Plastic ski skins

80_liquifire · Post by **80_liquifire** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:29 pm

Curious ,
does the plastic ski skins that are sold SnoStufff etc... make the handleing any better or worse ?

Good or no good with standard wear bars or better with carbides ?

Liquifire84 · Post by **Liquifire84** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:13 pm

Ski skins improve performance so the ski dosnt stick to the snow. I have carbides on all of my sleds. Big control gains.

Brice

Liquifire 4/6 · Post by **Liquifire 4/6** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:52 pm

Like Brice says, carbides are the way to go for better handling. Personally, I think ski skins are highly overrated and more often than not, are a detriment to good handling. They increase your unsprung weight and the bottom surface on most skins doesn't have a proper contour like the ski itself does. I think the only time you see any real gains with respect to the plastic skin sliding over the snow better than the metal ski, is in the late winter/early spring when you encounter lots of sticky snow conditions. Some people tell me they put skins on to protect the skiis. But really, if they hit something hard enough that it would have damaged a bare ski, it'll likely now damage the ski skin as well as still damaging the ski...so they'll need to buy a ski and a ski skin....Oh. make that two ski skins because you usually can't buy just one. I think most people who buy them do so more because they think putting on some colored skins will generate some wow factor.....me, I just think they look silly.....sorta like putting chrome trim on a new Corvette.

Post by **WinnipegStPaul9** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:37 pm

Liquifire 4/6,Aug 23 2007 wrote:.....sorta like putting chrome trim on a new Corvette.

[/QUOTE]
4/6 that's funny!!! Don

JDFanPa · Post by **JDFanPa** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:15 pm

I think if you can get skins that actually fit the skis correctly they are a good choice. They do help with the non stick aspect also they are nice in minimal sno conditions or if you ride alot of rocky terrain. My experiences with skins have been on newer sleds only but you will find out they wear out fairly quick riding in low snow conditions. Currently I only run full plastic skis on my newer cats my main reason is I ride pole lines and logging roads with alot of rocks stumps etc and the plastic skis help absorb some of the jolt of hitting these things Id bet the skins will help in this area abit also to some extent.

ChickenRat · Post by **ChickenRat** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:51 pm

I believe the plastic does help with the friction aspect. However, I bought a Polaris Indy Trail for my sister last year and went through it to ensure there would be no problems for her and one of the things I did was rip off the ski skins because what I found was that water would get trapped between the ski and plastic and it sure sped up the rusting of the bottoms of the skiis. Major rust...They wouldn't have lasted much longer if I didn't take the skins off.

Robb

Danzig · Post by **Danzig** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 10:03 pm

I have the ski skins on my Cat and running 6 inch carbide rods. The carbide to me is only good running over pavement, you have much more control in my opinion. The ski skins were put on my Cat just for extra splash of green color. I have no pros or cons about the skins. I just think they look purty......

The instructions that came with my skins stated only for better floatation on deep snow, then caution may effect the handling and performance of the machine. I do not see any changes in handling, they just make you want to run faster. 100mph on a cornfield and seeing those skins wiggling out there is sweet. I also agree with the water that gets trapped between the ski and the skin. I have a brand new set of skis waiting to go on yet.

80_liquifire · Post by **80_liquifire** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:46 pm

Looks like I will give them a try , had some from a artic cat I never installed . Match up pretty well.

THNX for the input

JoeRainville · Post by **JoeRainville** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:58 am

Guys,

So far the best choice (but pricey) seems to be making ski spring mounts and attaching them to aftermarket plastic ski's. So far I've seen 2 or 3 vintage sleds with these upgrads. Like Rich said, it's adds some effective suspension travel due to the natural flexability of the ski. If you get back ones, they don't stick out too much either. One of the nicest installations is one I saw on a 75 Sno*Jet SST, with blue USI's on it. Looked sharp.

I am not a fan of the plastic skins, but they should help provide floatation and 'slip' in deep or wet snow.

Later Liquidator,
-Rainville