What's your base cleaner of choice

[1chris5]

I am not the biggest fan of tuning skis but I'm not going to shell out the cash for a season of tuning for skis and snowboards. I have not had success with @Philpug quick tuning metho but will go to costco next week to get the disposable cleaning towels. At the beginning of the season I do a full tune and then try to touch everything up as the season progresses. My favorite base cleaning method is hot scrape. I use this racewax warm wax: apply and scrape immediately a couple times. This is time consuming and gets expensive but I do this preseason. Because I have snowboards, I bought this one ball Jay (poor guy) citrus base cleaner for the snowboards; because there is a lot of real estate on my 164cm board plus the kids' boards. I am not wasting all that awesome warm wax on snowboards.

My question is - what is a good all-around base cleaner that I can use mid-season on skis and snowboards. I feel that the base cleaner dries the bases out but c'est la vie. I apply wax immediately to those bases afterward and hope this helps the bases bounce back. I am not impressed with old one ball. If you think numero uno is ok let me know why. Can you give me some base cleaning recommendations: products and or other techniques? Cheers.

 

[Dakine]

Jacques is the most fervent believer in Swix Glide Wax cleaner to clean skis without desaturating the bases.
They also make a wax remover and a citrus based version for those philosophically disinclined to dinosaur drippings.
There are also fluoro removers.
Me, I hot scrape for reasonable cleanup.
When you really want to remove built up crud I reach to the mechanics side of my shop and grab the non-chlorinated brake parts cleaner.
At $2.50 a can it is hard to beat.
And NO, it will not damage your HDPE sintered bases but you will need to resaturate them with wax because it takes off everything.

 

[Jacques]

Swix Glide Wax Cleaner.
The only thing you need. It does not dry a base like wax removers.
Would you hot scrape when the base has lift grease, tree sap, etc. I would not.
Hot scraping is way old school.
Once you use this stuff, you will never hot scrape again!
I have not hot scraped a ski in years now.
Get the large can.

 

[Philpug]

I am not the biggest fan of tuning skis but I'm not going to shell out the cash for a season of tuning for skis and snowboards. I have not had success with @Philpug quick tuning metho but will go to costco next week to get the disposable cleaning towels.

I am sorry to hear that, Did you try to turn up the iron a few degrees for the absorption/removal stage?

 

[Doug Briggs]

What are you cleaning off the bases?

I understand pine pitch and other dirt in the spring, but all season long?

 

[Primoz]

Actually... you still will hot scrape Swix glide wax cleaner is mainly to get fluor out of base when using whole bunch of HF overlays. Regardless what it says on box, it does very little to clean dirt out of base and it does very little for "normal" CH or LF waxes. Honestly, even with HF waxes, there's not all that much of need to bother with glide wax cleaner (overlays are different story), so unless you are deep into HF overlays, you won't have much of use for this.
Normal base cleaner (Swix Citrus solvent or Swix Base cleaner) are way to go when you end up skiing in spring crap. It sure does dry out base, so unless you really need to clean all that grease, dirt or pine tree tar our of base, stick with hot waxing.
PS: Regarding costs... Bottle of Swix Citrus solvent is something like 15eur, and you can easy have it for 4 or 5 years. 1kg of BP88 (which I normally use for pretty much everything except for real glide wax) is something like 30 or 40eur, and 1kg should be more or less enough to get you through the winter... at least I do, and I probably wax "a bit" more then average person here So all in all that's something like 50eur. Your skis were what 500, 600eur? Investing this much into skis is fine, but 50eur to maintain your investment is too much?

 

[Wilhelmson]

In the northeast there's usually plenty of man made frozen granular, ice, and rocks to clean your bases every time you ski.

 

[Jacques]

Actually... you still will hot scrape Swix glide wax cleaner is mainly to get fluor out of base when using whole bunch of HF overlays. Regardless what it says on box, it does very little to clean dirt out of base and it does very little for "normal" CH or LF waxes. Honestly, even with HF waxes, there's not all that much of need to bother with glide wax cleaner (overlays are different story), so unless you are deep into HF overlays, you won't have much of use for this.
Normal base cleaner (Swix Citrus solvent or Swix Base cleaner) are way to go when you end up skiing in spring crap. It sure does dry out base, so unless you really need to clean all that grease, dirt or pine tree tar our of base, stick with hot waxing.
PS: Regarding costs... Bottle of Swix Citrus solvent is something like 15eur, and you can easy have it for 4 or 5 years. 1kg of BP88 (which I normally use for pretty much everything except for real glide wax) is something like 30 or 40eur, and 1kg should be more or less enough to get you through the winter... at least I do, and I probably wax "a bit" more then average person here So all in all that's something like 50eur. Your skis were what 500, 600eur? Investing this much into skis is fine, but 50eur to maintain your investment is too much?

