Intended Purpose: The Wacky Tacky Taction wax is meant to be applied on your topsheet for no-slip when you are skating off the chairlift or when you need extra grip on your freestyle grabs. I tested it with the chairlift, putting it in on my board in the spot where I put my free foot when riding off the chairlift. My Capita Ultrafear topsheet can be a little slick and I figured this would be a good time to try it out.
Smell: It was the first thing I noticed when I opened it, it smelled so good you just wanted to eat it. Luckily I didn’t and the strawberry smell is still present when I rub my finger over the wax on the topsheet, days after riding it.
Appearance: The Wacky Tacky Traction wax comes in a easy container that can fit in most things, I’ve taken it with me snowboarding and easy to open, grab the wax and close it so it doesn’t get into my other items in my backpack.
Ease of applying: The first thing I did was look at the directions on the can which said to make sure the topsheet was dry and clean, then rub the wax in a circular motion in the area you want on the board until you see bumps and apply it as needed. When I rubbed in the wax in the circular motion, I was a little unsure when to stop but I started to see the wax make the bumpy surface and stopped right after before there was a lot of the traction wax on top of the board. It does make the board look a little dirty in the area you apply it but I didn’t notice that after riding with it for one day.
Durability: I’ve now spent 4 days on the snowboard after applying the traction wax and the wax is still there on the board working. I’ve been covered in snow and the snow doesn’t stick to the wax, it stays off and doesn’t get in the way.
Thoughts: I wasn’t sure what to make of the traction wax because I have no problems skating off the chairlift and using my foot to leverage turning fine. But there are always those days when I get on a really slick topsheet demo board and need to be more careful with my own riding that I don’t fall. It worked and gave me extra grip underneath my free foot on the Ultrafear topsheet where I could leverage the board better when getting off the chairlift. I didn’t fall when skating with it and found it to work well for me. Definitely for some of the slicker topsheets, I’d use it.
Personally for women who get scared of skating off the chairlift and being able to hold their foot in place without using a stomp pad, this is definitely something they could use. I won’t rock a stomp pad but I found this definitely beneficial when I needed it and why not, it’s under $10 and easy to use and apply.
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Applying it
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Riding time with it
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Pom Pom “Wacky Tacky” Traction Wax Description
Review Disclosure: This product was given to me by Pom Pom to test and review.
Mike
November 20, 2009 at 9:40 amNice job waxin that ass!
crock
November 20, 2009 at 9:58 amyou werent very clear if the product worked well at all. you told what it is for and who could use it. So im still wondering if it works. Im interested
Shay
November 20, 2009 at 10:01 amCrock, I just updated the thoughts to try to make it more clear that I did find it useful and worked for adding grip without needing a stomp pad.
comb
November 20, 2009 at 12:33 pmIs there a way to remove the wax and get the top sheet back to normal if you were going to say sell the board?
Shay
November 20, 2009 at 4:24 pmGreat question! I just took a facebook photo that shows the wax off my board. I used Goo Gone to remove it, it removes anything especially stickers and it came off easily.
Paris
November 20, 2009 at 4:36 pmsounds like when we used to put Sex Wax (for surfing) on our boards- pretty much the same thing.
Carrie
November 20, 2009 at 5:19 pmThis is brilliant Shay! With my knee injury i was just talking about how skating and getting off chair lifts were so scary cause if i slip of my board and am afraid of reinjury! I need to grab some of this!! Just took a look at their website and couldn’t find where to order it??? any ideas? thanks!
Brek Leines
November 20, 2009 at 5:55 pmYah this seems just like surf wax. was it hard or soft wax?
R
November 20, 2009 at 11:10 pmSo why this instead of a stomp pad? Isn’t that what a stomp pad is for…to give you extra traction for skating? It seems like the wax makes your board look kind of grimy where its applied. What are its benefits over a normal stomp pad?
Brek Leines
November 21, 2009 at 10:30 pmYou can still see the graphics and i assume that its much cheeper.
Dazma
November 22, 2009 at 4:43 pmDont really understand the logic of this product. If the idea is so you can still see your graphic buy a clear stomp pad. All this product does is make a royal mess of your topsheet buy making it look dirty … sounds like it defeats the purpose of being able to see the graphics.
