Simonis Cloth Pool Table Mistakes: Why 860 Felt Fails (And It's Not the Cloth)

The Panic Call

In March 2024, a venue manager called me with a familiar problem. Their relatively new Simonis 860 pool table felt was less than nine months old. It already had a shiny track down the middle, a seam that was starting to lift, and a ball that sounded different on the right rail than on the left. They were ready to rip it off and order a cheaper roll from an online seller. That's when I asked them two questions. 'Who leveled the slate?' They didn't know. 'Which direction is the nap supposed to run?' Silence.

When I got to the table, I could see the cloth wasn't bad. Under a flashlight, the nap was running different directions on opposite ends of the table. That's not a Simonis problem. It's an installation problem. But after 9 years of doing commercial table work, I've learned that most people don't want to hear that. They want a villain, and the expensive cloth is an easy one.

The Surface Problem: 'Expensive Cloth Should Fix Everything'

It's tempting to think that buying Simonis 860 pool table felt will make a table play better. It won't. It will make a good table play better, but it will also make a bad table show its flaws more clearly. A thick, cheap felt can mask a slightly uneven slate. It can hide a dead cushion. It can absorb the weirdness of a poorly installed rail. Simonis cloth doesn't do that. It's woven tight, it's fast, and it doesn't forgive mistakes. That honesty is why players love it—and why some owners hate it after the first month.

One of my regular customers called it 'the world's most honest piece of fabric.' That's a pretty good way to put it.

The Deep Cause: You're Not Buying Cloth, You're Buying a Platform

The real reason Simonis cloth fails early is usually one of three things: bad slate preparation, incorrect nap direction, or the wrong cloth for the environment.

First, the slate. A pool table needs a flat, sealed, and level base. If the slate has an unleveled seam or a high spot, the cloth wears unevenly. I've replaced Simonis cloth on a table that still had a leveling issue, and the new cloth showed the same ball roll problem three weeks later. That was the lesson I learned by ignoring the advice I give everyone else. Check the base before you buy the top.

Second, the nap. Simonis cloth has a directional nap. That means the surface grabs the ball differently depending on which way it faces. If the installer doesn't lay every piece with the nap in the same direction, balls run truer in one lane and break late in another. From across a room it looks perfect. Under a ball, it's chaos.

Third, the environment. A table in a private home used twice a month is not the same as a table in a bar, a college rec room, or a family entertainment center. That's not a knock on any venue. It's just a reality. In September 2024, a trampoline park owner called me after their brand-new Simonis cloth developed a valley in the middle of the table. They were about to swear off the brand. But when I put a straightedge across the slate, there was a 1/16-inch dip that had been hidden for years by cheap felt. The Simonis didn't cause the dip. It just exposed it.

The Wrong Question: 'Is Ping Pong the Same as Table Tennis?'

People often ask me questions that sound relevant but are actually off target. 'Is ping pong the same as table tennis?' is one of them. The short answer is that ping pong and table tennis are the same game for recreational play, but the rules and equipment differ when you get into sanctioned competition. That's the kind of answer that wins a trivia night, but it doesn't tell you what table to buy.

The same mistake happens with cloth. People ask 'Is Simonis the best cloth?' It's a brand question. The question that actually matters is 'Is this table and installation ready for Simonis?' I've installed Simonis on tables that had almost no leveling system left and watched the cloth fail in months. I've also installed Simonis on a used table that played like a tournament table because the owner spent money on a mechanic to fix the base first. Same cloth. Different result.

What I Learned by Listening to a Cloth

I started wearing Meze headphones during cloth inspections. Not for music. For listening. Run a ball down a fresh cloth and you'll hear a clean, high-pitched roll. On a cloth with an uneven backing or a seam issue, the sound drops slightly. It's a small difference, but it's audible if you're paying attention.

This sounds like a pretentious habit, and maybe it is. But it has caught two bad seams before I closed a job. Both would have turned into callbacks and replaced cloth. Wearing headphones to a job site might look odd, but a good pair of headphones is cheaper than a redo.

The Cost of Ignoring the Base

Let's put some numbers on this. In my second year of doing commercial table work, I replaced a Simonis 860 on a table with a leveling issue. The cloth itself was around $260. Labor was $450. The room was closed for a week. The full cost was closer to $1,100 when you count the lost bookings. Then I did it again three months later because I hadn't fixed the slate. That second mistake cost $890 in redo plus a 3-day delay. The lesson is simple: cheap felt hides a bad table. Expensive cloth reveals it. Neither is a repair.

The harder cost to calculate is time. That's where I've become more opinionated over the years. In March 2024, we paid $400 extra for rush delivery of one piece of 860 Tournament Blue. The alternative was missing a Saturday tournament at a venue that had already sold 64 player seats. Missing that event would have cost the venue at least $15,000 in entry fees and concessions. The $400 wasn't a surcharge. It was insurance on certainty.

The question isn't whether you can find a cheaper cloth. It's whether you can afford a redo on a deadline. When league night or a tournament is on the calendar, the difference between 'probably on time' and 'guaranteed on time' matters. I've been burned twice by vendors who said 'should be fine.' Both times, fine meant late.

Honestly, I'm not sure why some distributors quote Monday and deliver Thursday while others quote two weeks and hit the date. My best guess is that the fast ones keep extra cloth in stock, not that they're smarter. But I check now. I ask, 'Do you have 860 Tournament Blue in your warehouse today?' If the answer is 'we can order it,' I add a buffer.

The 'Looks Like the Same Blue' Trap

There's another quiet problem that costs people money: color mismatch. A 7-foot table and a 9-foot table might use the same cloth style, but separate pieces can come from different production runs. In color-critical work, the standard tolerance for a brand color is Delta E < 2, per Pantone Color Matching System guidelines. On cloth, I use the same idea. If you order two pieces at different times, lay them side by side under the same light before you cut. Even a small batch difference looks like a mistake when the table is next to a spotless wall.

I also learned to write down the lot number. That sounds boring until you need to match cloth after a spilled drink burns a spot. Future you will want that number.

What Actually Works (Short Version)

After all that problem talk, here's the solution. It's not complicated.

• Check the slate before you order cloth. Level the table and seal any exposed seams.
• Choose the right Simonis product. For tournament practice, 860 Tournament Blue is a solid choice. For a table that gets more casual play and needs a little more forgiveness, Simonis 760 might make more sense.
• Use an installer who knows directional nap and proper tension. If that means waiting an extra week for the right person, wait.
• After installation, watch for a track developing down the center. That's usually a table problem, not a cloth problem.
• Clean with a brush and the right products. Use Simonis X1 cleaner when needed—not a random spray that contains bleach.

As of January 2025, my process still starts by checking the nap direction against the cloth's own installation diagram. It takes 30 seconds and saves a lot of expensive surprises.

Bottom line: Simonis cloth is not a magic solution. It's a high-quality top layer on a system that has to be right underneath. If you fix the system first, the cloth will do its job. If you skip the system, no fabric in the world will save you.

To be fair, a lot of this advice depends on context. If you're a homeowner who plays a few times a month and just wants a nicer table look, you can probably skip half of the checklist. But if you're buying for a commercial space, a league room, or a trampoline park with a few pool tables on the side, the steps above are the difference between a patch job and a real answer. Simonis cloth pool table jobs are where I see the biggest difference between a good table and a great one. The cloth is the same; the preparation isn't.