Prepping new skis?

bustinthejus

bustinthejus

Active member
So I did a bit of searching, and I read through the entire ski maintenance thread, and it sounds like it would be a good idea to wax my skis multiple times before I first ski them, but how would I go about doing this, and how many times should I wax? Should I wax, wait like an hour, scrape and brush, and repeat? Or should I just wax and hot scrape for every application except for the last one? Also, should I be going cold waxes to warm waxes, or should I start with warm waxes and go to cold waxes? Finally, here's one of the best responses I found in the maintenance thread:

Swix mkes a Base Prep wax. Buy a 60g pack: http://www.reliableracing.com/detail.cfm?edp=10620870 (this is pretty much the best price out there).

The first wax application, your base is going to suck up the wax pretty much instantly. This will be visible; the darker-colored pools of wax will dry up quickly. Keep dripping on and ironing in wax until this stops. then wait for the wax to solidify (~20-30 min), and then scrape it and brush it out vigorously for about 5 minutes. Then wax again, same process as above, except the wax won't get sucked in as much. Then scrape & brush. Repeat until the base no longer sucks in the wax; your last application will just leave a layer of wax above the scraped/brushed base surfaced. Scrape/brush once more (devote a solid 10 minutes to this brushing, and then use a fiberline sheet or paper towel to wipe off any dirt), and let your skis set overnight. The next day, apply base prep once more, and then hot-scrape it (scrape while the wax is still liquid), and let it dry. Scrape, brush, and wait a half hour. Your bases are now ready to accept regular wax, so check your ski forecast and get-er-done!

But is base prep wax really much better than just waxing a bunch with normal waxes, or can I get by fine with normal waxes?

thanks!
 
Unless you're racing just use warm or universal. One hot scrape then 3 wax-scrape-brush cycles letting them cool completely before the scraping. Then your chosen wax for the conditions. Race techs say 15 for full saturation but they get paid to do that stuff and I have shit to do that's more important than waxing for days on end.

Get a good base grind first though, a lot of skis are pretty horrible straight out of the wrapper.
 
Check em with a True Bar before throwing down on a base grind though, expensive and you gotta save those for when you really need them.
 
do 5 full wax cycles with hot universal wax for normal skis, for race skis do like 10-15

no need for anything other than universal wax unless you're racing...then it's very important to use the right wax
 
This is my 11th winter of skiing and my family has been skiing for over 30 years and we wax our skis every 1 or 2 years (except before a race weekm my grandfather used to sharpen his edges) and i dont really see a different when they are.. so dont bust ur balls.. wax them once and thats it
 
unless your bases get hairy waxed or unwaxed is virtually no different in terms of speed....
waxed bases are however much more resistant to wear and tear, so waxing will in the first place prolong your skis life...

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top