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by Unbeliever69 1427 days ago
Thanks for sharing! One last question. How did the astro-turf compare as a slip-free material compared to more conventional materials?
1 comments

Surprisingly well, actually. The traction material I removed from my 24-year-old ski was some sort of neoprene-like foam rubber and worked fine despite being original equipment. Each individual astroturf blade has less grip compared to the rubber, but exponentially more surface area; your feet and toes almost sink into the grass instead of resting on top of a rubber mat that's typically covered in water. The benefits are particularly noticeable when leaning into the curves at higher speeds or just hooning it in general.

Because the turf is a highly-textured surface, there's far less tendency for your feet to slip in any direction when the mat is waterlogged and/or during high lateral-g maneuvering, while still retaining the "self-cleaning" characteristics of the foam rubber. The backing surface of the turf is very similar to the original rubber, just arranged in a square cell pattern. Slap some contact cement in the footwells and you've got a replacement that (IMO) exceeds the traction of the OEM mats and looks 100x cooler. I've been running them on my ski for two years now and have yet to see a blade come off after a ride, no matter how hard I push it.