Lets talk delamination

[Hogis]

Sort of a Rant, sort of I legit want this problem solved.

I've had to retire my last 5pair or so of skis due to delamination issues, and since I've taken them on rails I in 9/10 cases won't get shit for warranty.

When I've talked with other skiers about this it's easy to see that i'm far from alone with having these issues. I've done everything from duct taping ski tips together to using my car as a clamp while I've waited for liters of epoxy to harden. I recently bought a much needed new pair of skis which lasted me less than a month before they've now delaminated under foot after an icy jump day. Such a disappointment..

What truly grind my gears are that it not like i've bought some off-brand crap, I use the same gear that plenty of pros use and promote. Do they mount new pairs every other week? Am I as a consumer supposed to buy a new pair every other week as well?

How on earth can we and ski manufacturers solve this problem?

Have you also encountered this? Which brands hold up and which don't?

 

[dwt802]

There is what some companies do like ON3P do and not have the edge wrap around the tips and have it cut off at the past contact point of your ski in the snow. It still skis the same, but prevents delams.

 

[shin-bang]

delam underfoot and delam in tip and tail are bit of different scenarios to me.

underfoot delam i can understand since youre hitting lots of rails.

tip delams should not be happening unless youre absoutely bashing your tips into large objects. tip and tail delams are bit more fixable as well.

curious to what brand youre riding and if you are doing a decent edge detune before you ride a new pair of skis.

 

[Cade2]

Stop buying factions then haha

 

[Hogis]

delam underfoot and delam in tip and tail are bit of different scenarios to me.

underfoot delam i can understand since youre hitting lots of rails.

tip delams should not be happening unless youre absoutely bashing your tips into large objects. tip and tail delams are bit more fixable as well.

curious to what brand youre riding and if you are doing a decent edge detune before you ride a new pair of skis.

Care to give any details on underfoot delamination due to rails? I guess you're thinking of the impact against metal that won't budge?

From my experience with tip and tail delamination it's always been due to impact from jumps, especially on softer skis since the tips/tails really slam down if you land with your tips/tails first (which is inevitable sooner or later). Easy to see if you got a camera with decent frame rate, looks like the skis are completely flat.

Detuning wise I always detune before I hit any rails. First with a rasp and later on fine-detuning with a grindstone. Certainly don't want both me and brand new skis demolished due to catching an edge.

Would love to see this thread get going since I know that i'm far from the only person with this problem occurring.

 

[shin-bang]

Care to give any details on underfoot delamination due to rails? I guess you're thinking of the impact against metal that won't budge?

From my experience with tip and tail delamination it's always been due to impact from jumps, especially on softer skis since the tips/tails really slam down if you land with your tips/tails first (which is inevitable sooner or later). Easy to see if you got a camera with decent frame rate, looks like the skis are completely flat.

Detuning wise I always detune before I hit any rails. First with a rasp and later on fine-detuning with a grindstone. Certainly don't want both me and brand new skis demolished due to catching an edge.

Would love to see this thread get going since I know that i'm far from the only person with this problem occurring.

Interesting!

Underfoot Delams that I’ve seen are where literally the whole base of the ski separates, not necessarily and edge crack that falls out.

Alrighty, what brand of ski and what models?

I’m now more curious into what techniques and materials they are using to make the ski and assuming that may have an effect

 

[weastcoat]

Tip and tail delam: way less likely on skis that don’t have total wraparound edges, at least that’s what I think. But if you destroy your tips and tails off shit then you’re gonna get delam. Just how it is.

Underfoot delam?? That’s actually a huge issue. Tip and tail delam isn’t because you can just epoxy and clamp and move on. Plus you can have a F’ed up tip or something and it won’t affect the way the ski rides. But underfoot delam is bad af. Never happened to me tho thank god.

Companies such as ON3P, Vishnu, Icelantic, Moment, Sego, and prob a few more all have 1 big thing in common: the way their sidewall is constructed and how it is attached to the topsheet. They all build their sidewalls with a blacklike material that is kinda soft. You can almost make tiny dents in it with your fingernail if you pressed hard enough. It’s kind of a rubbery plastic. I’ve never seen any cases of this kind of sidewall delaminating from the topsheet, again, because the topsheets of all these brands are built well and not too plasticky. An example of the plasticky thing is Armada. Their topsheets and sidewalls seem super fragile. Their topsheets seem very plasticky and so do their sidewalls. Their sidewalls seem like they would crack on an impact because they literally look like a square plastic bar. And I’ve seen so many cases of delaminated armadas, especially underfoot.

TLDR: Buy companies such as Vishnu, ON3P, Moment, Deviation, Icelantic because you won’t get any underfoot delam. It’s pretty much impossible it seems like.

**This post was edited on Apr 2nd 2019 at 12:18:38pm

 

[Hogis]

.....Alrighty, what brand of ski and what models?....

I'm not entirely sure I wanna throw these companies under the bus.

However, it's 'Big ski industry' and I recently learnt that most of my issues seems to come from the same factory in Austria (as well as China). I will definitely look into not buying from these factories next time.

lmao this fucking thread again, skis break, and rails on a scale of hardness are always harder than anything in a ski. when something encounters another object that is harder than it, it will break.

"lmao this fucking thread again" is exactly my point. This is a huge problem with skis today, especially if you ride park. I'm sick and tired of paying for skis that constantly break, skis are too expensive to be replaced like skateboards.

Like already stated in the thread-start if you've so much as been close to a rail you're in most cases fucked. It's an unfortunate situation where skis are expensive to make (I guess?) and durability can't keep up with the progression of park skiers.

...

TLDR: Buy companies such as Vishnu, ON3P, Moment, Deviation, Moment, Icelantic because you won’t get any underfoot delam. It’s pretty much impossible it seems like.

Solid answer. Very interesting if these companies actually use softer sidewalls and therefore are more durable.

Can @Iggyskier (ON3P) confirm?

**This post was edited on Apr 2nd 2019 at 11:24:57am

**This post was edited on Apr 2nd 2019 at 11:25:14am