ANTs cracked base - is this fixable?

[gramboh]

Hi,

I've been skiing a pair of 05-06 ANTs this season whenever it snows. I had them mounted in early December and have skiied them 4 or 5 times. The last time I was out on them I ran over a rock after landing a drop and did some pretty bad damage. I hit the rock with the outside edge of my downhill ski which is what surprised me about the amount of damage.

As you can see from the first pic, the edge has cracked directly along the top of the ARM letters on the base. The crack starts at the A and ends at the first part of the M. The crack is straight along this plane.

The second pic shows the base is compressed down from where the crack is. I think the edge is bent in slightly.

Third/fourth pic I tried to show a close up of the crack, sorry for the poor quality pics, it is relatively thin but you can see to the core if you are looking at the ski closely.

My first question is can this be fixed? It's a long thin crack and it's deep, as well the base seems to be compressed. Can a good shop grind it down and fill the crack? I'm worried about water getting in there and ruining the ski over time.

Second question, is this is any way a potential warranty issue? First off I did hit a rock, not hard enough that I expected that damage and it was an outside edge, but still I did run into a rock. It just seems odd that the base would crack along the top of the lettering (weak point?). There isn't really any coreshot type damage which is why it seems odd to me.

Anyone else experienced this?

[pechelman]

woah
well from a person who has no experience with ski warranty, but a good knowledge of fracture mechanics, id say that might be a solid case for a warranty if you play your cards right.

the fracturing along the die cut is what id concentrate on when asking armada.

[Pow4Brains]

Does that mean the base cracked cuz the edge "flexed"? Almost like the base is too brittle?

[marshalolson]

if they cracked right along the die-cut line and the edge is not compressed, if is for sure worth trying to get them warrentied.

die cuts suck my balls.

[gramboh]

I'm not sure what happened, whether it was from flex or from impact. I'd guess impact but there is no coreshot (other than the thin crack) or edge damage which is weird.

I think it is a weakness along the die cut. I'm going to e-mail some pics into Armada and see what happens.

Thanks guys

[MassLiberal]

I would try and go through your retailer, they would have better luck talking to Armada than you would.

[splat]

Does that mean the base cracked cuz the edge "flexed"? Almost like the base is too brittle?

Kind of. The compression appears to have pushed the edge upwards and/or sideways and tweaked the tangs that bond the edge into the sidewall and core, showing the movement in the base. The edge tangs inside the ski have likely broken their bond to the core/sidewall area matrix. It will probably eventually show up more visibly as a delam on the bottom side of the sidewall or, if that bond is tight, continue to tweak the base away from the core, creating a bubble in the base. You could slit the base along that line and infuse epoxy, then clamp, to reestablish the bond to repair it.

[gramboh]

This board is an awesome resource, having dudes with the technical knowledge of splat/pechelman.

Splat I think you are correct in that the tangs are probably lose and more problems will happen down the road. I'm going to e-mail the pics to Armada and see what happens. If that fails I'll try to get em repaired in the manner you described. I love these boards so I hope they aren't wrecked.

At least it hasn't really snowed here for 3+ weeks so I'm not missing much.

L8r

[IE]

A bit of a different perspective on the warranty here - those are just skis, you can't expect them to last forever. If you really like 'em, just use that as an outside edge, and it wouldn't make any difference on the big days that you say you use those on. Save yourself time being without skis, shipping and remounting costs, and headaches of trying to warranty stuff that may or may not have been your fault. It's nice getting a new pair of boards for free, but it may not be worth the trouble in this case. If it looks like they are going to fall apart, do what splat said.

[gramboh]

An update in case anyone searches this. A local shop helped me out and I had the skis warrantied. Although I did run into a rock, there was no real damage to the edge/base other than the depression/crack along the die cut, so it was ruled a manufacturer defect. I had to pay some cashola because the ski was 2 model years old (the warranty is one year) but I am happy to do so to get new sticks. Thanks Armada and my local Armada dealer.

The 07-08 graphic is a bit soy, why didn't Anthony choose a topless girl.

[bossass]

Nice work, good on Armada.

[Gripen]

The exact same thing happened to a pair of ARV's I was skiing (There werent mine), even in the exact same spot on the ski, though I didnt hit a rock, rather a super flat cat track landing on ice chunks.

Armada warrantied them as well, even after the local retailer in Calgary said they wouldnt.

[KungFu Eddie]

Very similar thing happened to my ARVs. It happened when i removed the bindings. Cracked in the same place (top of the A-M) Yours looks bigger. Got it ground and ptexed but had to get it redone after a week. They are my rock skis now, so meh.

Note to self avoid die cut bases

[Singel]

Random hypothetical regarding warranties: If I bought a pair of 05-06 Head's in December 2006 (2007 model would have been current at that time), would I have any luck trying to warranty them now? I purchased them less than one year ago, but they are theoretically 2 years old. They're also mounted with Tyrolia's which IIRC extends the warranty to 2 years, so one would think that it should work...not really sure if the damage even warrants a warranty, and based on the several coreshots the damage is likely more self induced than manu defect, but I'm just curious how timing affects things...

[SpinalTap]

I've had great luck with Head. Beat my monsters to hell and back (including 4 core-shots), then sent them in for sidewall cracks and Head still honored the warranty. It was a legitimate warranty issue, but the fact that they sent me brand new skis despite the heavy use (and abuse) of the previous pair says a lot.

If you have a legitimate warranty issue, then by all means send it in.

[alberta_hoser]

Same thing happened to me today except that I have a fair bit more visible damage. Should I bother trying to warranty these because of the crack along the die cut? It happened while turning onto hidden rocks but it's definitely not normal damage.

[splat]

I'm pretty surprised to see that same wound on this many skis just here on the board. I know what it's like to replace skis without question. I hope they switched to printing bases, but am surprised to see that manifesting in the die cut, even if it is a big one. You can always ask...edge hits on rocks are usually the line in warranties.
Did you gank the edge?

[alberta_hoser]

I'm pretty surprised to see that same wound on this many skis just here on the board. I know what it's like to replace skis without question. I hope they switched to printing bases, but am surprised to see that manifesting in the die cut, even if it is a big one. You can always ask...edge hits on rocks are usually the line in warranties.
Did you gank the edge?

The edge has no visible damage except for the embedded rock beside it. It isn't bent or misshaped in anyway however. What could've been a normal DEEP scratch propagated along the die cut.

[splat]

The edge has no visible damage except for the embedded rock beside it. It isn't bent or misshaped in anyway however. What could've been a normal DEEP scratch propagated along the die cut.

God, I love the way you said that.

And the other things you said appear to be totally correct.

[alberta_hoser]

God, I love the way you said that.

And the other things you said appear to be totally correct.

haha well the edge itself is fine, just the base directly beside the edge is in rough shape. I'll take them in tomorrow and see what Armada can do for me.


Give me free skis t-hall.

[alberta_hoser]

In case anybody is wondering....

I had the skis "upgraded". It wasn't a full warrenty because of the rock damage but I only had to pay $250 (includes mounting) for a brand new pair. Could've been worse. I'm pretty happy.

[dre66]

did they let you keep your old pair?

[alberta_hoser]

did they let you keep your old pair?

I asked to have them back but they refused.

[gramboh]

Do you think the graphic on the 07-08 is a chick or a dude? I can't figure it out.

[alberta_hoser]

Do you think the graphic on the 07-08 is a chick or a dude? I can't figure it out.

haha that's a guy I think. I actually prefer these graphics (minus the emo boy/girl) to the 06-07. The yellow/orange pops out of the snow nicely.