Dynafit Heel Alignment

All it took was one read through this tread to convince me to mount my own skis:

www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.p...t=mount+fucking+skis

I am an idiot, but it turns out there are bigger idiots working as ski techs. So far I am 3 for 3 on dynafit mounts. Sure, it takes me several hours, but I'll take that kind of hassle over the hassle of dealing with a shop screw up after the fact. I have yet to read a thread or talk to anybody where the shop readily accepts responsibility for the screw up. It seems like they spend most of their time trying to convince the customer that everything is as it should be.

Unfortunately, the situation is a bit more complicated so there will be some negotiating. 

This reminds me of a frustrating mis-mount in the 80's.  I paid a shop buddy with beer to mount my new Dynastar S9 foam core slalom skis for me.  When he botched the mount, I realized I was screwed.  The shop had no responsibility to me, I hadn't paid them for the mount.  My buddy was a flake with no ability to replace my skis and I didn't trust him to fix the problem anyway.  I can't recall the problem, but I remember being crushed by the situation.  

I'd recommend deciding whether you'd rather have them mounted 1.5cm forward or back...

I think I would choose back.

Gorp since they are making a swiss cheese sandwich out of those boards. I have another idea/suggestion that will add to your expense, but get the bindings potentially where they need to be on the ski rather than mounting fore or aft.
I tore out my Dynafit Toes on my new boards (Chams-I recommend to use a 3.5mm bit instead of recommended 4.1mm). I tried to helicoil, but hole was to big and as mentioned the wood is soft. I tried several attempts to epoxy wood plug and redrill the hole. Still Too soft wood. Made my own hickory core plugs, did not work to reset the holes. Holes were to large to install Freedom inserts. What to do??
So PNWBrit (Banned) gave me a pair of DynaDuke plates, filled all the holes that I placed on top of the whole mess and solved the problem. I won't use the Duke feature and they ski as well as they were before I tore out the toes.
Maybe go to binding Freedom's website and select a plate that relates to a particular alpine binding that maybe you could have an option of using either way. Though I think swapping the bindings are a total hassle.
It only took me about 2 hours to install the Freedom Plates, most time digging through the bag of screws to find the right ones to fit.

Sorry to hear about this experience... frustrating to deal with this instead of enjoying your new skis on some spring corn.

There's always plenty of recommendations for somebody else's problem and you've gotten a few already but hey, here's one more
The shop needs to buy you a new pair of skis, period! Then you mount them elsewhere or even yourself. If they refuse to do so, you let us know and we'll form an army and march in with you. There is no excuse for poor craftsmanship and no, the misalignment is not within the Dynafit norm... if the pins are outside of the bottom slot opening, it's definitely way off.

Sorry to hear about this experience... frustrating to deal with this instead of enjoying your new skis on some spring corn.

There's always plenty of recommendations for somebody else's problem and you've gotten a few already but hey, here's one more
The shop needs to buy you a new pair of skis, period! Then you mount them elsewhere or even yourself. If they refuse to do so, you let us know and we'll form an army and march in with you. There is no excuse for poor craftsmanship and no, the misalignment is not within the Dynafit norm... if the pins are outside of the bottom slot opening, it's definitely way off.

THIS. That's utterly ridiculous.

Also, you should call the shop out so that we know which one it was...

hey folks,

i work as a ski tech and am somewhat offended by your trash talking of my chosen profession.

i have screwed up few mounts, when mounting 30-40 pairs of skis in a day during the busy holiday season. everyone makes mistakes. but, our shop has always replaced the skis out of stock, or paid the customer the full value of their skis. as any reputable shop would do.

its true that many ski techs are hired without actually being ski techs previously, and this "head technician" was obviously not trained properly.

Any dope can screw a binding to a ski once the pilot holes are accurately drilled....

not true! ive seen more mounts screwed up because the screws were overly tightened and the wood inside the ski stripped out.

Then mounted crooked and maintained that the misalignment was normal. I eventually convinced them (head technician) that that was false when he realized his Dynafit jig was not accurate (supposedly).

a jig cannot be "not accurate" unless it has been broken or bent. he obviously did not have the rubber feet on in the correct positions.

my advice would be to not use this shop again, and next time talk in depth with the ski techs and salesmen at the ski shop of your choice. i personally do not trust any tech without 5+ years of tech experience. in my shop these techs are designated to waxing setting up rentals.