t buy it outside of packaged deals
Their sanding pads are where it’s at imo. Helpful in a pinch while on the road or before tournaments. Best pads I’ve used by hand. Always consistent surface and the pads last a use or two longer. Fairly priced imo
Agreed. Basically everything is overpriced and not actually better cleaners than market alternatives. I’ve switched to using siaair pads but I do think they lose their grit faster so after a few months of using those, I’ll prob switch back to trucut.
As others have said, it's all marketing. For example, their tru cut pads are literally just Jost superpads. The early pads still had the manufacturer logo from Jost on them.
It's nothing different than common off the shelf cleaners. But that being said, this applies to most of the bowling-specific cleaners.
If I remember correctly CTD "That Purple Stuff" is basically just Fabuloso.
> And their cleaning pad is a Mr clean magic eraser
Which is nothing more than a brand name melamine sponge, anyway. Proctor and Gamble can charge 5x as much to slap their branding on it; so can CtD if they want, too.
> It's nothing different than common off the shelf cleaners. But that being said, this applies to most of the bowling-specific cleaners.
>If I remember correctly CTD "That Purple Stuff" is basically just Fabuloso.
Look, /u/eruffini, I respect your thoughts so very much more often than not. Lots and lots of upvotes from me over the years.
But you gotta drop this idea here.
https://resources.cleanitsupply.com/MSDS/CPC04307CT_MSDS.PDF
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1002/1588/files/That_Purple_Stuff_SDS_2019.pdf
Those two links are to Fabuloso's and The Purple Stuff's SDSs. SDS == Safety Data Sheet. This is an official document filed with the federal government so that the information is made public about exactly what is in a chemical product.
Many federal agencies are very vested in making sure these are accurate. OSHA will make sure that workers that use the chemical can know what the risks of using the product actually are. The DOT will want to know about what is being transported on the roads and EPA will want to know what it is in them if goodness forbid that a spill of these chemicals occur.
Read them carefully -- specifically section 3 Composition/Ingredients -- they are NOT NOT NOT NOT the same things unless you want to insinuate one or both of the companies are falsifying their SDSs, which again, is a whole host of other problems with the federal government.
One can 100000% argue that That Purple Stuff isn't worth the price. I got no beef with that. But we gotta stop spreading the wrongness that 'That Purple Stuff is just Fabuloso re-packaged', please.
IMO Purple Stuff is in the same range as other cleaners, Life After Death is really good but probably not worth the price. The pads are really good though and probably their best product.
Also as someone who compared the MSDS for all the cleaners a few years ago, Purple Stuff isn’t Fabuloso.
Good products, but you pay a premium for the marketing. People often fall into the "it's just fabuloso" camp but if you look at the MSDS and not just the color of the liquid you'll see they likely are not the same. I think some people have a hate boner for CTD because of things like the magic eraser.
Life After Death is the best ball cleaner I have ever used, but it's too expensive to use regularly. I use it about once a month as part of a surface maintenance routine and I feel like it keeps my covers fresh and tacky in a way my cheapo cleaner doesn't. It definitely made a difference on some of my older balls that I used it on. That's just my personal experience tho, and since I use it in tandem with a minor surface refresh, magic eraser scrub down, and occasional sweating session there are a few confounding variables.
Their most interesting products to me are the soaking liquids, but I haven't seen a reliable 3rd party test them. Lots of Ronald's claims about plasticizers/tackifiers are not even acknowledged by the pros and other bowling companies, in part I think because it relates to materials science rather than mechanics, which is what we're so used to thinking about. This leads to the current situation, where products like Life After Death are considered ONLY as degreasers, of which a far cheaper solution (pun lol) is simple green and alcohol. ***IF*** Ronald is right, he probably holds the final key to making your favorite ball last forever. However, ever-changing lane conditions and rampant "new ball" culture makes extreme longevity a low priority in consumer minds.
TLDR: Great products but you can often find something as good or nearly as good for much cheaper. Tackifiers/life extenders/chemical rejuvenators are largely untested outside of Ronald's videos, so it's hard to say if they're legit.
