SWIX Tuning Center

keep your gear in slope-shredding shape…

It’s easy to forget about your gear once the day is done. And even easier when the season is done. Toss it in a corner and “fawgetabowdit.”

The Good, The Bad and Ugly

That’s certainly the easiest way, but certainly not the best. Come the following season, you get face-to-face with some nasty looking stuff. Rust flecked, spider-ridden, dirty, oxidized stuff that kinda resembles your skis or your snowboard. That stench? The wet boots you tossed in the basement closet last spring. Seriously, do you really want to be living this paragraph this coming season?

Do you like to tinker? Do you want to tweak your day on the slopes to maximum level of fun? If Yes—Avie’s Ski / Sports has the SWIX products you need to keep your skis or snowboard in tip top slope shredding shape.

Do it yourself

You can customize your tuning to fit your preferences and your style of skiing or riding. For instance, set a different edge angle to increase the “bite” so that you hold better through the turns on ice and crust. Or customize the blend of wax you put on the base to better match conditions so you glide easier, faster. Especially if you race.

You need some wax

Avie’s Ski / Sports carries various permutations of SWIX wax. Start with PS (Performance Speed) and get your base all slicked up and perfect. Then, if you dare, jump into an HS (High Speed) topcoat layer and ZOOOOOOM you go. There are no slow runouts when you use a SWIX HS wax. Each wax style comes in various colors that are temperature specific. Avie’s Ski / Sports carries a range of SWIX wax colors appropriate to New England conditions. Use them straight, or blend various combinations to make your own secret potion.

You need a few tools

A waxing iron, a pair of ski brakes (don’t need these if you have a snowboard), and a vise to hold everything steady while you work. Avie’s Ski / Sports has a basic waxing iron and some basic vise sets. You can get by with a pair of saw horses and some hand clamps, but it’s a bit more challenging and not as elegant as using a vise. But it can be done.

You need a plastic scraper—Avie’s has them—to remove the wax you ironed onto the ski. You also need a brush, maybe two if you feel extravagant. Avie’s also has brushes, used to buff and polish the base. We recommend the square 2-in-1 bronze/nylon as a starter. If you get to the point you are doing many skis and/or snowboards, a larger oval brush will speed things along tremendously. The bronze brush is used first, right after scraping. Followed by the nylon to polish the base to a super slick, super fast finish. It’s a thing of beauty when done. Seriously.

Want to keep that base nice and slick between hot waxes? Lay on a coat of F4 All Purpose liquid wax or spray on one of the new SWIX liquid spray waxes. Then grab the SWIX cork/blue nylon combo brush and buff and brush that base to slippery slick.

It’s not hard. Or expensive. And it’s not complicated. If you want to venture into the alchemy of tuning and waxing your own gear, Avie’s offers tuning clinics. Trained technicians take you step-by-step through the process. We post announcements for clinics to the Avie’s BLOG and to Facebook, or simply check at the shop. Avie’s staff will help you one-on-one to answer questions and get you set up to take care of your gear.

Does your Do-It-Yourself crazy side still want more? Then maybe you want to learn how to keep the edges on your skis or snowboard nice and sharp. Why? Because sharp edges help get into the turns quickly, then hold the turn—tenaciously—even on crust and ice. All you need is a SWIX edge tuning kit.

Edge Tuning Kit

If you want a bit more detail on mechanics and details of tuning, snow conditions, and wax choice, see the “Skier Need To Know—Waxing” page.

Then check out this SWIX link, which will give you the world of tuning, in spades. Also check out this Youtube clip—nice, easy “how to” for waxing, or visit this Toko site for more tuning and waxing videos. 

Have a tuning or maintenance question? Need help figuring out a dilemma? Want a small group or even one-on-one tuning clinic? Want advice on something technical? Need a special tool? Send your query to:   tuningshop@aviesskisport.com