Simple and awesome way to clean your bowling shoes

[Phonetek]

I was looking at my 25yr old white Linds and noticed they looked beat to death, scuffed and filthy. They have at least 3000 games on them and that's probably a low guess. I tried using alcohol on the bottoms and it hardly did anything unless I wanted to scrub until my knuckles were swollen. Then a Magic Eraser popped in my head. I tested it on a small section of the rubber bottom of the shoe (not the slide pad). It took little effort to make it squeaky clean like new. So I continued and finished with the bottoms, I also rubbed it around the edge of the sole where all the scuffs were and they too were gone. To clean the slider sole I just used a scotch-brite pad and basically sanded it clean, it removed all the shinny marks and debris. I went to the leather portions of the top of the shoe including under the laces and it removed all the scuffs and gunk built up on them. There isn't a mark left on them and they are nice bright white. They hardly looked better out of the box aside from the laces. Not bad for 25yrs old and about $2 and an hour worth the time.

NOTE: If you have suede leather either partially on your shoes or fully then do not use the magic eraser on those surfaces. Doing the bottoms would still be fine.
Also, if you have any other color than white I would test it on a tiny part of the leather first. I'm not sure if the magic eraser will remove the color from your shoes or not so do so with caution.

I'd love to attach photo's to show this process before and after but for whatever reason after several attempts and methods I was unable to do so. I'm obviously not doing something right. If a mod/admin would like me to send the pic files to them maybe they can assist?

[bowl1820]

I'd love to attach photo's to show this process before and after but for whatever reason after several attempts and methods I was unable to do so. I'm obviously not doing something right. If a mod/admin would like me to send the pic files to them maybe they can assist?

Read this post it tells you how to post a picture.
http://www.bowlingboards.com/threads...into-your-post

[bowl1820]

I was looking at my 25yr old white Linds and noticed they looked beat to death, scuffed and filthy. They have at least 3000 games on them and that's probably a low guess.

Just something to note, Be careful when cleaning the soles & heels of your shoe. You can make them grabby until they get broke back in.

Dust build up on the slide sole is what helps let you slide and a very clean rubber part (heel) will increase the braking affect.

Also don't use alcohol on leather it can remove the natural oils in the leather and it can dry it out.

[Phonetek]

Okay, trying this once again. It will only allow 4 images per post and there are 3 before and 3 after's so here are the first 3.

Pic 1 is where I tested part of the sole with the magic eraser, it shows the difference of how clean it can get it.


Pic 2 is the slider sole and how crud covered it is before


Pic 3 is the top of the shoe showing the scuffs and crud build up under the laces

[Phonetek]

The After images

Pic 4 is the now perfectly clean right shoe without the slider sole


Pic 5 is the now perfectly clean left shoe with the slider sole


Pic 6 is the finished product!



Not too shabby huh? So as you can see, you can make your equipment last for decades with proper care.
One more thing...once all this is done and I did this after the photo. Since a magic eraser is a very powerful cleaner as Bowl1820 said alcohol will dry out leather. I'm not sure if alcohol is in a magic eraser but probably. Apply some leather conditioner or mink oil to your leather, it will make them soft and keep them from getting dried out. However, do NOT get mink oil on the soles or heels!! Rub the mink oil in and make sure to wipe of ALL excess, they should not be greasy when done. Same stuff you'd use on a baseball mitt.

Lastly, if you have spots like on your toe where the leather has been scuffed badly where the color came off. Shoe polish is still available in a wide variety of colors. It should take care of those rubbed spots nicely where it won't be noticeable with a few applications.

Also as Bowl1820 said, once the bottoms of the shoes are all cleaned up they may make you stick a little on your slide at first. Since I cleaned these I did bowl a few games and I didn't notice it but as part as my pre-game I will walk out to the foul line and rub my left shoe on the approach to gauge how they are then do a couple practice slides.

[J Anderson]

My first bowling shoes, black Dexters that sold for about $25 in 1975, lasted twenty years or about 2000 games with no maintenance other than replacing an occasional shoelace. I think I bought a new pair because the upper was wearing out because of the way I dragged my right foot. The next pair, almost identical to the first except for color, didn’t make it past ten years before the sole split between the toes and the arch.

[bowl1820]

They look pretty good!

For those that don't know what the holes are for on the slide sole:

That's a Perforated Yellow Leather (Buckskin) sole, it offers a little less slide than the standard buckskin sole because the added edge surfaces of the perforation holes create more friction on the lanes.

[Phonetek]

I know when I was a kid I went through a few pairs of the cheap ones but you do when your a fast growing kid. When I was 14 I saved up enough money for a pair of white Linds like I have here. However that pair I had about 3 months and they weren't even broke in before I had the honor of bowling with the great Bob "hookin" Handley. After the games he autographed them for me. My mom made me hand them over to her after he signed them. She took them home and displayed them on the trophy rack still in mint condition. They are still displayed to this day at her house. I did buy another pair but they were brown and bone color or something. I used them until for about 6 yrs but I grew out of them. After that I got the pair you see here when I was around 20-21 ish. I've had them ever since and I'm 46. You can see even with well upwards of 3k games on them they hardly show signs of wear. They will easily outlast me. Expensive at first but a well worth wild investment, best money ever spent. I can only hope that the Linds of today are made as well as they used to be.

[bowl1820]

I'm not sure if alcohol is in a magic eraser but probably.

It's Melamine foam which contains Formaldehyde-Melamine-Sodium Bisulfite Copolymer.

Some have also used magic eraser as a fine abrasive to adjust a balls surface, It produced about a 4000 grit on the surface.

[Phonetek]

It's Melamine foam which contains Formaldehyde-Melamine-Sodium Bisulfite Copolymer.

Some have also used magic eraser as a fine abrasive to adjust a balls surface, It produced about a 4000 grit on the surface.

Gotta love all the uses for embalming fluid. LOL It's like the new baking soda! I never would have thought to use it on a ball. Which type of cover stock are you talking here?