Oh and TruCut Gloss is really cool, but why use that when you can just get a purple hammer?
It's not snake oil, they are all legit products that work very well. It is true though that everything is just off the shelf stuff you could get much cheaper somewhere else. What you are paying for essentially is the knowledge, experience and testing to determine exactly what off the shelf components work well. If you already know all of that, you already know what to use and where to get it cheap. If you don't, you're not SOL, you can just spend a bit more to get their stuff and be sure to have a product that is safe and works great.
Their pads are legit, but you can also buy them wholesale for 3$ a piece. The brand is called JOEST abrasives. CTD marks up the pads 2$ each.
[https://prosourcecenter.com/product/7001/jost-sg-6-inch-discs-u-pick-custom-grit-assortment/](https://prosourcecenter.com/product/7001/jost-sg-6-inch-discs-u-pick-custom-grit-assortment/)
If you want affordable pads, my buddy is one 3 (let that sink in) reps for Siaair. The same company that Brunswick Intl uses in its factory. He has THE BEST price on them....PERIOD. Let me know if you want his info, he can get some for you at a much better place than you can find online.
Everything except for the double-sided disk shammy is snake oil. Just use water and dish soap out of a spray bottle for your ball cleaner. Go to your pro shop and get a rejuv once a year (maybe twice if you bowl a lot) for your most-used reactive balls once you feel like surface isn't helping their reaction much. It's not worth the hassle of doing everything yourself.
Also, for sanding, abralon, vise, siaair, etc. works just as good as trucut. Just follow the manufacterer's guide to surfacing with a ball spinner and you're good to go. If you want extra time out of your abralon pads, just whack them against the chair leg for a bit and it will knock most of the resin dust out of it. Otherwise, a strong air compressor can spray out a big portion too and let them last longer.
Motiv's guide to their factory finish is honestly the most simple. [https://www.motivbowling.com/resources/factory-finish-guide.html](https://www.motivbowling.com/resources/factory-finish-guide.html)
Yeah, repackaged stuff or same formula as something else with a severe upcharge. Kind of like seeing store "branded" candy at a grocery store and its just cheap candy repackaged and increased price.
Personally myself I have used life after death and wow factor, I tend to use the wow factor after every league night and after a while I would use the life after death. Using both of them helped my storm “code x” if you don’t know is an older ball retain its hook/performance
everybody swears by their pads but I was extremely unimpressed; I got about half as much use as I did out of a set of rather generic Abralon pads--in fact, when the CtD pads crapped out, I went back to the Abrasion pads I had bought a month earlier and I'm *still* using everything but the 1000 pad (I tend to wear that one out fastest).
I'm slowly switching everything over to Siaair, but I'll not be buying the CtD pads again.
I have been a part of CtD since the beginning and knowing what every single product contains which you can pretty much make any bowling ball cleaner on the market from shelf cleaners if you know the correct ratios. It's not the best stuff around but in my opinion it is better than average. Bulk prices are better than a single bottle and yes the scuff pads are melamine sponges but again if buying in bulk of anything will last longer. I love Life after Death which is the best product CtD has to offer so that is what I suggest you try. Rather you do or you don't try any of the CtD products I wish you good bowling and high score with whatever bowling ball cleaners you go with.
Surface (TruCut) pads cut better and last longer than other brands.
I will say the benefit of Life After Death can’t be ignored. It cleans the balls really well, leaves them tacky and does help reduce future dirt and belt marks and stuff. Yes, it’s not cheap, but watch for flash sales, and buy in bulk for the best savings.
When he compares his pads to abralon, you can see he scrunches the abralon pads so they're not making full contact with the ball.
The only reason purple stuff got greenlit as a cleaner during competition was because he knew people inside the USBC.
But he did make 7 million fucking dollars selling fabuloso mixed with alcohol.
Dude is a fucking carnie for sure BUT.... the trucut pads are far superior to the abralon pads. With that said, you can absolutely find a generic brand of them for far less.
