Can helicoils hold on a binding, and do all Salomons strip easily?

[powder_prophet]

Ok, here's my story. A couple weeks ago I was doing some maintenance on my touring skis (Salomon czars w/ TLT Verticals). I realized that when they were mounted, 3 out of 5 screws on one of my toe pieces had been stripped at the shop. Yes, 3 out of 5!! Ridiculous, but they were mounted last year, didn't want to raise a stink at the shop about last years problem. So instead of fixing the problem right then and there, I figured they would be fine to ski for a couple days cause the snow was good and I wanted to get out. Well, while skinning up, I completely ripped that toe piece out of the ski. No delam or anything on the ski, just ripped the screws right out.

Now the question is, what to do. I'd rather not have to redrill all the holes and shift the bindings, so I'm wondering if helicoils can be trusted to fix this problem. That's right, 5 helicoils to completely hold in my toe piece. Anyone ever tried to do this? In theory, it should work. But can I really trust them to hold? I need the fix to be dependable, as I rely on my skis to get me down from scary places. These skis aren't for hucking or anything, but I take them mountaineering into steep, gnarly terrain and want to trust them under my feet.

Also wondering if anyone else has had issues with newer Salomons, and the Czars specifically, stripping easily? I work at a shop now (no I didn't mount these skis), and have mounted czars, and noticed when screwing that the core seemed "soft" and I could just feel that the screws wanted to strip. I couldn't put as much force into them as usual. Is this common? Do they just have a shitty core? Never trusted skis that weren't solid wood, but they just ski so well!

[wendigo]

From my experience you got water in behind the spinners, which in turn weakened the hold and enabled the rip-out. Screws rusty?
You can helicoil, insert, or pack with sawdust/steel wool/fiberglass & epoxy then re-drill and remount. If your screws were rusty you will probably have similar issues down the line as the core is water weakened, in which case I would recommend inserts over helicoils, as you will remove the affected core and keep water out by epoxying them (inserts) in.

[powder_prophet]

That's a negative on the rusty screws. Just checked em out, no rust at all. The threads are still packed with core material, but no rust.

[jondrums]

The threads are still packed with core material, but no rust.

That means whoever installed them used too much torque causing a spinner. It's the installer's fault. This is actually common with dynafit toes because for no good reason dynafit undersizes the holes in the toes causing the screws to thread into both the ski and the toepiece. A lot of people like to drill out the plastic baseplate to clear the ski-screws.

[powder_prophet]

That means whoever installed them used too much torque causing a spinner. It's the installer's fault. This is actually common with dynafit toes because for no good reason dynafit undersizes the holes in the toes causing the screws to thread into both the ski and the toepiece. A lot of people like to drill out the plastic baseplate to clear the ski-screws.

right, I know it was the installers fault. That is old news. The question is what to do now.

[Bird Blaster]

I had a problem with one spinner on some STH bindings that I had mounted a year ago. I took them back to the shop this year. They corrected it free of charge.

If you have any faith in the shop, then I would go back there. They should cover the workmanship; even if it was last year. If you don't trust them do it yourself. I don't have enough experience with ripped out and/or spinner to give you advice. Others do...

[skis_the_trees]

Simple answer - helicoil or inserts and keep on trucking. Should be no issues if done properly.

[DropCliffsNotBombs]

Yes, helicoils should hold your toe piece on just fine. I have seen skis break right next to helicoils without them pulling out.
Salomons don't seem to be more prone than other skis to stripping out in my experience.

[jondrums]

right, I know it was the installers fault. That is old news. The question is what to do now.

helicoils. fixing spinners is what they are made for.

[jfost]

...The question is what to do now.

be a dick to one of the best informed guys on here?

[stuckathuntermtn]

tl;dr
1. yes
2. no

[powder_prophet]

thanks for the responses. Sounds like I have some serious helicoiling to do.