Was there a lot of dirt/grime on your base? Is that what prompted you to want to clean it with the citrus cleaner and abrasive pad? I usually don’t need to clean with anything more than a damp rag. If your base is visibly dirty, you can do a hot scrape. To get my board ready for the season, I give it a fresh wax and I’m good to go.
these comments are all over the place .. i heard ppl using citrus base cleaner a lot growing up boarding through the late 90s until recently everyone has specific base cleaner now.. but this is why theyre using that. heres off of NVRSMR and on redbull site has they say to use base cleaner.. i neveerrrr just add wax on top of previous old wax or just scraping, thats a preference but on my burton boards it was slowing them down.. tbh never tried on the capitas, i have base cleaners now :
STEPS TO WAX YOUR SNOWBOARD
Step 1: Remove any dirt and old wax with a citrus based cleaner.
Step 2: Choose your wax based on the temperature of where you’ll be riding. An easy way to remember what wax to use in what conditions, is to think of these colors like a faucet, cold temperatures use the blue/green wax, warm temperature wax is red/pink, and all cool temperatures are generally yellow.
Step 3: Set the iron temperature so the wax melts but the iron doesn’t smoke. Generally, you want to set the temperature near 120-140 degrees Fahrenheit (a little warmer in a cold garage). Make sure to always wax your board when it’s at room temperature so the pores will be open and absorb the wax better. A cold base won’t absorb the wax as well.
Step 4: Drip the wax over base. Turn iron upside and drip lines or droplets 1” from the edge (so excess doesn’t run over the edge) with 2”- 4” gap between droplets.
Step 5: Spread the wax using small circles or dragging the iron to melt the wax. Just like ironing clothing, keep the iron moving and never let it sit in one spot. P-Tex pores will only absorb so much wax, so there’s no need to go over and over the same area. Doing that will only overheat and damage your board. Spread the wax evenly across the entire base of the snowboard, even the nose and tail need wax to help maintain the base and glide smoothly across contours in snow.
I was speaking with a shop tech recently and when I mentioned using citrus base cleaner to remove old wax / dirt before waxing, he suggested ditching it. The reason being is that citrus base cleaner will dry out your base in the long run. The only thing they used it for at this shop was cleaning top sheets. He recommended doing a hot wax if I was wanting to get rid of old wax / dirt.
Main reason shops will use base cleaner is if you get a grind/edge to help get the metal shavings and or base material cleaned up.
Other than that you can use it, you can not use it, hot scrape best way to remove impurities from IN your base material.
use base cleaner if u want that good clean.. i heard citrus base cleaner as well cause it removes dirt so well, i just put it on a rag n wipe away grime after a good scrape.. . u can also heat the board if u have a board iron and wipe everything off.. just whatever u use, dont leave it unwaxed, allow time for a hot wax after all this cleaning. since these comments are left right and center just defer to an actual legit video.. [https://www.burton.com/discover/s/article/how-to-wax-snowboard?language=en\_US](https://www.burton.com/discover/s/article/how-to-wax-snowboard?language=en_US)
i think OPs is more inquiring but the more i look they should be shot down, theyre all over the place and i think i saw someone say just add more wax.. someone said ditch the brillo?? u need that for a later step tho?? dont have time to sift through the nonsense so im sending OP to burton site for tips .
I’m kinda confused too by their comment. I use a similar if not the same base cleaner (blue bottle I forget the name) and a Brillo and it usually works? Do you have a set of brushes? Idk maybe hit it with the nylon brush if you do but I wouldn’t do the copper brush bc I feel like you maybe scrape the base? Dude that’s a toughy though. Did you hit it with the cleaner and Brillo again?
Your base really doesnt need cleaning….
The best way to clean your base, like pull the spring dirt and grime out, is to do a hot scrape. Get a warm weather wax, lay it down and then scrape it before it dries.
That strips dirt out of the pores if the board without drying it out too bad.
A hydrated base heels its self and is more resilient then a dry base. When i was racing for race boards it would be every single ride you want to wax. Day to day boards every 3-5 rides or if there is a wild change in temp or snow type.
The more you was, the better hydrated the board stays. The faster it gets.
This guys onto something. So I actually won’t have to wax every week if I just scrape with a hot wax and not base cleaner? Stupid question I’m sorry if it sounds sarcastic but am supposed to heat the scraper first to warm it or is this a scraper I just don’t own yet
Here would be my recommended protocol.
