Traction Reccomendations?

[brass]

Looking to outfit a new board. I have done some searching and found lots of pad options for the tail but nothing for the front foot. Where does anyone source your stuff?

[mattv]

I just picked up a set of wakesufer traction pads that can be found here.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wakesurfer-Traction-Kit_W0QQitemZ260308701871QQihZ016QQcategoryZ71167QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

Even though it says wakesurfer pads it will work for any surf board.

NSI also has a very nice selection and you can purchase sheets and make your own pads.

http://www.northshoreinc.com/Default.asp?

mattv
http://www.kitesurfinfo.com

[Kaito]

I think these front-pads, with an arch-bar in between would be sweet.

http://www.freakinfo.com/traction-quatro.php

The next set of pads I get will be Freak's. They're not as thick as other pads, but they have a smooth coated finish, vs's the rough finish of pretty much all other pads..
I haven't actually tried the Freak traction(yet), but they've sparked my interest.

On my surfsk8 I've got the NSI surf'n skim pads with the built-in strap-anchors.
The pads work fine, but they do feel a bit on the 'hard' side..

Rgds,
K.

[Yann]

I prefer pads without an arch bar. I sometimes get chafe and blisters after riding with an arch bar for several hours. Some pads are to hard for cold water and won't give enough traction when it's getting chilly. When it's time for boots it doesn't matter anymore since a boot gives a lot better traction than a bare foot. When looking for front foot traction look for longboard pads. They are often packaged 3 or 4 sheets together to cover a larger area of the board.

I you ever get hold of traction without adhesive use 3M or Tesa doube adhesive tape and cover the pad completely with stripes and then use a scissor to cut off the excess tape before applying it to the board. I your board is clean it will never come of again

[mikelet]

For me NSI's rocks!,got them on my DC surfboard and recently also purchased new ones for the salomon 5.0,i was using two surf tailpads and wax inbetween before.Also added sky hooks from NSI too and all i can say is they work great,you still have unstrapped freedom feeling plus you can boost big with confidence...I placed mine on the forward and backward inserts from the pads cause only use the hooks when on a wave or for a jump ,Working on aerial jybes now and makes things easier
Here is a picture of how they look:

[Hein]

I know quite a few folks like my insert pads. Thanks. Ironically I don't use them myself as I prefer no straps. I developed a pad set that I use on my 6 ft board. Thin and I like the white no contrast look in front. NSI has 'em. I use that clear grip stuff in the area between the pads.