Best ways to make rails less sticky?

Rparr

Rparr

Active member
So here in Ohio, our rails are fucked nearly all the time. I still can't figure out if it's because our resort is so bad at everything or if it's because of the weather. Either way, I'd like to take things into my own hands this year so I can actually throw down some stuff on our features. Is there anything that I could do to the rails short of taking a god damn grinder to them to reduce rust/stickiness? Rubbing it down with snow/wax helps of course, but it never lasts long. I'm looking for something that will last a bit longer than that. I've heard of people using sandpaper and steel wool. Anything like that you guys have tried?
 
I've found that sometimes hitting sticky rails super fast will make it seem slick. After I hit a rail at Jake Carney speeds a few times, it's a little less sticky and at least somewhat hittable. You could also just end up eating complete shit.
 
13840296:a_burger said:
tell your resort to grind their rails better

spray them with teflon and light them on fire
Click to expand...

Tbh I don't know if we even grind our rails. All summer they just lay on their side in the mud and build an insane amount of rust. The rust stains you can get are crazy. I had a good 3x3 foot stain on my jacket by falling once on a tube. One time I hit a down rails and I could literally feel myself slow down. If the rail was 10-15 feet longer I would have stopped no joke.
 
13840320:The.Fish said:
Tbh I don't know if we even grind our rails. All summer they just lay on their side in the mud and build an insane amount of rust. The rust stains you can get are crazy. I had a good 3x3 foot stain on my jacket by falling once on a tube. One time I hit a down rails and I could literally feel myself slow down. If the rail was 10-15 feet longer I would have stopped no joke.
Click to expand...

that is probably the problem then

you could tell the resort its a huge liability that will get them sued, 75% chance they fix it 25% chance they just can all the rails depending on the management
 
It has to do with a couple of factors. The quality of steel, thickness of the steel, humidity, temperature. A lot of times features made from snowmaking pipe will will be of a higher quality/harder steel. The thickness of square or rectangle tube dictates the radius of the edges. Thinner metal will have a smaller radius and you'll be able to tell when you're on your edges. Humidity and temperature come in to play in situations like rain or freezing fog. The best solution is a preventative one. Resorts generally buff out every feature during the preseason and they'll be either painted or covered until they're ready to be set up.

WD40 is a solvent so that's generally not a good idea. It works but... Go green, ya know? Pam actually works pretty well and I've heard decent things about tireshine but generally I don't like to use anything.

But all in all a grinder is probably what you need. If one of these isn't in your arsenal yet, it should be. https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/XAG01 They also make some better brushless models and ones with paddle switches but I think they get more expensive. Dewilt and milwaukee also make some but they tend to be a bit more pricey for what you get. Anyway, set one of those up with a wire cup brush and you'll be fine. If it's super heavy rust look into getting some fiber stripping discs. They'll get rust off without buffing material away like a flap disc will.
 
Honestly the solution is grind the shit out of them and use the right bit. When I worked parks last season when I was back home for my winter break we grinded the shit out of every feature (old or new) that came out of the shop and they all slid very well. Also sometimes old rails that have been put out before getting a good grind sometimes get the wrong paint stuck to the tops and the rust builds up on top and gives it a metal color. We had a rail that was super sticky because some dumbass last season brought it out without grinding stand used the wrong paint and people rode it until the rust developed and we couldn't figure out why it was so sticky until we took some tools to it. Simple fix but it was definitely confusing before we figured out what was going on.
 
13840321:a_burger said:
that is probably the problem then

you could tell the resort its a huge liability that will get them sued, 75% chance they fix it 25% chance they just can all the rails depending on the management
Click to expand...

that's a great idea. management are absolute jackasses here, that might be the only way they'll listen
 
13840340:Rparr said:
that's a great idea. management are absolute jackasses here, that might be the only way they'll listen
Click to expand...

Do you really want to go to court against the Boyd family with an unlimited supply of lawyers?
 
I find that it mainly has to do with temperture, humidity, and number of people hitting said features. At keystone we grind the shit out of every feature with a full repaint every summer, but still end up with stickiness problems (mainly early and late season due to temp and humidity swings). wax, wd40, sunscreen, goat seamen, and all types of lube help, but only for a short time without re-application due to 69,000 people hitting them per run.
 