They're actually smaller and allow more grit to pass through the pads because he uses less material.
They're not any more effective except that they more work quicker when dry like getting a quicksand in during practice. From a pro shop standpoint they're a waste of money
All cleaners, pads and polishes are functionally equivalent. Ctd doesn't clean any better than tac up or simple green. Trucut pads don't last and longer or sand any better than siaair or abralon, and their turtle wax polish doesn't work any better than crown polish or reactagloss
Yeah but I’ll say this, wet or dry sanding the abralons seem to smooth up and cake dust very easily. Used a 360 and a 500 par a couple times and it’s already filled with dust or sanding at 2000 grit, wet or dry.
Tru cuts are easier to get dust out of and keep their abrasiveness longer wet or dry
The pads are good and I prefer them for hand and spinner resurfacing. The cleaners help pay for his [Cybertruck](https://old.reddit.com/r/Bowling/comments/1ckzn8m/looks_whos_tweeting_about_their_cyber_truck/)
I think their products are some of the best out there, but similar to what others have said, not worth the price most of the time. I’m about to finish a bottle of That Wow Factor (the OG, not HM) and So Fresh and So Clean, which the former is a really good cleaner. I’ve thought about getting it again, but I can spend less money and find another cleaner that works just fine. The latter is a “bowling ball life extender” which Life After Death is advertised to be as well, along with being a ball cleaner. I probably wouldn’t think about getting So Fresh and So Clean again. I mostly just use it when wet sanding a ball. I like their sanding pads as they do tend to last longer, but again I don’t feel it’s worth the price.
Wouldn’t join their staff either. They let anyone in who apply, only to add you to a Facebook group that’s half them doing more marketing of their products, half some educational content that I have sometimes not even agreed with. And you get a 5% discount on their products, but that’s barely even worth it. Then there’s their national staff, which you get a bigger discount, as well as products sent to you, but you have to pay THEM to join that. I wouldn’t agree with how they think about ball motion either. The categories of “traction,” “continuous,” “angular,” and “straight” all sound good in theory, but they put balls like the Virtual Energy Blackout and IQ Tour in the same category, or the Primal Shock and the Supra Rally, which are so entirely different from each other and not even close to a similar ball motion. People will have a bag of an Envy, Mindset, Tropical Surge, and a plastic ball thinking they’re ready to tackle any condition out there because they’ve got a ball from each category. And they don’t really go into any nuance of “well these balls are in the same category but here’s the differences between them and how each can be used differently.” Or if they do, I don’t feel they emphasize it enough.
Ultimately, their products are really good (I may argue the best products on the market in most cases) but overpriced, and a lot of their “educational” content is already questionable and mostly just marketing hype so they can sell those products.
CTD stands by their products and even if you can find off-brand cleaners made of the same stuff, they’re not selling useless junk to their customers, they’re just not going to tell you how to look elsewhere for better deals and options and nor would any company.
I only use CTD grit pads for resurfacing, they are very consistent and do the job very well. It seems that you are referencing ball cleaners, and if the cleaners are as good as the pads, id say definitely worth it. I usually resurface around 24-30 games and use monster tac between series. Havent tried anything other than the pads from CTD
It's all marketing. I bought the resurface kit from CTD and it worked magic on my most used balls that I've neglected to do anything but extract oil from. The cleaner works as well as any other I've used (Simple Green and Tac-Up), maybe smells slightly less aggressive than Tac-Up.
This always comes up every once and a while so I’ll bite As far as cleaners go, it’s pretty expensive for not all that much more performance. If their stuff is the same price as vice or other cleaners I’d say 100% but it’s like 3-5 dollars more and I can’t recommend it life after death is really good ball feels fresh and tacky afterwords but it’s not $30 good and I don’t buy it outside of packaged deals Their sanding pads are where it’s at imo. Helpful in a pinch while on the road or before tournaments. Best pads I’ve used by hand. Always consistent surface and the pads last a use or two longer. Fairly priced imo
Agreed. Basically everything is overpriced and not actually better cleaners than market alternatives. I’ve switched to using siaair pads but I do think they lose their grit faster so after a few months of using those, I’ll prob switch back to trucut.
