Is this true about waxing?

Question

If anyone is interested, check http://www.skitrucks.com/shop/custom.asp?recid=5

and scroll down to the part about "WAXING YOUR SKIS" about half way down the page. Im just wondering if anyone knows if this is trure or not.

Answer 1

I'm sure glad you showed that sight. If I followed 10% of what they said I'd be stuck in the fall line walking down the hill, while on my skiis.  I sure hope Willie D reads this one and get his opinion also.  From what they said, I doubt they have ever skied in the PNW or any place else where the ski may be sticky. Pam on the base? It will last maybe 200 yards.  The  old standby  hot wax and canning wax still works.  The problem of some bad advice in the site makes me distrust all of it.  Who else has an opinion?

Answer 2

you can do what you want and believe what you want. i love new wax on my skis and can tell a huge differance. if you don't wax, you go real slow. i'm with the other person's answer, whoever wrote this article is an idiot who doesn't know c**p about skiing or snowboarding and the importance about taking care of your equipment.

Answer 3

Sorry for the delay in answering. I haven't been near a computer for the past five days.

Bases are a polymer composite. It's not totally petroleum..but pretty close. There are things like limestone and graphite mixed into the plastic to give it strength and flexibility. But that's a different lesson....I digress. Anyway, this stuff doesn't melt when it comes in contact with snow. Wax does. It's what gives you the glide.

I can't say how true or false the claim on the website is. I didn't wax my 1998 Volants all this season. I waxed them last season and used them three days. I only used them three days this year too, but I noticed that they were fine on the wet snow days but absolutely lousy on the hard icy days. I waxed my 2003 K2s (my regular use skis) three times this season. The last was 11 ski-days ago. Since my last waxing I skied on ice, sugar, granular, and slush. Except for yesterday's slush, they were fine. (They actually were pretty good until about 3pm.) I've found that the wetter the snow, the less I need the wax. If it's 15 degrees outside and there is fresh snow...wax the planks. You'll be sticking to everything if you don't.

Also...wax fills in the little scratched and dings too small to P-Tex.

OK...enough. I'm really tired, I'm sunburned, and my legs are killing me. Hope this helped.

Answer 4

That's definitely not true.  If you ever look at skis that haven't been waxed in a while, you can clearly see white base oxidation.  Also, there's a pretty noticeable difference when skiing on waxed skis versus unwaxed ones.  As for new skis, you should always use base prep wax and then whatever wax you usually use.  You don't have to use a temp-specific one, and you definitely aren't restricted to that temp if you do.  Most of today's skis have bases that are designed for good wax absorption.  If wax wasn't necessary, people wouldn't use it.  Whoever wrote that article is a complete idiot.

Answer 5

that's a horrible page and a horrible article. at first I thought it was a joke, but maybe not. in any case, don't believe any of it.

the part about waxing is completely off--if you don't wax, the bases will dry out. scraping your already dry bases would be a bad idea too. don't use any old plastic to repair gouges in your bases, but take them to a ski shop to get p-texed (or p-tex them yourself if you know how). you should take your skis into the shop to get the bases structured (once a year) and sharpen the edges when they need it. you don't want burrs, scratches or rust on your edges.

there is so much wrong with that article.

Answer 6

That's terrible.  You can probably run unwaxed skis in really cold snow if you don't mind trashing the bases.  In warmer conditions, a good wax job keeps the bases from icing, which is a big safety concern.  Also, a ski that's properly waxed and tuned for the snow conditions will be far more predictable and easy to control than one that isn't.

Answer 7

I'm not a skier, but a snowboarder and the bases are the same for skis or snowboards.  The bases are cross-linked ultra high molecular weight polyethylene.  P-Tex is one of the brands and  there are a number of manufacturers of this product.  The bases are designed to be slightly porous to accept wax, although not porous enough to let water pass.  The wax will fill any small scratches and dings in the surface.  

Using Pam, silicone or something not designed for bases will wear off in a run or two.  If you leave Pam on when the skis are in storage, it starts to break down and becomes very sticky, and it also may rot since it is a vegetable product.  

About the only thing that was correct is that if you use a temperature sensitive wax, you will have to clean and re wax if the temps go out of range of that wax.  The solution is to use an all temperature wax.