Latest posts for the topic "Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?"

Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:06:53 GMT

Anyone any idea why 2 pairs of serviced and shop waxed (in UK) K2's would need re-doing by day 4 (last week) while a pair of Rossignol and Head owned by others in party where fine all week? This is the 2nd year in a row it's happened. Yes the temperature dropped but why didn't all skis need re-waxing? :shock: Trying hard not to fall out of love with my skis........grrrrr

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:26:17 GMT

Weird

My mrs has got k2 skis and the guy who services them says k2 bases come up superb.

Any idea what kind of wax was used?

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:38:00 GMT

Mid range all temps apparently, it's a good ski shop, they put mine and my daughters skis in winter wax and then serviced them just before we went for free to see if that helped but sadly not......the resort waxed them and they flew again.....just don't get it!?

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:40:35 GMT

S are you saying after they were waxed in resort they were fine?

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:58:42 GMT

There are about 8 to 10 main ingredients used in ski wax. The performance depends on the selected mix. A UK application is likely to be a standard commercial mid range mix. Also, the application equipment may not be the same as an in-resort shop.

The general wax mix used in resort can be geared to the average ambient ground temperatures, (not air temps).

A wax for January skiing will not be the same as that for March skiing. Wax components in January generally are comprised of elements with long carbon molecular chains, and those for warmer months would utilise short MCs.

Hence, in the UK, they would not be able to plan for your particular conditions.

Now, if your skis were being prepped for the Hahnemkamm.......

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:04:46 GMT

Laura, I forgot to say ~ I carry a small chunks of red and silver wax in my internal pocket. If my skis are going slow, I face both bases upto the sun when I stop for a coffee, and rubwax them when I am ready for the off ~ only takes one minute. Except that someone else sees you, and asks can you do their skis......

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:18:39 GMT

Haha! I put a teflon wax on to try and seal the wax (well kind of) but even that didn't help.....that means the hassle of sorting an in resort wax before skiing.....just dont get why some skis seem to be OK....thank you tho :)

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:31:16 GMT

It isn't the ski brands, Laura. I keep half a dozen pairs of skis in the celler in Niederau. Just for pure devilment, I sometimes race wax up the longest, (2m) skis, also K2s, and let them rip.

In general, I wax my skis twice a week when in resort. Three times a week in March.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:35:56 GMT

Oh....OK let them off then....was like battling with a couple of wild ponies strapped to my feet when they were waxed mid-week.....in my case not sure if that's a good thing....:) :) Definitely wont go blaming the ski shop now...!

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:41:51 GMT

Oh...OK I excuse my skis then.....and the ski shop, definitely discovered their speed potential with mid-week wax, bit like having a couple of wild ponies strapped to my feet....hilarious trying to contain them! Thank you muchly :)

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 23:07:14 GMT

Laura, during my many years of skiing, I have certainly applied some descriptive assertions directed towards my skies, but "Wild Ponies"! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Errm, it couldn't be the person in the saddle???

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 02:52:17 GMT

Skis from the same company can come from different factories, and have very different factory wax protocols. The Ptex and the structure grind can also be very different from model to model. Some structures might be subject to "base burn" sooner as well.

Best to hot box them, or find a store with the new infra red waxing machines.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:03:34 GMT

Sounds like you need to get 'Clean' the base of your Ski.

You can get a wax remover and base cleaner, it strips out all the dirt and grime that can stop wax sticking to the ski and which can affect performance.

Strip it all the way back and start again with a fresh clean base for your wax to stick to.

Hope this helps.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:48:15 GMT

I had my skis waxed in the uk last year at a large ski store attached to an indoor ski slope. The wax lasted a couple of days. I now get the edges done only and hot wax them myself. Funny enough the wax lasted the week.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:20:47 GMT

I have been waxing my own skis for some time now and have never had any
problems with the wax not lasting the whole week, although I will never get the perfect base finish doing them by hand in my garage as compared to a ski shop machine finish. I give my skis three coats of wax the week before we go skiing and it always seem to do the trick, I do always carry a a bottle of quick wax which I used this year on Little W's skis before her Slalom race and also a peice of wax which I tend to use on the edges when skis are dry and in transit home ward bound.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:13:57 GMT

So can anyone recommend a wax, spray or otherwise that you can apply yourself while on piste to liven them up, this will be used only between professional servicing.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:22:58 GMT

Dave Mac...hahahah def person in the saddle...my comedy value is high!

Find all comments interesting, this was after full ski shop service and wax, but will find out if they strip the wax first. I used teflon wax to try and liven them up, helped a little at first then proper wax definitely needed.....going to talk to ski shop too, been in so much we're truly bonded!

Cheers all :)

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:36:57 GMT

The only reason I can think of is that the base materials were different. If they are cheap skis they might have HMWPE (High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) bases which don't take up any wax. As K2 is an American ski company they might be using DuraSurf from Crown Plastics for their bases. Unlike the European manufactures Isosport (Isospeed) and Creative Plastic Solutions (P-tex) Crown Plastics doesn't anneal the UHMWPE (Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene) strip as part of the manufacturing process so their base materials take up less wax.

The usual methods shops use to wax skis don't get much wax into the bases, the best way to wax them is using an infrared ski waxer (polyethylene readily absorbs infrared radiation) failing that a good waxing iron does a pretty good a job, just don't get the base too hot.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 23:01:15 GMT

brooksy wrote:
So can anyone recommend a wax, spray or otherwise that you can apply yourself while on piste to liven them up, this will be used only between professional servicing.