I know you know your stuff, but I beg to differ.

Here is an old video from a Swix Tech. It serves two purposes. Cleans and can clean fluoro's

 

[1chris5]

I am sorry to hear that, Did you try to turn up the iron a few degrees for the absorption/removal stage?

I did not try to turn up a few degrees. Hopefully that will do the trick. I love perfectly waxed skis, I just don't love the time it takes. Your technique would allow me to do weekly. Cheers

 

[1chris5]

What are you cleaning off the bases?

I understand pine pitch and other dirt in the spring, but all season long?

I ski on "packed powder" in the Poconos exclusively. I am not sure where the water comes from but I doubt it comes from a Britta pitcher (or a crystal clear stream that makes your beloved Coors beer). You can't imagine the dirt and grime that gets mixed up in this snow; not just from the guns, but the grounds the grooming machines etc. And in the Spring, the condition of the snow could bring some to tears.

This aint Philly Special water:

 

[Dakine]

Chairlift grease from loading and unloading ramps plus plenty of fine soot from groomer exhaust,add a trace of pine tar and fine grit from atmospheric dust: a perfect recipie for slow skis....

 

[Qpud]

Any experiences with off the shelf, non-ski specific, citrus cleaners?

 

[1chris5]

Actually... you still will hot scrape Swix glide wax cleaner is mainly to get fluor out of base when using whole bunch of HF overlays. Regardless what it says on box, it does very little to clean dirt out of base and it does very little for "normal" CH or LF waxes. Honestly, even with HF waxes, there's not all that much of need to bother with glide wax cleaner (overlays are different story), so unless you are deep into HF overlays, you won't have much of use for this.
Normal base cleaner (Swix Citrus solvent or Swix Base cleaner) are way to go when you end up skiing in spring crap. It sure does dry out base, so unless you really need to clean all that grease, dirt or pine tree tar our of base, stick with hot waxing.
PS: Regarding costs... Bottle of Swix Citrus solvent is something like 15eur, and you can easy have it for 4 or 5 years. 1kg of BP88 (which I normally use for pretty much everything except for real glide wax) is something like 30 or 40eur, and 1kg should be more or less enough to get you through the winter... at least I do, and I probably wax "a bit" more then average person here So all in all that's something like 50eur. Your skis were what 500, 600eur? Investing this much into skis is fine, but 50eur to maintain your investment is too much?

I will keep the cost/benefit analysis in mind, it's also the cost of time though. Thanks for the info on the swix glide wax; I don't bother with fluoro.

 

[Jacques]

Chairlift grease from loading and unloading ramps plus plenty of fine soot from groomer exhaust,add a trace of pine tar and fine grit from atmospheric dust: a perfect recipie for slow skis....

^ TRUTH!

 

[Jacques]

I will keep the cost/benefit analysis in mind, it's also the cost of time though. Thanks for the info on the swix glide wax; I don't bother with fluoro.

Thing is as stated in the video above from a Swix tech, it's not just about fluoro overlays.
It's cleans the base without drying the base. The wax IN the base remains. The crap you don't want to wax back in gets removed.
Here is a really old video I made. If I made it again, I would make things more clear. In it I say "remover" a few times. Mistake....oh well.

 

[Dwight]

@Jacques how does that swix cleaner compare to this cleaner?

 

[Jacques]

@Jacques how does that swix cleaner compare to this cleaner?

View attachment 58136

I don't know. I never used that one.

 

[Dakine]

When you really want them clean so you can start over without a grind....
Be careful, it may etch the sidewalls, degrease the bindings and knock you to lala land.
But if you want to take wax and grease off a surface, it gets results.

On the other hand, if you just want to take off hydrocarbons, silicones and fluros without too much penetration ..

As used in Joe's Garage ever since ski boots had laces...

Paying $100/gallon for solvents that cost $10/gal just isn't my thing.
But, what would I know, I'm only a PhD Chemical Engineer with 30 years making chemicals...

 

[Bad Bob]

Friction.

 

[Dakine]

Friction.

I love it when you talk dirty.......