How long should I expect my ball(s) to last?

[Tony]

I had a Storm Fired Up and still have a Brunswick Fury that have over 500 games on them, the Storm still looked like new when I gave it away and the Fury is also in good cosmetic shape, while I'm sure the performance is degraded somewhat from when they were new they were still getting down the lane and getting strikes when thrown properly. Between the lanes being changed, the oil pattern changes and changes in my game I can't really say how much the balls changed in performance.
On the other hand I got a Hyper Cell Skid and could notice some change in less than 100 games, the ball also got more scarred and chipped than any ball I've ever owned but when I had it dialed in it blew the pins away. The older 2 balls were polished and the Hyper cell was a matte finish, it came polished OOB, but was modified by my PSO to better handle the heavy oil used in the league.
when I got the ball only one other guy in the league had one by the end of the season close to 20 guys were using them. Today I was talking to the manager of one house and he said he loves his hypecell and it's the first ball out of his bag.

I have to wonder if the current balls are not made to last as long anymore or if the lane conditions and ball technology have become advanced enough that smaller changes are more noticeable than they used to be....

[Amyers]

I had a Storm Fired Up and still have a Brunswick Fury that have over 500 games on them, the Storm still looked like new when I gave it away and the Fury is also in good cosmetic shape, while I'm sure the performance is degraded somewhat from when they were new they were still getting down the lane and getting strikes when thrown properly. Between the lanes being changed, the oil pattern changes and changes in my game I can't really say how much the balls changed in performance.
On the other hand I got a Hyper Cell Skid and could notice some change in less than 100 games, the ball also got more scarred and chipped than any ball I've ever owned but when I had it dialed in it blew the pins away. The older 2 balls were polished and the Hyper cell was a matte finish, it came polished OOB, but was modified by my PSO to better handle the heavy oil used in the league.
when I got the ball only one other guy in the league had one by the end of the season close to 20 guys were using them. Today I was talking to the manager of one house and he said he loves his hypecell and it's the first ball out of his bag.

I have to wonder if the current balls are not made to last as long anymore or if the lane conditions and ball technology have become advanced enough that smaller changes are more noticeable than they used to be....

Depends on what your referring to. Modern balls actually hold thier surface better than the older urethane balls (try keeping a ball at 400 grit for a couple of games) but they soak oil up much faster than urethane. I also tend to think the thicker covers on older balls tended to crack less. Now how the softer plastics held up that were popular before urethane was before my time. I think rubber balls basically lasted forever.

[Tony]

Depends on what your referring to. Modern balls actually hold thier surface better than the older urethane balls (try keeping a ball at 400 grit for a couple of games) but they soak oil up much faster than urethane. I also tend to think the thicker covers on older balls tended to crack less. Now how the softer plastics held up that were popular before urethane was before my time. I think rubber balls basically lasted forever.

These balls were purchased in the 2003 to 2008 time frame, both were reactive type balls, I believe. The Fury cover was called High Octane pearl, I'm not sure if these balls are considered modern ?

[Amyers]

When I say modern in this instance I am referring to resin type balls so yes they would be modern balls although I do believe porosity of the cover stocks have increased since 2003 and 2008 so they wouldn't be effected as much as newer equipment. I do believe balls from the 2003 era especially are weaker than a ball bought today a ball that was considered aggressive back then would struggle to be much more than medium today.

[dougb]

When I say modern in this instance I am referring to resin type balls so yes they would be modern balls although I do believe porosity of the cover stocks have increased since 2003 and 2008 so they wouldn't be effected as much as newer equipment. I do believe balls from the 2003 era especially are weaker than a ball bought today a ball that was considered aggressive back then would struggle to be much more than medium today.

The Fury certainly is weak compared to some of today's hook monsters, but as you said is just fine for mediums and THS shots.

[Tony]

Yes the fury was on the higher end back 8 years ago and funny enough Bowlingball.com compared it and rates it the same as the Diva Divine, the ball I'm currently using.

[dougb]

Yes the fury was on the higher end back 8 years ago and funny enough Bowlingball.com compared it and rates it the same as the Diva Divine, the ball I'm currently using.

And how do they compare? That Brute Strength the site is giving away might fit in nicely!