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Overzealous base grind or just normal?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi guys, I took my snowboard into my local shop last week to get it serviced and ready for my upcoming holiday. The chap in the shop suggested it would need a full service, edges done, base ground and waxed, holes filled etc which was fine with me.

Left the board with them for a week and went back to collect it today and when I got it back I found it had a large area where the the colour had been ground off completely. I've had the board from new and this is the first full service its had in three years so its not like its had loads of other grinds and run out of base. There were a few deepish scratches from my trip last year so maybe it was ground down to repair these?

Anyway, the question is, will it affect the board in any way or is it purely cosmetic? I'm not really fussed if its just cosmetic apart from affecting any re-sale value, but if it needed doing it needed doing I guess. I assume these guys know what they're doing but I did not expect that when I took it in...

IMG_20151128_191135


Cheers!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Blimey, be interesting to see what the more knowledgeable have to say about this.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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That black isn't surface colour, it is the PTex layer. It's gone now and you are down to the fibre and resin. How bad that is I will let others comment.

If you have surface scratches they should fill them with ptex or do what is called in French a surmoulage which basically recoats the entire surface with PTex then a base grind with a stone grinder (not belt).
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I see, thanks for the info! So I'm right in thinking this is not normal? I guess I'll need to take another trip back to the shop to see what they can do to put it right...unfortunately I didn't really realise the full extent of the damage while I was in the shop
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I'm no expert but that does look a bit ott!

I have one of my boards for 4 years now its done 7 weeks and never needed a base grind. Had a ptex repair done in Saalbach and a yearly waxjob but thats it. Go have a word with them and hear the reasoning.
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Someone here may do this for a living, but that looks as he said, done, screwed, over. I'm sure it'll still ride, but as he says you're not riding on P-Tex there. You can see where the edge is hooked into the base. Maybe the board was defective - if you look at it, can you see if it's actually flat or if this bit is a huge hole they've gouged? I can't see how it would be flat - they must have cocked the base up to make it like that, unless the board is twisted or something. Even so - they should have told you all about that, it doesn't look right to me.

Um, I've lots of boards which ride full seasons. I do get gentle base grids now and then, but they always look perfect as you'd expect when done.
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Thanks for the advice guys, its a shame because I like the board and I think it had plenty of life left in it, but I only get one week a year and I don't want to be riding on a damaged board. I'll give them a ring tomorrow and explain the situation now that I know what has actually happened. i'll update here with the outcome.
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@fk, a little hard to work out what's going on there. Can you post a zoomed out photo, and some from a few angles (shwoing how 'flat' the base is/isn't)? Definitely unusual!
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Making an anology with a car tire, all the rubber tread has gone, and you are down to the carcass. The Peter running surface has been removed and your are down to the boards mechanical structure.

It looks like they removed the scratches by grinding them away, rather the filling them. Take it back and ask for the manager.
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The first time you catch a rock with that edge it will rip out.... The black blobs you can see in the photo are the retaining fingers of the metal edge, they are supposed to be buried within the layer of P-tex base material and they have ground this away leaving the core exposed!
It may be the case that the base has a defect as in a high spot there, could be from new or it may have developed, or it may be they've ground the $hit out of it to get rid of the scratches and killed your board....
Either go back to the shop or take it somewhere else and get a second opinion!
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That they waxed this and then gave it back to you is a touch surprising. People make mistakes and it could not been flat to start with. Not fessing up when you collected it is poor.
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@fk, Looks like it a new board and a big discussion with whoever did it......like @gorilla, says they should have mentioned it when you collected. Maybe they had to go deep to get the damage out, but it should have been discussed at the time surely?......looks more like dodgy work to me, if so then its time for a word i'd suggest.
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Where did you get it done, has the snowboard had a base grind before? That's pretty much knackered as others have said the ptex layer has been ground off completly if i collected one of my boards and they'd done that to it i'd be telling them I want it replacing.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Seen this a lot when I used to work at a ski/snowboard store in Banff.
If someone is trying to flat grind on a board that isn't flat (most snowboards are warped) and they are concentrating on getting even contact all the way across it's very easy for some bits to get very thin.
Seen people grind right trough an edge and the other side hadn't touched yet - worse with modern automated equipment.
Also a real problem if someone is trying to grind away dings and scratches rather than filling first.
Sorry your boards Be Nice please! - it will be fine for one more trip/week but then it's done. If it's warped it was Be Nice please! anyway, if someone was trying to grind way scratches etc. then it's their fault, but hard to prove.
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That's a good point - if the board was warped (which I've seen with old wood/glass boards now and then), it was heading for useless anyway.

Even so, I think they're responsible. If the board was warped they shouldn't have tried that, or at least should have warned you of the problem. I doubt they could sensibly expect to charge you for trashing your board. I think they would be needing to offer you more than your money back, assuming you're being honest.

If they do retail, then they have plenty of flexibility and lots of basically no-cost-to-them gear around, they should be able to sort you out with something.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@Markymark29, you don't grind scratches away. You fill them. That's not filled Twisted Evil

I don't know much about boards but it looks like you have a lot of edge left, attesting to little work previously.

And now they've destroyed it.

It's toast.
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Thanks for all the responses and advice, the board was definitely not warped and didn't have any high spots, or not visibly so! What would warp it anyway? It's always been stored in my bedroom away from the radiator or anything like that and never used on any rails or boxes that would damage it.

