XilR8 0 Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Calling all you waxers out there What wax do you generally use? Do you just go with the "universal" wax or do you try and use a temperature-specific was (yellow, red, blue)? If you use the temperature-specific wax, how do you decide which one to use? Do you look at the weather forecast? If I understand it right, it's the temperature of the snow, not the temperature of the air that is the relevant factor. How would you know that without going out there and sticking a thermometer into the snow? The reason I ask is sometimes I feel like my wax is giving me a "braking effect" rather than glide, and I suspect I'm using the wrong temperature wax. On a related note, do you have any particular brands you favour? I've used Swix, Toko and Matsumoto in the past but haven't really noticed any difference. Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I use the -2 to -8C stuff - thats about the usual temperature range on the mountains during the day in Japan. I used Swix LF last year and Gallium LF this. The Gallium stuff feels harder/more glassy than the Swix, although they're the same temp range. Other than that I cant tell any difference. Link to post Share on other sites
Ezorisu 0 Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Yes, it's the actual snow temperature that's critical. My friend has a little non-contact digital thermometer that looks like a automobile keyless entry or alarm fob that works well for this purpose. ...not sure of the brand (it's blue). That "braking effect" could be a wax type rather than a temperature range issue. If you're using regular hydrocarbon wax and the snow is wet and sticky you'll get more drag than if you had fluorocarbon wax. I'm sure someone on SJ Forums knows way more about this than I do... I generally use Toko hydrocarbon yellow most of the time, sometimes red if I think it will be colder. If I encounter an excessively sticky day, I'll put some fluorocarbon rub-on or liquid over that. I'm not sure off the top of my head what temp those colors are for, but I do recall being rather surprised at what the actual snow temperature was in relation to the ambient air temperature (it was warmer than I expected). I used to primarily run Toko red, but after seeing the numbers, I switched to yellow (softer, warmer), and there was a noticable improvement in glide. Link to post Share on other sites
dyna8800 3 Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Google is your friend for the following references, and so is Hertel, which is an all temperture wax. Have not seen it in Japan. If you are more performance minded, Dominator is probably better...then you need to worry about old snow vs. new snow. Available at ICI Sports or Victoria in ski-gai area. Wax wars are religious, just like the undergarment debate. If you really want to get into it, check out the Barking Bears on Epic Ski. Best of luck, Link to post Share on other sites
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