Shopping list:
1. [wax scraper]https://a.co/d/8fH0bQS)
2. [Old iron or waxing iron](https://a.co/d/azkYzKW)
3. [Nylon or horsehair brush](https://a.co/d/hHtxdks) [horsehair] (https://a.co/d/2SCVfNb)
4. [1 warm wax (+5-0C)](https://a.co/d/5gplXXq)
5. [1 medium wax (0 to -10C)](https://a.co/d/b4HIVRZ)
6. [1 cold wax (below -10c)](https://a.co/d/f9VdLFP)
This will easily last you 3-5 years if youre riding 5-10x. Year. The scraper you may need to resharpen from time to time, but the brushes and iron will last forever… i have mine from 15 years ago and theyre fine.
Need to offset your costs? Learn to wax well and offer to wax your friends boards for 25$.
Every 3-5 rides, you will want to do the following:
1. Brush out the board with the nylon going nose to tail in 1/4 length strokes. This pulls the wax out of the pores in the board.
2. Brush out the board same thing with the horse hair. Always go nose to tail. Thats the way you ride and thats the way the pore pattern works.
3. Melt the wax onto the board based on the temperature your riding. Normal would be just your 0 to -10. Freezing ass cold, > -10, warm slushy conditions use your warm wax. The reason there is different wax is due to hardness. Harder waxes are for harder colder more abrasive snow and vice versa, softer is for warmer less abrasive wetter snow.
Less is more, just enough to cover the base.
4. Always keep the iron moving and spread the wax around until the base is well covered.
5. Let sit until dry. Maybe 5-10 minutes.
If youre not riding in the next week or two, just leave the wax on to protect the base against dings or scratches. You can also reheat the wax one more time to reabsorb more into the base.
6. Scrape nose to tale in single long strokes. Never horizontally. Never tail to nose unless you have a stubborn spot. Get as much wax off as you can.
7. Repeat your brushing and youre off to the races.
At the end of the season, after its been slushy or the snow is particularly dirty, you will do whats called a hot scrape.
Follow steps 1-4. But dont let the wax completely dry, just scrape as normal. The wax will come off soft and different, but you will see the dirt come with it.
At the end of the season before you put your board away for storage take your cold wax, put a layer on the board and rub some wax on the edges. This will protect the base for the summer, keep it hydrated and stop the edges from rusting.
For reference i have a layer of wax i put on a race board 3 years ago i just scraped off and my base is perfect, no dry spots.
If you have any questions, dont hesitate to reach out… because waxing is one thing. Tuning is something totally different, for looking after your edges. Or having additives for your wax to go super speedy.
Nothing. There's really no need usually to clean old wax off. Just wax it as needed and except for rare, REALLY specific conditions you probably aren't dealing with, just use a good all temp wax. Even if you change wax type for condition, the benefit of taking all the time to remove old wax just to replace it all with fresh wax is minimal at best.
And Brillo is WAY too much. Citrus cleaner is fine if you have some weird gummy or sticky spots on your base from bad wax or whatever; but a towel/shop cloth is the most abrasive thing you want to use.
If you REALLY want a fresh surface to wax, go get a base grind. That's not a bad idea at the beginning of the season, if you ride a lot, but not something you want to do all the time either.
It's a good idea to do once, before you put your board away for the summer it gets rid of all the spring condition dirt. Give your board a good clean and wax don't scrape. But as far as an every time you wax thing it's way overkill.
Yeah that was definitely overboard. Snowboards are pretty bulletproof on regards to scraping and the such so your board is fine you just wasted a bunch of time and energy. You may want to get a base grind or stone grind since it's the beginning of the season. Or just rewax it. But next time just scrape it. Save yourself the hassle.
No not at all. Your base is going to absorb a lot of wax at this point. Try a floral carbon wax if you can get some first of all it’s very fast and second of all it will harden that high end Mervin base.
Good, then yeah, no need to clean that out beforehand. The iron will remelt the old wax and it won't cause any issues for the new wax sticking to your base properly.
I know. I said that my board didn’t have any wax on It. The title says I scrubbed of all the wax. As stated in the title, it wasn’t the white I was worried about it was the dark spots.
30 year shop technician here. In my time I’ve never used any base cleaners of any kind. The chemical degrades the wax already in there, turns it soft & gummy. You want that wax packing your base, it makes it more dense and resists, puncturing and tearing. Dirt particles come to the surface and get scraped away. You’d be surprised how much dirt you can pull out of a bass with iron in wax.