It would also be useless on a powder day … once you get some snow on there it will be useless.
A 5 dollar clear stomp pad would allow you to see the graphics better, give you no traction issues when skating or getting off the lift, and had the added benefit of giving you something to kick the snow off the bottom of your boot.
Unless you happen to be testing boards (as you do shay) that dont have stomp pads, this product seems to be answering a question nobody is asking.
Shay
November 22, 2009 at 6:02 pmParis, that’s what they said as well that it came from snowboarders who also surf.
Carrie, agree with you and I’m not one to put a stomp pad on my board so just some extra grippage would be nice to have around. I used froogle to find what shops have it here
Brek, I’ll find out for you. Got an answer from Sarah, “The short answer is that the wax is a hard wax, but again, includes softening agents to make it more pliable.”
R, Its just another method for extra traction without having to put a stomp pad or something permanent on your board.
Dazma, I had snow on it and it wasn’t useless after having snow on it. In the photo I brushed off snow that was on top of it and it’s still there working as traction wax. Some great questions though, I think personally for me I don’t ride with stomp pads but having extra traction can be nice. Do I need it? Nah I generally can skate off the chairlift with no problems but it definitely has some value to those who might not want a stomp pad and something they could put on multiple boards. $9 for how many boards you want, versus $5-15 per stomp pad for each board.
Sarah Cameron
November 23, 2009 at 4:24 amThe traction wax came about for a few reasons. We wanted to offer an alternative for those of you who aren’t into stomp pads but still want some traction on your topsheet. In addition to providing no-slip-grip off the lift, traction wax is great for wherever you grab your board and for one-footed freestyle action. We’re also surfers and for those of you who surf, know the ritual and necessity of waxing your board before you surf. Smelling the wax while rubbing it on is a part of surfing, and I wanted to bring some of that to snowboarding. It’s all about getting people psyched to ride. The traction wax smells awesome and is specifically formulated for cold weather so that the wax remains tacky, yet snow does not stick to it. And, if you do want to sell your board later, the wax easily comes off with a scraper and base cleaner.
You can purchase some here (along with more POM POM products) at http://www.shreddingbetty.com (http://shop.shreddingbetty.com/pom-pom/pom-pom-snowboard-wax-wacky-tacky-traction-wax.html)
-Sarah
Brek Leines
November 23, 2009 at 3:32 pmDoes anybody know about how far this will go on average like square feet or boards. I think youd be able to completely cover 1 1/2-2 boards with one puck of wax. itd definatly be nice for nose n tail grabs with slick/icy gloves
Shay
November 23, 2009 at 6:38 pmBrek, I barely used any when I put it on my board but that would be a good test to see how much board you could cover with one puck. I only plan to cover my spare foot area and I can take a picture of the puck to show you how much I used.
Brek Leines
November 23, 2009 at 7:04 pmYou dont have to do that. Im just thinking that its a good solution to having a lil more grip where you want it for a low price. Especially if you have several boards like I do, I think this is a good solution to stomp pads and slick grab areas like nose and tail. i havnt used a stop pad in years but I hate when I go to do a nose or tail grab and my gloves are icy or slick and it I lose the grab and ruin the trick.
Think I might buy some, thanks shay
Shay
November 23, 2009 at 7:10 pmOk figured I’d throw it out there, gives me a reason to clean up my room to find it, haha.
Definitely if you get it, post on here how it works for the grabbing with your icy and slick gloves, that would be really interesting to hear if it works for you that way.
Brek Leines
November 23, 2009 at 11:31 pmFor sure shay!
Carrie
November 25, 2009 at 9:47 amThanks Shay and Sarah!!
MikeyTBC
December 3, 2009 at 9:26 amGreat idea! I have a GNU CHB and for some reason stomp pads always come off that board but never my others. Anyway, this is the perfect soloution.
laz167
December 15, 2009 at 8:00 amI bought this last week and used it, worked pretty well..Liked it.
Shay
December 15, 2009 at 11:08 amGreat to hear Laz! Yeah I need to rub some more on my board, definitely good to have without needing a stomp pad.
Robbo
November 25, 2010 at 11:23 amI’m waxing my buddy’s base with it for sure! LOL!