How to tell if your equipment needs tuning!
There are ways to tell when your equipment needs a tune. First look at your bottoms. Are there gouges? Do the bottoms have a shine or does it look dried out? If the look is dull, this means the wax is gone and your bases are more prone to damage and wear. Now check the edges. Are your edges burred? Slowly and lightly slide a finger down the metal edges. Are your edges smooth or rough? A rough edge will make your equipment difficult to use and hard to control. Is your base flat and edges beveled? You can hold a true bar from edge to edge to see if they have become concave. If you see light under the bar in the middle, this means you are only on your edges making your equipment hooky and hard to control. You should be on the base.

How often does your equipment need tuning?
Advanced to experts usually tune their equipment every 3-5 times out on the slopes. They want the edges to be sharp for control and the bottoms to be waxed for speed and ease of turning. Intermediate to advance should tune their equipment every 5-8 days on the slopes. They want control too but are not as demanding as advanced skiers and snowboarders. They will benefit from smooth bottoms that turn easier. Beginners should tune their equipment about every 10 days on the slopes. (Though they should be waxing more often.) They're looking for ease of turning more than anything else.

Of course slope conditions play a BIG part in this. Fresh fluffy snow will not wear down your edges or bases as fast. So your tune could last longer. But when you're on hard pack, old snow and ice, your edges dull quicker and the wax will scrape faster from the bottoms. This means you'll have to have them tuned more often.

When the best time to tune your equipment?
The end of season is probably the best time to have your equipment tuned. Here's why. Your equipment has just been through a season. The edges are probably burred, the bottoms have some gouges and the bases have lost the wax. This isn't the best way to store your gear. A tune can be best taken advantage of in the spring for very good reasons. The best reason being that after your equipment is tuned, a coating of wax is applied to your base. During the summer, this wax will protect your edges from rust and the excess wax will be absorbed into your base over the summer giving it a more durable and longer lasting base.

Most shops won’t tell you to tune your equipment in the spring. First, they are winding down from the busy season and starting to get ready for their summer business. The back room might even be closed for the season. But think of this, they also want your equipment to wear out faster! Why? So you can buy new ones. Either way, if you can't tune your equipment at the end of season, at least get them tuned.

How about tuning yourself?
Why not? Just about anyone can do it. For the price of one tune, you could purchase a basic tuning kit. About the only thing you can't do is stone ground the bases. A shop with a stone grinder must do that. This should be done once every 20-30 days on the slopes.

Want to see what's involved in tuning?
How to tune.  Click on the link to go to our tuning instructions.
Tuning supplies!   Here you'll find the supplies you need for tuning yourself.

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