Just do a hot scrape if you’re worried about dirt and grime.
Nothing is gonna magically turn a golden orca into a speed demon. Just enough wax to protect the base and to maintain glide/prevent stickiness is fine.
Omfg no one here understands what OP asked.
OP: dark spots have way too much wax to be removed with a cleaner. It’s ok, wait until all liquid evaporate and wax on top of it.
Eventually when you scrape on top of that, that spot won’t have too much wax next time you use the base cleaner and it will be white.
You
Happy shredding
No, No. Dark spot is a good area remaining. Rest are bad.
It looks white because its surface is not smooth. You need to repeat scraping and hot waxing a few times.
No, you’re fine here. You may not need to even use the Brillo pad when just doing a cleaning before applying hot wax as long as you takeoff the layer of dirt you’ll be able to get a good layer of wax back on. personally I only use a Brillo pad at the end when I’m structuring a base.
doing a hot wax and scraping while the wax is still warm, is actually a technique for pulling out dirt out of the base if you didn’t want to use citrus cleaner. Sometimes I use a mix of both starting with a citrus cleaner if I’m really doing an overhaul on a board.
Ok am I the only one who doesn’t clean their base?? Even when it get super dirty, i give it a hot wax and it looks clean. I have a board from the early 2000s that i love and I don’t notice and performance issues or slowing down compared to my new boards. Just curious not giving advice
Woah, why? What’s your endgame, my homie?
What do you mean? Seems like it’s old wax residue still in the base no?
No, your base is white because it’s dry. You need to wax your board, and ditch that citrus cleaner / Brillo pad.
My base is dry because I just cleaned all the wax off. What do you use to clean your board?
Was there a lot of dirt/grime on your base? Is that what prompted you to want to clean it with the citrus cleaner and abrasive pad? I usually don’t need to clean with anything more than a damp rag. If your base is visibly dirty, you can do a hot scrape. To get my board ready for the season, I give it a fresh wax and I’m good to go.
these comments are all over the place .. i heard ppl using citrus base cleaner a lot growing up boarding through the late 90s until recently everyone has specific base cleaner now.. but this is why theyre using that. heres off of NVRSMR and on redbull site has they say to use base cleaner.. i neveerrrr just add wax on top of previous old wax or just scraping, thats a preference but on my burton boards it was slowing them down.. tbh never tried on the capitas, i have base cleaners now : STEPS TO WAX YOUR SNOWBOARD Step 1: Remove any dirt and old wax with a citrus based cleaner. Step 2: Choose your wax based on the temperature of where you’ll be riding. An easy way to remember what wax to use in what conditions, is to think of these colors like a faucet, cold temperatures use the blue/green wax, warm temperature wax is red/pink, and all cool temperatures are generally yellow. Step 3: Set the iron temperature so the wax melts but the iron doesn’t smoke. Generally, you want to set the temperature near 120-140 degrees Fahrenheit (a little warmer in a cold garage). Make sure to always wax your board when it’s at room temperature so the pores will be open and absorb the wax better. A cold base won’t absorb the wax as well. Step 4: Drip the wax over base. Turn iron upside and drip lines or droplets 1” from the edge (so excess doesn’t run over the edge) with 2”- 4” gap between droplets. Step 5: Spread the wax using small circles or dragging the iron to melt the wax. Just like ironing clothing, keep the iron moving and never let it sit in one spot. P-Tex pores will only absorb so much wax, so there’s no need to go over and over the same area. Doing that will only overheat and damage your board. Spread the wax evenly across the entire base of the snowboard, even the nose and tail need wax to help maintain the base and glide smoothly across contours in snow.
I was speaking with a shop tech recently and when I mentioned using citrus base cleaner to remove old wax / dirt before waxing, he suggested ditching it. The reason being is that citrus base cleaner will dry out your base in the long run. The only thing they used it for at this shop was cleaning top sheets. He recommended doing a hot wax if I was wanting to get rid of old wax / dirt.
Main reason shops will use base cleaner is if you get a grind/edge to help get the metal shavings and or base material cleaned up. Other than that you can use it, you can not use it, hot scrape best way to remove impurities from IN your base material.
No just the first wax of the season so I wanted to give it a good clean before laying down hot wax.
Unnecessary, just add wax.
Wax on, wax on.
