G3 skins all ate up

[Ben Beckerich]

I bought a pair of G3 splitboard high-traction skins at a local shop last year. First time I took them out, I rolled them up glue-on-glue for the ride down, like everyone does. When I got home and pulled em apart to hang em up, some chunks of the glue peeled off in spots. It was irritating, but it wasn't a huge amount, and didn't seem like it would affect anything. I still had the factory "skin savers," so I trimmed to fit, and started using them. I used these skins about 5 times last spring, always hanging up to dry post-climb, and then always stored on the skin savers.

 

Fast forward through the summer into last weekend, I took the skins out for the first time and when I peeled them off the skin savers, the glue had become like fresh pine pitch. Got everywhere- all over the skins, my hands, my pants, my splitboard base, the skin savers... Total bullshit.

 

I sent G3 an email a couple days ago. Haven't heard back yet. Anybody else experience this? is there anything I can do for 'em? no way I'm using them ike this

[kevino]

Sounds like a bad batch of glue. I purchased the high traction skin in july, have about 15 days on them over 5 months and no issues. I only use skin savers between days of skiing, but when I'm out touring I do the glue on glue as well.

 

Talk to the local shop if you're not hearing back from g3?

[Water]

one thing I'd ask is how you stored them this past summer? warmth/hot can be the death there--if they got toasty the skin saver would more or less embed in into it and would not surprise me to become a bit of a mess.

 

I often seem to transfer a sliver (1-3 inches by .25in) of glue from my g3 skins to my bases in a spot near the front or near the tail, my skin savers are a bit sticky for sure.. but nothing that seems to have compromised sticking of the skin or performance of the ski.

 

take to local shop/call g3? it is the holidays things get crazy, someone on the line might be better than email

[Ben Beckerich]

They stayed in a closet in my office/gear room all summer... so climate controlled. I imagine it probably got up to 80 a time or two when we weren't home, but definitely never got hot-car hot.

 

I found the box and I believe the receipt is inside... I'll fill out a warranty claim and wait another couple days. I scoured the website and could not find a phone number anywhere. Damn Canadians.

 

If all else fails, I'll take 'em back to Mountain Shop.

 

Anyone know what exactly the glue is made of?

[JasonG]

I've had bad luck with G3 skins (same bad glue you experienced) and have sworn never again. BD/Ascension is my choice. I have an old purple pair of Ascensions that are over 10 years old and going strong (after several re-glues).

[Ben Beckerich]

G3 got back to me... they said I need to take them back to the shop. Reading the warranty, I see that's their policy. So will do.

 

I found the receipt- they're less than a year old, so I should be good to just exchange them, but I've never returned anything at Mountain Shop. Don't know what their policy is. I shall find out!

 

Now I just gotta figure out how to get all this sap off the base of my board. Riding just smeared it around

[ACJ]

My G3's didn't survive the summer well at all either. They were on the skin savers and when I broke them out for the first ride of this season I was dismayed to see the glue had molded itself into the grid formation of the skin savers. As a result the contact on my board is much poorer than when I originally got them. No receipt for me to return to Next Adventure with...

[Ben Beckerich]

I don't know what Next Adventure's return policy is - will they exchange without a receipt? G3 told me to try the vendor first, and to get back to them if I didn't get anywhere there... so they were obviously receptive to helping. I did also get a followup email from another dude that said "the solution is to re-glue," and gave me a link to, I think, their own re-gluing product. Maybe at the very least they'll send you some of that shit free.

 

Never hurts to ask... these things ain't cheap.

[Bronco]

My G3's didn't survive the summer well at all either. They were on the skin savers and when I broke them out for the first ride of this season I was dismayed to see the glue had molded itself into the grid formation of the skin savers. As a result the contact on my board is much poorer than when I originally got them. No receipt for me to return to Next Adventure with...

 

If you don't have any luck with the warranty, you might consider using parchment paper or brown paper bags on the glue and a hot iron to sort of "renew" the glue. Worked well for me with an old pair of BD skins. I started with a low iron temperature and slowly increased the heat, it didn't take much heat to soften up the glue. You can probably search the web for more detailed info on the process.

[ACJ]

I swung by next adventure in Portland today. The guys there were awesome, spoke highly of G3 and after taking a quick look at the skins swapped them out for me. No paperwork, grief, anything. Just "Sorry about that, have fun with this set!"