Here’s how to get the most from liquid glide waxes, and debunking old myths about liquid glide waxes.

Liquid glide wax deserves a far better reputation than they received when they first hit the market decades ago: Currently, liquid wax is more used than traditional glide wax at the World Cup level.

There is a stubborn, old perception out there that liquid glide waxes are inferior to traditional hard glide waxes, that they wear off fast, don’t absorb into the bases as well as traditional glide waxes and thus don’t contribute to saturate the bases, and that liquid waxes are targeted at recreational skiers who don’t have the setup to glide wax their skis in the traditional way.

But that was a long time ago, says World Cup wax tech Morten Sætha.

Sætha has been working as a wax tech at World Cups and international championships for more than a decade, including the 2011 World Championships in Oslo and the last three Olympics.

“We test extensively, and we use increasingly more liquid glide waxes at the World Cup. And that is simply because the liquid products are better than the traditional ones, not because they are more convenient,” says Sætha, and continues:

“We have wanted to evolve in this direction, and spend a lot of effort on inventing and developing products that make it easier to wax skis, regardless of performance level. But we don’t compromise. The liquid products have to make the skis equally good and fast, or better than with traditional products.”

ProXCskiing.com caught up with the seasoned wax tech on how to use liquid glide waxes in order to get the most out of the products.

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What are the main differences between liquid glide waxes and traditional glide waxes?   
“Liquid glide waxes generally come in bottles. You just spray them directly onto the bases, polish and the skis are ready to use. Traditional hard glide waxes are blocks that you melt with a wax iron, drip onto the bases and smooth out with the wax iron. Then you have to let the wax cool before you can scrape, brush and polish the bases, and use the skis.” So, liquid glide waxes are a lot quicker to use, and require a lot less equipment.”

Liquid glide wax: Pros and cons
For those who are using the waxes, the benefits of liquid glide products are the same whether they are waxing for the World Cup or recreational touring: The liquid products are easier and less time consuming to use, don’t require much equipment, and because no heat is involved, they also reduce the risk of damaging the bases in the process.

“When applying traditional waxes using a wax iron, you always run the risk of burning the bases. With liquid glide wax, you eliminate that, since,” Sætha says.

Furthermore, liquid glide waxes pose less of a health there are huge

In addition, there are more health and environmental benefits of liquid glide wax compared to traditional sliders.

“Since you don’t need to heat them up, they don’t produce any of the toxic fumes that you can get from the products that you apply with a wax iron. And since liquid products are applied so thinly, they produce far less dust when they are polished. With traditional glide waxes, you get a lot of dust and wax shavings when you scrape, brush and polish,” says Sætha.

Are there any disadvantages to liquid glide waxes?
“No. I can’t think of any.”

Debunking the myths
There are a lot of myths about liquid glide waxes: that they are inferior to traditional hard glide waxes, that they wear off fast, don’t absorb into the bases as well as traditional glide waxes and thus don’t contribute to saturate the bases, and that liquid waxes are targeted at recreational skiers who don’t have the setup to glide wax their skis in the traditional way.

Accordingly, skeptical wax techs have been reluctant to use them for racing at the elite level, despite the last generation of liquid glide waxes match and even outperform traditional glide waxes in a lot of conditions

What myths do you encounter when you recommend liquid glide waxes for racing?
“Given that the first liquid glide waxes were launched as a cheap and easy product for touring and recreational use, the racing community has been reluctant to try them. This is still lingering, and it’s only the last couple of years that liquid products have really gained acceptance for racing at the elite level,” Sætha says.

Sætha thinks the industry itself is partly to blame for this.

“The first liquid products were an emergency solution for those who didn’t have a wax iron, and were marketed to tourists and recreational skiers as an easy way to get at limited effect of waxing. These early versions wore off quickly and didn’t provide particularly good glide, so they were definitely not good enough for racing,” he explains.

The current situation is completely different. Today’s liquid glide waxed are perfect for racing. “At the World Cup, we always test both the top racing products and the cheaper products side by side at the same time. We have seen several times that the liquid glide waxes in the Swix PS series (formerly CH series), which are often considered to be for touring and training, are performing just as well as the most expensive racing versions,” says Sætha, and continues:

“PS/CH6 in particular is used a lot at the World Cup, both as a base layer under powder and other toppings, but even on its own. At the World Cup in Davos before Christmas, the mid-range HS6 Liquid without topping was one of the best.”

Application is crucial
At the same time, Sætha points out that the application method is significantly more important with liquid glide waxes, especially with the new fluorine-free products. The application method is crucial both to get the optimal effect from the properties of the floating sliders and to ensure that they last as long as possible.

The liquid glide waxes are applied directly to the base where they are allowed to dry and soak in for a few minutes. Then they are polished into the base with rotofleece or rotocork mounted on a drill, or by hand with cork or Fiberlene, and finally brushed with a nylon brush. However, using drill and rotofleece improves both glide properties and durability.

Which application method is the best, and what tools and accessories do you need?
“By using rotofleece, you get better glide and it lasts longer than if you just spray, dry and go. With rotofleece, the liquid glide waxes often last up to 30 kilometers, compared to between 10 and 20 kilometers without rotofleece,” says Sætha.

At the same time, he emphasizes that even if the liquid glide waxes start to lose some of the effect after this, it doesn’t mean that you suddenly go from full effect to zero effect.

Sætha explains that when testing for World Cup race, the requirement is that the effect must last at least 15 kilometers. World Cup racers rarely go much farther than that, because in the longest events like the 50-kilometer, they have the option to change skis during the event. Still, the manufacturers are concerned that the liquid products should also be a good alternative for long touring races and Ski Classics, where participants are not allowed to change skis.

“We test and compare the liquid glide waxes against traditional glide waxes at the start, after 10 kilometers, 20 kilometers, 30 kilometers and so on. The liquid glide waxes are better at start and usually up to 20-30 kilometers. After that, they approach each other more and more, but if the liquid products don’t get worse than the traditional waxes, then it means that you still have a good effect, says Sætha.

Therefore, Sætha is not worried about recommending today’s liquid glide waxes as a viable option even for Vasaloppet under the right conditions.

When is it most effective / most appropriate to use liquid glide waxes?
“Earlier, the floating sliders were mostly used in short runs, but gradually they have become more and more universal. Now they are better or equally good in almost all conditions.

Does anyone know the floating sliders stand out in particular?
“The liquid gid cover all driving conditions, but often they hit traditional waxes with an even larger margin on wet and dirty roads.”

When should you NOT use liquid glide waxes?
“For transport and summer storage. Then we use traditional waxes that we don’t scrape before we are ready to use the skis again. With a traditional glide wax, you get is a thicker layer of wax on the bases. The wax layer protects the bases and prevent them from drying out.”