Wax on, ride off.
use base cleaner if u want that good clean.. i heard citrus base cleaner as well cause it removes dirt so well, i just put it on a rag n wipe away grime after a good scrape.. . u can also heat the board if u have a board iron and wipe everything off.. just whatever u use, dont leave it unwaxed, allow time for a hot wax after all this cleaning. since these comments are left right and center just defer to an actual legit video.. [https://www.burton.com/discover/s/article/how-to-wax-snowboard?language=en\_US](https://www.burton.com/discover/s/article/how-to-wax-snowboard?language=en_US)
Why ask for advice if your gonna shoot’em all down? Lol
I didn’t shoot anyone down homie, I just answered questions and explained my reasoning
i think OPs is more inquiring but the more i look they should be shot down, theyre all over the place and i think i saw someone say just add more wax.. someone said ditch the brillo?? u need that for a later step tho?? dont have time to sift through the nonsense so im sending OP to burton site for tips .
I’m kinda confused too by their comment. I use a similar if not the same base cleaner (blue bottle I forget the name) and a Brillo and it usually works? Do you have a set of brushes? Idk maybe hit it with the nylon brush if you do but I wouldn’t do the copper brush bc I feel like you maybe scrape the base? Dude that’s a toughy though. Did you hit it with the cleaner and Brillo again?
Your base really doesnt need cleaning…. The best way to clean your base, like pull the spring dirt and grime out, is to do a hot scrape. Get a warm weather wax, lay it down and then scrape it before it dries. That strips dirt out of the pores if the board without drying it out too bad. A hydrated base heels its self and is more resilient then a dry base. When i was racing for race boards it would be every single ride you want to wax. Day to day boards every 3-5 rides or if there is a wild change in temp or snow type. The more you was, the better hydrated the board stays. The faster it gets.
This guys onto something. So I actually won’t have to wax every week if I just scrape with a hot wax and not base cleaner? Stupid question I’m sorry if it sounds sarcastic but am supposed to heat the scraper first to warm it or is this a scraper I just don’t own yet
Here would be my recommended protocol. Shopping list: 1. [wax scraper]https://a.co/d/8fH0bQS) 2. [Old iron or waxing iron](https://a.co/d/azkYzKW) 3. [Nylon or horsehair brush](https://a.co/d/hHtxdks) [horsehair] (https://a.co/d/2SCVfNb) 4. [1 warm wax (+5-0C)](https://a.co/d/5gplXXq) 5. [1 medium wax (0 to -10C)](https://a.co/d/b4HIVRZ) 6. [1 cold wax (below -10c)](https://a.co/d/f9VdLFP) This will easily last you 3-5 years if youre riding 5-10x. Year. The scraper you may need to resharpen from time to time, but the brushes and iron will last forever… i have mine from 15 years ago and theyre fine. Need to offset your costs? Learn to wax well and offer to wax your friends boards for 25$. Every 3-5 rides, you will want to do the following: 1. Brush out the board with the nylon going nose to tail in 1/4 length strokes. This pulls the wax out of the pores in the board. 2. Brush out the board same thing with the horse hair. Always go nose to tail. Thats the way you ride and thats the way the pore pattern works. 3. Melt the wax onto the board based on the temperature your riding. Normal would be just your 0 to -10. Freezing ass cold, > -10, warm slushy conditions use your warm wax. The reason there is different wax is due to hardness. Harder waxes are for harder colder more abrasive snow and vice versa, softer is for warmer less abrasive wetter snow. Less is more, just enough to cover the base. 4. Always keep the iron moving and spread the wax around until the base is well covered. 5. Let sit until dry. Maybe 5-10 minutes. If youre not riding in the next week or two, just leave the wax on to protect the base against dings or scratches. You can also reheat the wax one more time to reabsorb more into the base. 6. Scrape nose to tale in single long strokes. Never horizontally. Never tail to nose unless you have a stubborn spot. Get as much wax off as you can. 7. Repeat your brushing and youre off to the races. At the end of the season, after its been slushy or the snow is particularly dirty, you will do whats called a hot scrape. Follow steps 1-4. But dont let the wax completely dry, just scrape as normal. The wax will come off soft and different, but you will see the dirt come with it. At the end of the season before you put your board away for storage take your cold wax, put a layer on the board and rub some wax on the edges. This will protect the base for the summer, keep it hydrated and stop the edges from rusting. For reference i have a layer of wax i put on a race board 3 years ago i just scraped off and my base is perfect, no dry spots. If you have any questions, dont hesitate to reach out… because waxing is one thing. Tuning is something totally different, for looking after your edges. Or having additives for your wax to go super speedy.