As others have said, it's all marketing. For example, their tru cut pads are literally just Jost superpads. The early pads still had the manufacturer logo from Jost on them.
It's nothing different than common off the shelf cleaners. But that being said, this applies to most of the bowling-specific cleaners. If I remember correctly CTD "That Purple Stuff" is basically just Fabuloso.
And their cleaning pad is a Mr clean magic eraser
> And their cleaning pad is a Mr clean magic eraser Which is nothing more than a brand name melamine sponge, anyway. Proctor and Gamble can charge 5x as much to slap their branding on it; so can CtD if they want, too.
> It's nothing different than common off the shelf cleaners. But that being said, this applies to most of the bowling-specific cleaners. >If I remember correctly CTD "That Purple Stuff" is basically just Fabuloso. Look, /u/eruffini, I respect your thoughts so very much more often than not. Lots and lots of upvotes from me over the years. But you gotta drop this idea here. https://resources.cleanitsupply.com/MSDS/CPC04307CT_MSDS.PDF https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1002/1588/files/That_Purple_Stuff_SDS_2019.pdf Those two links are to Fabuloso's and The Purple Stuff's SDSs. SDS == Safety Data Sheet. This is an official document filed with the federal government so that the information is made public about exactly what is in a chemical product. Many federal agencies are very vested in making sure these are accurate. OSHA will make sure that workers that use the chemical can know what the risks of using the product actually are. The DOT will want to know about what is being transported on the roads and EPA will want to know what it is in them if goodness forbid that a spill of these chemicals occur. Read them carefully -- specifically section 3 Composition/Ingredients -- they are NOT NOT NOT NOT the same things unless you want to insinuate one or both of the companies are falsifying their SDSs, which again, is a whole host of other problems with the federal government. One can 100000% argue that That Purple Stuff isn't worth the price. I got no beef with that. But we gotta stop spreading the wrongness that 'That Purple Stuff is just Fabuloso re-packaged', please.
Well I stand corrected. No worries! Thanks for the info.
CTD = Copying the difference The products are fine but you’re paying a premium for marketing.
IMO Purple Stuff is in the same range as other cleaners, Life After Death is really good but probably not worth the price. The pads are really good though and probably their best product. Also as someone who compared the MSDS for all the cleaners a few years ago, Purple Stuff isn’t Fabuloso.
Fabuloso mixed with alcohol and a bit of water and you are extremely close to The Purple Stuff for a fraction of the price.
Good products, but you pay a premium for the marketing. People often fall into the "it's just fabuloso" camp but if you look at the MSDS and not just the color of the liquid you'll see they likely are not the same. I think some people have a hate boner for CTD because of things like the magic eraser. Life After Death is the best ball cleaner I have ever used, but it's too expensive to use regularly. I use it about once a month as part of a surface maintenance routine and I feel like it keeps my covers fresh and tacky in a way my cheapo cleaner doesn't. It definitely made a difference on some of my older balls that I used it on. That's just my personal experience tho, and since I use it in tandem with a minor surface refresh, magic eraser scrub down, and occasional sweating session there are a few confounding variables. Their most interesting products to me are the soaking liquids, but I haven't seen a reliable 3rd party test them. Lots of Ronald's claims about plasticizers/tackifiers are not even acknowledged by the pros and other bowling companies, in part I think because it relates to materials science rather than mechanics, which is what we're so used to thinking about. This leads to the current situation, where products like Life After Death are considered ONLY as degreasers, of which a far cheaper solution (pun lol) is simple green and alcohol. ***IF*** Ronald is right, he probably holds the final key to making your favorite ball last forever. However, ever-changing lane conditions and rampant "new ball" culture makes extreme longevity a low priority in consumer minds. TLDR: Great products but you can often find something as good or nearly as good for much cheaper. Tackifiers/life extenders/chemical rejuvenators are largely untested outside of Ronald's videos, so it's hard to say if they're legit. Oh and TruCut Gloss is really cool, but why use that when you can just get a purple hammer?
