Dimpled base from too long screws . . . Help

So I got some skis mounted up yesterday. Came in close to the end of the night, guys were really awesome to take care of me and mount my boards even though they had to stay late. After some messing around, the guy who was doing and who I believe owned the place came upstairs and asked me if I was missing a lifter, etc. Translation, screws too long. It looks like maybe they had tried to mount one heel piece and then realized it. I was very nervous but he said he caught it before any damage was done. He said it was cool and he then ground all the screws. The heels were both mounted up and he went upstairs to close things down and I came up and paid him. The younger guy working with him finished things off and came up with the skis done a few minutes later. I thanked them, gave them some extra beer money and took off feeling happy. I made sure to check the base under each heel piece. Looked good . . .

Well, later in the night I got nervous and checked again, under the toe pieces this time. The base is bubbled in TWO spots under the toes. I am really grateful the guys did a quick mount for me, but obviously this isn't cool. I did some searching and it sounds like this is an easy fix. But can I ski on them before they are fixed? If I don't take them in to get it fixed soon will the problem be harder to fix the longer I wait? I don't know whether to be disappointed and pissed or just not worry about it for now and get it fixed when I can???

I don't see why you can't ski on them. Unless you're hitting rocks directly on the dimples or doing nose presses on rails, you're probably fine to ski a few times. I think you should probably get them fixed sooner rather than later but i'm sure it's okay to ride them

Back the screws in question back out ASAP! The longer the screws poke at the base, the harder it is to fix. Some heat-gun and a hammer will be the best fix. Avoid grinding the bumps down with the belt. Tune afterward.

I've done this before on my own ski ,grind the screw tips down and put em back in , after hot waxing a few times the dimples went away .

Maybe if mounted with epoxy and some hardened down in the bottom of the hole the dimples would stay ?

No biggy in my experiance,ski em if you want ,get the screws chopped down if they are still too long and I wouldnt sweat it

Some people had the idea of heating the base up w/ waxing iron, then pushing dimples back in - seems to work pretty good. You could also just sand down the dimples/base grind. Take heed - do not leave the long screws in there, take them out ASAP. In terms of dealing with the shop, don't. You made the mistake of giving them the wrong screws and they were kind enough to do a quick mount late at night. Oh yeah, these should hold up fine, I owned a ski with 9 dimpled holes once.

if you havent got a way to shorten the screws (some poeple don't and shouldnt own tools) sure get em to take the tips off the screws but don't be all pissy and say thanx ... then just ski em and forget it

Had this happen to the same pair of skis twice. The first time was like two years ago. Since the mount/ski/bindings were hyper bro hookup I didn't even care. The dimple mostly went away from skiing on them and I never even felt it or anything.


This is the way I look at it: Skis are like a pair of trail running shoes. You don't buy them so that they look all pretty and shiny and the soles stay all new. You buy them to run hard, get dirty, run up and over rocks, etc until they fall apart. Then you get a new(er) pair.

Its kinda like buying a new car. The moment you leave the dealership lot the value immediately drops, so why not just buy a slightly used car and save some money?

I know I am not the only one with this mentality. I have never paid more than $250 for a pair of skis and all of them have seen at least 80-100 days a pair.

So, in short, I wouldn't worry about it. People make mistakes, and it doesn't sound like you are in the process of trying to break any world speed records on those boards.

Thanks guys - Always nice to have a little reassurance from the collective. It means a lot for my piece of mind just to confirm that this isn't something I should sweat.

Took them to the shop, guys toke care of it no problem. Could't use them today as I had hoped but had a sick day nonetheless.

Got a pair with all the screws on one heel dimpled. They're my beater skis anyway, have ~15 days post-dimpling (2nd mount), the only issue is it's difficult to wax that spot right. Otherwise no problems, and I don't care enough about them to fix it.

[QUOTE=MOHSHSIHd;1773348]

This is the way I look at it: Skis are like a pair of trail running shoes. You don't buy them so that they look all pretty and shiny and the soles stay all new. You buy them to run hard, get dirty, run up and over rocks, etc until they fall apart. Then you get a new(er) pair.

Its kinda like buying a new car. The moment you leave the dealership lot the value immediately drops, so why not just buy a slightly used car and save some money?


ya but you always feel so bad about that 1st scratch ,SO for the nominal charge of only 25$ I will put that 1st scratch into anything you buy ... just so YOU won't feel so bad

I've had this happen, back the screws out the put a screwdriver upside down on the dimple, hit it with a hammer - dimple gone.

If you don't have shorter screws available immediately go the the hardware store and get some stainless washers the same size as the screwhead to shorten then effective length of the screw. Works great, at least with Sallys.