Find a wirebrush and become it's best friend for a while. Some quality time with the rail and some brushing goes a long way getting rid of rust. Fucked up sections can be smoothed out with a flap disc.

Be careful how big of a wire brush you run. It's a lot of weight to spin and the smaller shittier grinders will burn out if you run too large of a brush for too long..

Paint isn't usually a problem but some people run some crazy thick paint coats on top. I doubt this has much to do with your problem but if you clean the rail, it's worth it to only use a nice light spray or leave it bare on top. Edges scrape the riding surface down anyway but it's nice if it's already done.

WARNING:

DO NOT RUN A GRINDER WITH A NORMAL GRIND WHEEL ON IT. It might clean of the rust but it will leave grooves for days.

Also even if you flap, there is a certain golden time on those discs. At first they'll groove a bit, then they hit a nice peak where shit's getting polished. Then they start to dip off again at the end, especially if you ding them up. Also run a high grit for the same reason.

Flap discs are expensive though and wire brushes do a good job. Try to get most done with a brush. Also make sure to wear a masc asbreathing rust all day isn't the healthiest.
 
Weather can be a factor, I remember nearly stopping on a 20ft down rail after hitting it at a very normal speed. It was at night and I could see the sparks illuminating the snow beneath me. The rail was completely fine earlier that day and the air was really humid.
 
13840340:Rparr said:
that's a great idea. management are absolute jackasses here, that might be the only way they'll listen
Click to expand...

come to peek n peak and youll have the slickest rails in the mid east
 
13840522:Rparr said:
That might just be the ticket
Click to expand...

If you’re within 3 hours and you’re in it to ski park I would highly suggest making the trip. Beats the hell out of any place in Ohio.
 
13840537:Chubz. said:
If you’re within 3 hours and you’re in it to ski park I would highly suggest making the trip. Beats the hell out of any place in Ohio.
Click to expand...

I'm actually less than 2 hrs if I recall. I'll definitely have to make a handful of trips up this year
 
13840429:SofaKingSick said:
do they really? that's funny. used to do it on our backyard rails but never figured a legit park would do that
Click to expand...

Yeah a lot of people say that pc uses shit metal on their rails.
 
We make our own wax for our park. I think it is just candle wax, olive oil and butter. Classic skate wax.

Or you could buy some wizard wax and support a great guy and skier.
 
13840548:brett_fisher said:
Yeah a lot of people say that pc uses shit metal on their rails.
Click to expand...

Are you sure it isn't silicone spray?

A lot of places use it on boxes mostly when they're sticky in the spring etc. Even for some of the major comps.

What do you mean by shit metal?
 
Anyone from 7 Springs hear anything about that flat double barrel with the pipes about 2 inches individuallly in diameter? That thing was the slickest rail I’ve ever slid, they had it out the 3rd weekenf they were open and I don’t think they took it out again.

**This post was edited on Oct 3rd 2017 at 6:32:25am
 
13841177:theabortionator said:
Are you sure it isn't silicone spray?

A lot of places use it on boxes mostly when they're sticky in the spring etc. Even for some of the major comps.

What do you mean by shit metal?
Click to expand...

Yeah its wd40 works pretty good. A theory is the metal on the rails isn't high quality.

when they blow snow it makes em way sticky too.

Brighton has better rails but i don't wanna make the switch i like jumps too much
 
as mentioned, wire brush.

if you need to, rub snow on it. wind, sun and dry air will make them stick.

and some features are just shitty. like anything made by northern rails.
 
13842827:GORILLAWALLACE said:
as mentioned, wire brush.

if you need to, rub snow on it. wind, sun and dry air will make them stick.

and some features are just shitty. like anything made by northern rails.
Click to expand...

Damn, they were a pretty big company. Were they not so great? I always wanted to try that circus feature they had. The "NR SUN" it just spun around and you would jump on it or something.
 
13843072:a_burger said:
to be fair most resorts probably haven't ground their features yet. Now if that was on the hill and open though your mountain could probably get the shit sued out of it
Click to expand...

oh thats what half of the rails look like mid season. they look like a chinese firework show when you slide them.
 
haha one time i was hitting this urban thing and it had that fake rust sprayed on and i went on to it and then stopped and fell off the edge onto a carpark it was really funny
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top