Nearly anything you apply on the piste is going to wear off very quickly. An easy method that usually last a day or more is to cold wax the skis in the evening. Use a bar of universal, or a warm temp wax like a crayon all over the bases. Then use a green scouring pad to rub in, and remove the excess. You could then brush as well if desired.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:02:46 GMT

Thanks so much, US tech stuff makes sense, maybe it is too much to expect a wax to last a week,will approach it differently next time! :)

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:37:52 GMT

I would take "Swingers advice", I really do not think enough wax is getting into the bases, there are good points that all have mentioned on this thread, buy some equipment and do it your self, initial set costs but you know what has been put onto your skis, and Like I said before three coats of wax for me, not the one you possibly get in a ski shop.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:17:46 GMT

Okey Dokey DIY it is! Cheers chaps! :)

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Tue, 13 Oct 2015 10:10:48 GMT

Hi all.

An old thread but it came up first when I searched for a possible thread.

Now we have 3 set of skis in the family (shortly 4) it looks like it will be cheaper for me to wax them myself moving forward as we tend to go 3 times a season.

Anybody got any suggestions for a good (and value for money!!) list of kit (hot waxing). I know a couple of places do a kit, but you are tied to their product suggestions and not sure if you could pick up similar or better products individually.

I'm sure everyone has their preferences but thought I would ask for a good starting point.

Thanks

Lee

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:37:17 GMT

HI Lee,

Spend a few minutes on YouTube and see what goes into a "home tune-up". It's more than just wax. Wax is the last step after p-tex, flattening, sharpening... then after comes scraping, brushing, buffing....

Each year, for Christmas, I top off my kids kits as they do their own skis/boards.

It takes a while to learn how to do each step properly. It helps if you know some racing kids that will tune your equipment for some extra scratch.

Economy of scale and knowing the actual skill (cause it takes practice) for someone skiing 3 times a year??? I'd just pay someone.

Cheers!

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 19:51:43 GMT

Thanks for the comment I appreciate your thoughts. But as I have only 2 thumbs not 10, have watched most of the videos regarding repairing tuning and waxing, we ski in total about a month of the season in all conditions, there's four of us and I don't have bottomless pockets I am prepared to learn as we all start somewhere. But thanks for your suggestion.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 20:11:31 GMT

It is kinda fun to learn. Also, you become even more popular. So I wish you luck!!

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 20:17:43 GMT

Could always do with being more popular! You may well be right in the long run but looking forward to learning something new, giving it a go and getting a bit more space from the kids in the shed!!! Lol. Thanks Canadianskier.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Tue, 20 Oct 2015 22:40:53 GMT

If waxing is all you want to do and assuming you've got a workbench in your shed, all you need are two pieces of wood thick enough to support the skis so that the bindings are off the bench, a bungee cord luggage strap to hook onto the bindings and the bench so that they don't move about, a couple of strong rubber bands to hold the brakes up, some wax, an iron and a roll of Fiberlene. A basic waxing iron can be had for about 30 quid. If you can lay your hands on an old dry iron it will work just as well.

Get a biggish block of universal wax (ca. 150g) dab the wax on the hot iron and crayon it onto the base, when the base is covered iron it in. Be careful not to get the base too hot or the bond between the base and the ski will break and the base will blister, keep the iron moving! Then pull off a length of Fiberlene and place it between the iron and the base, whilst holding the iron pull it along the base with the Fiberlene, this will remove most of the excess wax.

You don't need to bother scraping or brushing the bases afterwards as the excess wax usually comes off on the first run.

Why do you only want to wax them? To do a proper job you need to sharpen the edges as well.

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 08:56:41 GMT

Now my method,after years of youtube research, is to gently heat the sole of the ski till it quite warm and then give them a good clean using a mild solvent or wax cleaner. I then repair the soles if needed..ah the smell of burning P.Tex in the morning, then give the edges a sharpen . I then warm the soles up again and rub a generous helping of wax all over: I find this is less messy than melting wax onto the sole then spreading it.. I then run the iron over the wax until its melted and allow to cool then scrape off the excess and then brush vigorously with a stiff brush ..I use an old travel iron and a plastic scraper with a stiff scrubbing brush also some fine wet and dry sandpaper to smooth the soles after administering the PTex

Re:Why wont my K2's hold their wax....?

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 15:29:23 GMT

Pretty much Nailed it Daved!

The only thing I would add is playing with the angles of sharpening. If you let the racing kids do your edges, they like to put them really close to flat and super sharp tip to tail. Most rec skiers get better results with up to a 30degree angle as well as dulled tips and tails. My bastard file has tape wrapped around one end that rests on the ski to produce the angle that I feel works well for me. I was turned on that that trick while patrolling in Canada years back. We had a community bench that we could use when waiting for something to happen. I have to add, and thus agree with SwingBeep, wax is good, but the biggest bang for your buck isn't always wax. If you want to do a quick field fix, it's much more often edge sharpen (after an untoward encounter with the natural terrain) or a hang nail causing drag. Going back to Daved's comment, when you have the time, tools and skill, do it all! And use his waxing method, just pouring it on and hoping for the best will do more harm that good, also it will just all scrape off in the first few runs. I would add, you can learn sharpening on YouTube, but works better if you can get someone to show you in person, it's a bit of an art.