NateW Posted January 15 Report Share Posted January 15 (edited) If anyone has a favorite rub-on wax for cold days, I'd love to hear about it. It was 10F today and I used Zum's cold weather rub-on wax over a base that had my usual all-temp iron-on wax (brand unknown, I got a bag of sticks from a roommate years ago) and I was disappointed at how sticky the snow was. Especially after I switched boards and found that the iron-on wax rode exactly the same on its own. Zum's warm weather rub-on wax was plenty fast last spring, so I had high hopes for this stuff. But 10F is actually a little bit below the recommended range for the cold stuff anyway so that might be the problem. Anyway, I'm more interested in rub-on than iron-on because it rarely gets this cold and I've been happy with all temperature iron-on wax. I'm not sure it's worth the trouble to use an iron wax for just one day. Thanks in advance for any suggestions! Edited January 15 by NateW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted January 15 Report Share Posted January 15 Every wax is a rub-on wax. Add this and you're good: https://www.tognar.com/skimd-pro-glide-waxing-system/ I've been using a bar of One Ball Jay Ice Cold (rated for -12C and lower) for something like 10 years. It glides well down to about -30C. I'm getting near the end of the bar so I need to replenish. Hope they haven't changed the chemistry! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhamann Posted January 15 Report Share Posted January 15 3 hours ago, NateW said: 10F today 3 hours ago, NateW said: I was disappointed at how sticky the snow was. 3 hours ago, NateW said: Zum's warm weather rub-on wax was plenty fast last spring 3 hours ago, NateW said: But 10F is actually a little bit below the recommended range for the cold stuff 3 hours ago, NateW said: I'm not sure it's worth the trouble to use an iron wax for just one day. i think you may have answered your own question already. i personally love that cold grabby snow, but we still have to slide the stuff. the one layer topcoat may help, but there's still going to be compromise when it can get this cold or colder. when we use the correct specified temp wax for these cold conditions and it's still sticky, don't fret. we glide on a thin film of water. that's what the wax intentions are. no enough friction is created to welcome this film for the glide we're looking for. i'm no chemist, but this information was recently brought to my attention so thought i would share. makes sense to me. gotta put those knees in the front of the boots a little bit more, perhaps. also key to note is to use this harder/colder wax as kind of a hot scrape method and not wait to fully 'cure' or whatever you want to call it before you scrape. scrape 'warm'. otherwise it is a nightmare to work with. that one top layer is more or less gone after a day of riding, or two morning sessions. i use an LF4 or 5, but hate having to use the 4 because of the working properties; ie iron temp (311f), scraping sensitivities and/or lack thereof, etc. I do tend to just use these along the edges and not the whole board as a compromise too. maybe a drip up the middle. at least it's cold! finally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 15 Report Share Posted January 15 I gave up regularly ironing on wax about 10 yrs ago. I might do one treatment at the beginning of the season and then simply maintain by rubbing wax on and using a cork to rub it in. I'd use any "polar" wax for below zero. I tried Fast Stik "wax" about 4 years ago. I've been using the same chapstick size to maintain 10 boards. It's rated for neg 10° to 32°. We ride in well below zero F° several days each season and it works well enough at 20 below. I just ordered more so I don't run out. Simple, easy. No more regular wax for me. After using it regularly, it seems to last longer on the base. Not that it builds up, but maybe becomes embedded in and bonded to the base. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st_lupo Posted January 15 Report Share Posted January 15 I wouldn’t really want to have to rub it on but a couple of weekends ago we had -25C with snow that was a week old. Saturday I had cheap white glider on the center base with speed stick on the edges and it suuucked (but there was lots of tbar riding that day). Bought and hot waxed with Swix PS 5 that night and it was a whole different story on Sunday. I would hate to have to rub speedstick on a whole base. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Utah Posted January 15 Report Share Posted January 15 +1 for Fast Stik. Can be applied in the field, although I prefer to rotobrush it in. Fast to apply, fast on the boards and zero mess. Love the smell of ski wax in the winter but happy to give up the waste/mess and manual labor of traditional waxes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 4 hours ago, CB Utah said: +1 for Fast Stik. Can be applied in the field, although I prefer to rotobrush it in. Fast to apply, fast on the boards and zero mess. Love the smell of ski wax in the winter but happy to give up the waste/mess and manual labor of traditional waxes. The Fast Stik spring wax is pretty amazing too. Much softer stick, so it uses up faster, but worth it to keep in your pocket when the temps are above average. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NateW Posted January 16 Author Report Share Posted January 16 Thanks for the recommendations! I had good results with the FastStik warm rub-on wax too. Funny thing is, I completely forgot that I bought their cold wax at the same time... so I already have some, and I'll give it a try next time temperatures get this low again. And then the others, if FastStik ain't enough to make me happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 Best to get the old wax off first. It will last longer when applied directly to the base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cthulhufish Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 9 hours ago, st_lupo said: Bought and hot waxed with Swix PS 5 that night and it was a whole different story on Sunday. My vote is for "suffer through hot waxing with CH4/Polar or CH5/PS5". They are awful to work with, but they get impressive results on cold, fresh snow. Rotobrushes recommended. And a respirator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st_lupo Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 4 hours ago, Cthulhufish said: My vote is for "suffer through hot waxing with CH4/Polar or CH5/PS5". They are awful to work with, but they get impressive results on cold, fresh snow. Rotobrushes recommended. And a respirator. Do you need a respirator with the PS5? They state that it doesn't contain flourine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cthulhufish Posted January 17 Report Share Posted January 17 It is fluorine free, but rotobrushing kicks up a lot of fine dust, and it's not a good idea to be inhaling a cloud of fine dust of anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.