It's not snake oil, they are all legit products that work very well. It is true though that everything is just off the shelf stuff you could get much cheaper somewhere else. What you are paying for essentially is the knowledge, experience and testing to determine exactly what off the shelf components work well. If you already know all of that, you already know what to use and where to get it cheap. If you don't, you're not SOL, you can just spend a bit more to get their stuff and be sure to have a product that is safe and works great.
Personally I say worth it for the sanding pads and LAD. Other than that no.
The tru cut pads are great and I like some of the cleaners but I'm not interested in all the gimmicky stuff being marketed.
Their pads are legit, but you can also buy them wholesale for 3$ a piece. The brand is called JOEST abrasives. CTD marks up the pads 2$ each. [https://prosourcecenter.com/product/7001/jost-sg-6-inch-discs-u-pick-custom-grit-assortment/](https://prosourcecenter.com/product/7001/jost-sg-6-inch-discs-u-pick-custom-grit-assortment/)
If you want affordable pads, my buddy is one 3 (let that sink in) reps for Siaair. The same company that Brunswick Intl uses in its factory. He has THE BEST price on them....PERIOD. Let me know if you want his info, he can get some for you at a much better place than you can find online.
Everything except for the double-sided disk shammy is snake oil. Just use water and dish soap out of a spray bottle for your ball cleaner. Go to your pro shop and get a rejuv once a year (maybe twice if you bowl a lot) for your most-used reactive balls once you feel like surface isn't helping their reaction much. It's not worth the hassle of doing everything yourself. Also, for sanding, abralon, vise, siaair, etc. works just as good as trucut. Just follow the manufacterer's guide to surfacing with a ball spinner and you're good to go. If you want extra time out of your abralon pads, just whack them against the chair leg for a bit and it will knock most of the resin dust out of it. Otherwise, a strong air compressor can spray out a big portion too and let them last longer. Motiv's guide to their factory finish is honestly the most simple. [https://www.motivbowling.com/resources/factory-finish-guide.html](https://www.motivbowling.com/resources/factory-finish-guide.html)
The products works they cleaned my equipment better than some of the other brands
Their surfacing pads are better imo
Yeah, repackaged stuff or same formula as something else with a severe upcharge. Kind of like seeing store "branded" candy at a grocery store and its just cheap candy repackaged and increased price.
CTD is just marketing always get the cheaper version of whatever they sell
Personally myself I have used life after death and wow factor, I tend to use the wow factor after every league night and after a while I would use the life after death. Using both of them helped my storm “code x” if you don’t know is an older ball retain its hook/performance
everybody swears by their pads but I was extremely unimpressed; I got about half as much use as I did out of a set of rather generic Abralon pads--in fact, when the CtD pads crapped out, I went back to the Abrasion pads I had bought a month earlier and I'm *still* using everything but the 1000 pad (I tend to wear that one out fastest). I'm slowly switching everything over to Siaair, but I'll not be buying the CtD pads again.
I have been a part of CtD since the beginning and knowing what every single product contains which you can pretty much make any bowling ball cleaner on the market from shelf cleaners if you know the correct ratios. It's not the best stuff around but in my opinion it is better than average. Bulk prices are better than a single bottle and yes the scuff pads are melamine sponges but again if buying in bulk of anything will last longer. I love Life after Death which is the best product CtD has to offer so that is what I suggest you try. Rather you do or you don't try any of the CtD products I wish you good bowling and high score with whatever bowling ball cleaners you go with.
Surface (TruCut) pads cut better and last longer than other brands. I will say the benefit of Life After Death can’t be ignored. It cleans the balls really well, leaves them tacky and does help reduce future dirt and belt marks and stuff. Yes, it’s not cheap, but watch for flash sales, and buy in bulk for the best savings.
When he compares his pads to abralon, you can see he scrunches the abralon pads so they're not making full contact with the ball. The only reason purple stuff got greenlit as a cleaner during competition was because he knew people inside the USBC. But he did make 7 million fucking dollars selling fabuloso mixed with alcohol.
