no wax for spring.

i went to big bear today after i waxed my board and found out that wax is bad for spring snow. I was told the wax grabs dirt and piles it on the wax. I noticed that after my board slowed down after a few runs.  I took it to the repair shop and they took a base cleaner and cleaned the base. It made my base look dry and white.  I took it on another run and i flew past a lot of guys. Is this bad that im riding on a dried out board?...just wasted wax

yeah i used an all-temp bluebird wax, dirt just kept on building up

wax usually isn't on sale too much especially warm weather wax at local shops. this is the only time of year except November or October, when you use warm weather wax.

or just do what i do, i spit on my base or use KY jelly... provides all the extra glide i need.

I agree, you may have had too much wax on the bottom. If you leave thick patches, these tend to move around and attract dirt. It will slow you down.

Sometimes the snow is sooo abrasive it cuts the wax for you. I have read that the summer camp racers use this philsophy. They wax to keep all the chemicals and such from destroying their base, not to go fast.

Yup! the GNU CHB has an extruded base.

its just the slowest base you can possibly get!!!'
(out of the two Options)

sintered bases are much faster than extruded bases, but the require more wax

extruded bases are more durable, and dont require as much wax. but are slower

It isn't a super big deal, but the difference is just in the manufacuring. With extruded bases, they basically melt the material down and squeze it through a die into narrow sheets. It is cheap, quick, and gets the job done.

Originally posted by Nick Kinda off topic, but I've been wondering, since last time I went boarding with wax, no dirt came up on my board, but everyone else's board had loads of it (which were also waxed with the same wax), how do Salomon's "Zeolit" bases compare to the others?

I have no idea what Zeolit is, but most additives are in there to lower the coefficient of friction and give you more glide... and I've heard the Burner is very fast.  My guess would be either that the your friends rode through dirt and you didn't or the zeolit has a slight repulsion affect in the p-tex, which applies to dirt as well as water/snow... though it's hard to say without knowing what kind of boards your friends had (sintered or extruded, kinds of additives, etc).

i had all-temp wax and i found it fine in 60º weather... it did get sluggish at Sierra-At-Tahoe when the temps hit 70º's...

Originally posted by brodster Originally posted by Nick Kinda off topic, but I've been wondering, since last time I went boarding with wax, no dirt came up on my board, but everyone else's board had loads of it (which were also waxed with the same wax), how do Salomon's "Zeolit" bases compare to the others?   I haven't demo'd boards with the "Zeolit" bases this time of year, so I couldn't give you an exact opinion on their dirt and grime repellency (new word ). Boards that have come into the shop, etc haven't shown massive dirt build-up. I believe that base technology was designed more towards frictional reduction and durability. Please correct me if there is any more.   Personally, and this may seem a bit bone-headed, I try not to get caught up into the funky names that companies put onto their bases. A lot of the really cool names are just for show. Really, most of the bases are made by like 3 or 4 manufactures in the world. P-Tex and Durasurf are two that immediately come to mind. Everyone of these bases claims to improve speed and increase durability, but that is what we want out of any base, right? Without actual data sheets, it becomes hard to compare one base against another.   For instance, look at the P-Tex 900 base on Salomon boards. It sounds sweet, but the P-Tex 900 is actually an extruded base. Not necessarily a bad thing, but 900 sounds better.   Don't get me wrong, the boards with the "Zeolit" are sweet, but I can't find any hard evidence claiming they are better for dirt repelling and such.

I'm curious how much of a difference there is between different company's standards...

As I understand it, the base number is supposed to stand for the molecular weight, higher number = denser, more durable, more wax absorption.  My Axum has a 7200 sintered base, while the Special has a 4000 based (with "Gallium" additive).  That Finch I rode a while back also had a 7200 base.  My Special is CLEARLY faster than my Axum, and I don't notice a huge difference between pure speed on base of the Finch and the Special (though I rode them in very different snow conditions).  So I'm curious if those numbers have any actual meaning or if they're just marketing bs.

I think hoon nailed on the head. Yes, the numbers probably relate to something. And they are probably the most valid part of the whole mess. My point just being that people shouldn't get too wrapped up in some of the company created names.