Storm IQ Tour Bowling Ball Review

The Storm IQ Tour is the second of two balls released in the Master line from Storm this summer. The IQ Tour uses one of the greatest coverstocks in the resin era, R2S Solid Reactive. It also uses a popular core shape from Storm, but with a twist. The dynamics of the Centripetal core have been changed to give the IQ Tour a much lower differential. What this gives the bowler is a ball that revs up strongly and does not check up when it sees some friction. A ball like this has been missing from the market for a long number of years, and Storm has filled that gap with one of the best rolling bowling balls ever.

The entire test staff struck at will on the medium test pattern. The box finish creates enough traction to bite through the oil, while not losing anything as it goes through the pins. None of the test team needed to make any surface adjustments to their IQ Tours on this pattern.

Moving to the heavy test pattern, it was really hard for Cranker and Tweener to believe they ran the correct lane pattern when throwing the IQ Tour. It was not until we threw some control balls that we were sure it was the correct pattern. The IQ Tour has the ability to give all styles a line to the pocket on a whole lot of conditions. Stroker needed to just slightly rough up the surface of the IQ Tour with a 3000 Abralon pad before striking as much on the heavy pattern as on the medium pattern.

Our dry test pattern was just too short for the box finish of the IQ Tour. Stroker and Tweener were close and just needed to use Storm’s guide to get their balls to a 1500 grit polished finish. Cranker raised the cover to 4000 Abralon, added some Reacta Shine, and all three testers were back in business.

We believe this is the highest total rating we have ever had for a ball on our sport pattern. The smooth transition of the IQ Tour and being able to cut through the oil made our flat pattern look like a house shot. The R2S coverstock is very responsive to coverstock changes. We believe if we had other IQ Tours with longer pin-to-PAP layouts and polish, we could cover almost anything we have ever seen with just two of these balls.

Strengths

Predictability and power personified. This ball can handle virtually any type of oil pattern with the proper finish and layout. It will eliminate most over/under reactions.

Weaknesses

There is little this ball cannot do. Absence from your arsenal is the only weakness of the IQ Tour.

Overall Summary

This is one of the most useful bowling balls on the market today. If you are a tournament bowler, you need at least one of these in your bag.