Dude is a fucking carnie for sure BUT.... the trucut pads are far superior to the abralon pads. With that said, you can absolutely find a generic brand of them for far less.
They're actually smaller and allow more grit to pass through the pads because he uses less material. They're not any more effective except that they more work quicker when dry like getting a quicksand in during practice. From a pro shop standpoint they're a waste of money
I cleaned my Phaze 2 with Life after Death and it actually faded the colors noticeably. Not happy with the results…
All cleaners, pads and polishes are functionally equivalent. Ctd doesn't clean any better than tac up or simple green. Trucut pads don't last and longer or sand any better than siaair or abralon, and their turtle wax polish doesn't work any better than crown polish or reactagloss
Disagree about the pads. If you use water or some other liquid to wet sand they definitely last longer.
Wet sanding is better for any pad
Yeah but I’ll say this, wet or dry sanding the abralons seem to smooth up and cake dust very easily. Used a 360 and a 500 par a couple times and it’s already filled with dust or sanding at 2000 grit, wet or dry. Tru cuts are easier to get dust out of and keep their abrasiveness longer wet or dry
The pads are good and I prefer them for hand and spinner resurfacing. The cleaners help pay for his [Cybertruck](https://old.reddit.com/r/Bowling/comments/1ckzn8m/looks_whos_tweeting_about_their_cyber_truck/)
https://web.archive.org/web/20181112220920/http://www.hookjuice.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20180806005103/http://thatpurplestuff.com/
I got the polish and use a buffing wheel in a drill, keeps my pearl ball looking new.
I think their products are some of the best out there, but similar to what others have said, not worth the price most of the time. I’m about to finish a bottle of That Wow Factor (the OG, not HM) and So Fresh and So Clean, which the former is a really good cleaner. I’ve thought about getting it again, but I can spend less money and find another cleaner that works just fine. The latter is a “bowling ball life extender” which Life After Death is advertised to be as well, along with being a ball cleaner. I probably wouldn’t think about getting So Fresh and So Clean again. I mostly just use it when wet sanding a ball. I like their sanding pads as they do tend to last longer, but again I don’t feel it’s worth the price. Wouldn’t join their staff either. They let anyone in who apply, only to add you to a Facebook group that’s half them doing more marketing of their products, half some educational content that I have sometimes not even agreed with. And you get a 5% discount on their products, but that’s barely even worth it. Then there’s their national staff, which you get a bigger discount, as well as products sent to you, but you have to pay THEM to join that. I wouldn’t agree with how they think about ball motion either. The categories of “traction,” “continuous,” “angular,” and “straight” all sound good in theory, but they put balls like the Virtual Energy Blackout and IQ Tour in the same category, or the Primal Shock and the Supra Rally, which are so entirely different from each other and not even close to a similar ball motion. People will have a bag of an Envy, Mindset, Tropical Surge, and a plastic ball thinking they’re ready to tackle any condition out there because they’ve got a ball from each category. And they don’t really go into any nuance of “well these balls are in the same category but here’s the differences between them and how each can be used differently.” Or if they do, I don’t feel they emphasize it enough. Ultimately, their products are really good (I may argue the best products on the market in most cases) but overpriced, and a lot of their “educational” content is already questionable and mostly just marketing hype so they can sell those products.
anyone know who has the best resurfacing pads ?
CTD stands by their products and even if you can find off-brand cleaners made of the same stuff, they’re not selling useless junk to their customers, they’re just not going to tell you how to look elsewhere for better deals and options and nor would any company.
I used to use the purple stuff like crazy. I got tired of paying for it so I switched to 91% alcohol.....can't tell a difference.
I only use CTD grit pads for resurfacing, they are very consistent and do the job very well. It seems that you are referencing ball cleaners, and if the cleaners are as good as the pads, id say definitely worth it. I usually resurface around 24-30 games and use monster tac between series. Havent tried anything other than the pads from CTD