Wilson Soccer Prep Conditioner – 8 oz Tube

If you want to bring an older leather football back to life, this stuff is great
Had an ancient (1970’s vintage) Duke which I pretty much gave up on years ago, as it wouldn’t hold air. I found it recently while cleaning out a closet, and thought it might be fun to see if I could revive it.I called Wilson (inflatables division) and found out that they can replace the bladder and laces for you for $20. Or for only $5, they can send you a new bladder and laces and you can DIY. I opted for the latter as I thought it would be fun. I sent my check for $5, truthfully not expecting much. But lo and behold, in less than a week I received the replacement bladder and laces – kudos to amazing customer service from Wilson! Even though the information the rep gave me said instructions were not included, Wilson actually did send instructions – excellent and clearly written for every step, with pictures.After removing the old laces (just cut them off, these were old woven cloth), I was able to get the old rubber bladder out of the carcass (it was glued to the inside of the ball). I followed the directions and inserted the replacement bladder (which is a translucent vinyl-like material). If you’re doing this yourself use a pair of Vice-Grips to pull the new inflation nipple through.After trimming the nipple stem, I used a baseball glove lacing awl (about $5 on Amazon) to lace up the football (the new laces are plastic with three nylon cords running through them for strength). After a couple of tries and following the directions, I got it laced up, not perfect but good enough.Next I used this product – which REALLY brought the old dried up leather back to life and restored the color of the leather as well. Quite amazing, really. After letting this stuff dry for 20 min, I used the Wilson game ball prep kit to brush on a few coats of tack bar wax per instructions. Now my old Duke looks like it’s ready for another 50 years of abuse in the rain and mud. It has great tack and feel in the hand, truthfully better than new since it’s (very) broken in.If anyone has an old abused leather football, you really can bring it back to life with this stuff. I’m very, very pleased with the whole experience. I’ve since used it with a coupe of less ancient NFL footballs (with the wax and brush) and they are great. Don’t know if it would add much to a brand new ball, but for those that are already broken in, this stuff is great – use it with the game ball prep kit, it’s worth it!

Good for maintenance, not the best for breaking in a new ball
It’s a decent product. There are better conditioning products out there for when you’re initially conditioning a ball right out of the box. However, this is great for the occasional touch up to maintain a ball after use. For the initial break in process, I recommend Fiebing’s Neatsfoot Oil. Makes the leather nice and soft and it gives the leather the signature dark color you are accustomed to seeing.

Football conditioner
Good conditioner, looking forward to using it each season

Works great. I buy this every year.
Our footballs for our team get this product applied before and after every season. Works great!