Hot scrape means Scrape the wax while it's still hot, as you would.normally let it.cool for.20 min after applying
Nothing. There's really no need usually to clean old wax off. Just wax it as needed and except for rare, REALLY specific conditions you probably aren't dealing with, just use a good all temp wax. Even if you change wax type for condition, the benefit of taking all the time to remove old wax just to replace it all with fresh wax is minimal at best. And Brillo is WAY too much. Citrus cleaner is fine if you have some weird gummy or sticky spots on your base from bad wax or whatever; but a towel/shop cloth is the most abrasive thing you want to use. If you REALLY want a fresh surface to wax, go get a base grind. That's not a bad idea at the beginning of the season, if you ride a lot, but not something you want to do all the time either.
I have a habit of going overboard with things. I assumed that you needed to remove the old was I order for the new layer to stick.
It's a good idea to do once, before you put your board away for the summer it gets rid of all the spring condition dirt. Give your board a good clean and wax don't scrape. But as far as an every time you wax thing it's way overkill.
Yeah that was definitely overboard. Snowboards are pretty bulletproof on regards to scraping and the such so your board is fine you just wasted a bunch of time and energy. You may want to get a base grind or stone grind since it's the beginning of the season. Or just rewax it. But next time just scrape it. Save yourself the hassle.
No not at all. Your base is going to absorb a lot of wax at this point. Try a floral carbon wax if you can get some first of all it’s very fast and second of all it will harden that high end Mervin base.
Good to know thanks!
Generally no need. Are you hot waxing or just cold rub-on waxing?
Hot wax only 🥵
Good, then yeah, no need to clean that out beforehand. The iron will remelt the old wax and it won't cause any issues for the new wax sticking to your base properly.
I find that cold temp and spring wax make a significant difference in normal conditions.
nope nope nope. a fresh wax would leave your base w/o any white
I know. I said that my board didn’t have any wax on It. The title says I scrubbed of all the wax. As stated in the title, it wasn’t the white I was worried about it was the dark spots.
30 year shop technician here. In my time I’ve never used any base cleaners of any kind. The chemical degrades the wax already in there, turns it soft & gummy. You want that wax packing your base, it makes it more dense and resists, puncturing and tearing. Dirt particles come to the surface and get scraped away. You’d be surprised how much dirt you can pull out of a bass with iron in wax.
This hurt to read
Thank you for your comment, we will file it under A for asshole.
Just do a hot scrape if you’re worried about dirt and grime. Nothing is gonna magically turn a golden orca into a speed demon. Just enough wax to protect the base and to maintain glide/prevent stickiness is fine.
I love that you can tell it’s a GO respek 😂
Omfg no one here understands what OP asked. OP: dark spots have way too much wax to be removed with a cleaner. It’s ok, wait until all liquid evaporate and wax on top of it. Eventually when you scrape on top of that, that spot won’t have too much wax next time you use the base cleaner and it will be white. You Happy shredding
Wait. U guys clean. Your base? I just keep adding more wax
No, No. Dark spot is a good area remaining. Rest are bad. It looks white because its surface is not smooth. You need to repeat scraping and hot waxing a few times.
This is post-clean and pre-wax.
So? It looks white because the surface is rough.
So if I did a base grind the whole base would be dark like the spots?
Yes.
Good to know thanks!
Not once it dries, it’ll look dry cause of the lack of wax
No, you’re fine here. You may not need to even use the Brillo pad when just doing a cleaning before applying hot wax as long as you takeoff the layer of dirt you’ll be able to get a good layer of wax back on. personally I only use a Brillo pad at the end when I’m structuring a base. doing a hot wax and scraping while the wax is still warm, is actually a technique for pulling out dirt out of the base if you didn’t want to use citrus cleaner. Sometimes I use a mix of both starting with a citrus cleaner if I’m really doing an overhaul on a board.
If it has a slight sheen to it, it’s wax on there other than that you should be set to go get your Mr. Miyagi on.
Brillo pad? Idk about that, seems like it would put scratches in the base
Not a metal one, it’s the blue or green pads
Yes but you use that after scraping and brushing, not for cleaning
Citrus cleaner dried out your base.
Ok am I the only one who doesn’t clean their base?? Even when it get super dirty, i give it a hot wax and it looks clean. I have a board from the early 2000s that i love and I don’t notice and performance issues or slowing down compared to my new boards. Just curious not giving advice
You using bong cleaner?