I won't say which shop it is, everyone makes mistakes I guess and I think it's a bit unfair to name them before they've had a chance to resolve it!

Anyway I've been in contact with the shop and they are going to investigate, I suppose they can't come to any sort of conclusion until they have spoken to the technician who serviced it and found out why this happened. Fingers crossed I get it sorted before my holiday in January, but if it needs to go back to K2 I'm not hopeful with Christmas and New years in between Sad

Edit: No never been ground before, and plenty of edges left, like I said it's only had 3 weeks use!
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fk wrote:
...like I said it's only had about 3 weeks use!
Just out of interest, what was the reason the shop gave for it needing a base grind after just three week's use? If the base had just run-of-the-mill scratches these are cosmetic and should be ignored, deeper scratches can be filled with p-tex and scrapped level, and if it it more significant damage such as holes in the p-tex which penetrate all the way through (a core shot) then that should be patched if it's really bad. I've only ever felt the need to have a base grind once on a pair of skis which had a lot of scratches, lots of gouges filled with p-tex, one patch and a lot of dings in the edges which needed a lot of work and edge angles being re-set.
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@under a new name, I know, just trying to offer a reason why a numpty might have done this to his board.
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Well to be honest I thought it needed a base grind too, so I didn't ask...I thought once it had a few scratches and things it needed a grind.

Like I said in the OP it did have some deepish scratches in the base from the poor snow last year but there were no core shots because I checked it very carefully. I remember being really annoyed by running over the little stones on the piste and worried that I was scratching the base, after every day I carefully checked to make sure it was still good. There were maybe two which were deep enough to make me think they might need filling but I'm no expert and have no idea when a scratch goes from cosmetic to actually affecting the boards base and needing filling.
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@Markymark29, sorry, might have come across as a bit grumpy, didn't mean to snowHead

Was a fair point!
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@fk, unless you are being timed against the clock I don't think that small scratches are worth worrying about. Deeper scratches can be filled, but I'm not sure that's absolutely necessary. Obviously if you have a core shot you need to fix that, but that doesn't automatically mean a grind is necessary. Sometimes the p-tex will be pushed up in a little bump, and if that can't be scraped level with a metal edge but if that's not successful you might want to think about a base grind. But unless you have a reason for a perfectly clean 'structure' in the p-tex base I think a base grind is rarely needed. It just takes some unnecessary life out of the ski or board, or, as I fear might be the case for your board, takes all the life out of it. Hope the shop accept their responsibility.


Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Sun 29-11-15 13:45; edited 1 time in total
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If it does have to go back to K2, the shop should, as a minimum, lend you a board.
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[quote="rob@rar"]@fk, unless you are being timed against the clock I don't think that small scratches are worth worrying about. /quote]

I don't think they are worth worrying about if you are being timed against the clock, at least that is what slalom racers tell me.

As for a base grind, surely only needed to bring the board or skis back to flat and edges back to the correct angles. Never to remove scratches. And it should only be done with a stone grinder, not a belt sander like some shops have, which ruins gear. The board looks like someone has run his black and decker over it.
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Quote:


Edit: No never been ground before, and plenty of edges left, like I said it's only had 3 weeks use!


The plot thickens. As others have mentioned it is unlikely that a board that has seen 18 days use needed grinding. This sounds like someone is just routinely grinding stuff that comes in or is sucking their teeth and saying "lot of damage here - looks like you need the full service" in order to upsell. I would gently suggest that someone needs to have a look at their workshop protocols.
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@fk, they owe you a board, good luck.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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K2 won't have anything to do with this issue, so you won't have to worry about it being referred back to them.
This is purely the shop's responsibility.
Even if the base was warped then the tech should have noticed this before doing any work on the board and then it could have been referred to the manufacturer.
But the board has also been used too much for K2 to do anything about it anyway.
There will be no manufacturer's warranty/guarantee to cover this damage.
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I'd really like to know which shop did this, if someone did this to my board I'd be very mad and asking for a very large discount off a new board.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@Minion1980, I'd be asking for a replacement board! After 3 weeks use I'd say that was almost new when it went in!
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Would the O/P not be looking a replacement for the value of a board that's been used though? I reckon be as nice as possible and appeal to their good nature.

Good luck
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I would say that is reasonable...
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@davidhammy, Yep looking to get back to the position he should have been in, a used but properly serviced board
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
assuming the board isn't warped it looks as though they have put the board through the grinder and then manually sanded that patch until the gouges have gone. what they should have done is patched the area first and then put it though the grinder.

its a real bodge job imo. you could have done better at home with a black and decker sander....
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Looks light a right pigs ear of a job to me. I'd be furious.
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I think you need to have a chat with them.
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^+1. Now you know it's not normal and they've pretty much trashed your board go and have a word, see what they offer. Be nice and polite, but firm. If they offer you 'second hand value' just remember that the retail price you see in the shop is not what the boards cost them. Cool
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Print out a copy of this thread too! wink
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And keep us posted on how you get on.
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If someone did that to my skis/board, once i'd calmed down from defcon level 10, i'd want them replacing.

Someone's made a mistake somewhere there and i'd expect them to own up to it.
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I thoroughly recommend you ask @spyderjon, on the forum (maybe pm him?). Certainly, if the shop don't do the honourable thing, you would need an independent report of the totality of the ruination of your ride. Jons (spyderjon) shop the piste office is one of the most informed technical resources on this forum. (I have no lien or any other association with him)
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