Stick, Not Grip
FU Wax splits surfers into two camps. One says it is the stickiest wax you can buy. The other says it smells strange and costs too much. Both have a point. Made in Brazil and sold in round 80 gram pucks, FU costs two to three times what a standard bar does, and it sells itself on one claim: nothing sticks like it.
This review covers the Cold, Cool, Warm and Tropical bars and the Basecoat. Each one has its temperature range, feel and rating below.
Quick pick:
- Cold water, no booties: Cold Water Control
- Winter water with or without booties: Cool Water Control
- Mild water: Warm
- Hot water: Summer Tropical
- Structure under any of them: Base Coat
How the FU Wax Range Works
FU is a top coat, not a build wax. The usual setup is a normal basecoat or a layer of cheaper wax for the bumps, then a few light strokes of FU on top. Owners say you need roughly a quarter of the amount you would use with standard wax, so one bar can last a few months of regular surfing. That offsets the price more than it first appears.
The US labels give these ranges:
- Cold Water Control: 55 F (13 C) and below
- Cool Water Control: 53 to 63 F (12 to 17 C)
- Summer Cool: 63 to 70 F (17 to 21 C)
- Warm: 69 to 75 F (21 to 24 C)
- Summer Tropical: 79 to 90 F (26 to 32 C)
- Base Coat: under any top coat, or on its own above 89 F (32 C)
Ranges differ a little between countries and shops, so check the label on the bar you buy.
Cold Water Control
- Water temperature: 55 F (13 C) and below
- Hardness: Ultra soft
- Scent: Sweet and chemical, compared to bubble gum, banana candy or new car
- Rating: 8.6/10
- Check the price on Amazon
In cold water the grip is hard to argue with. FU does not turn slick the way a firm cold-water wax can, and the stickiness lasts through a long session. Over a firm base, a light pass turns into tiny, sticky nodes almost at once. Over bare resin it can feel slimy, so the base is part of the recipe, not an extra.
Keep it out of the sun. A bar this soft left in a hot car is a puddle. Surfers who like a suction feel on takeoff call it the best top coat they have used.
Cool Water Control
- Water temperature: 53 to 63 F (12 to 17 C)
- Hardness: Soft
- Scent: Sweet and chemical
- Rating: 8.1/10
- Check the price on Amazon
Cool is the bar many surfers will use most, through winter in mild places and through spring and fall in colder ones. It works with or without booties. It is noticeably tackier than a standard cool bar, and a thin top coat over a regular basecoat goes a long way.
The FU line also has a Summer Cool bar for 63 to 70 F (17 to 21 C), the gap between Cool and Warm. If your water sits in that band most of the year, it is worth looking for.
Warm
- Water temperature: 69 to 75 F (21 to 24 C)
- Hardness: Medium
- Scent: Sweet and chemical
- Rating: 7.5/10
- Check the price on Amazon
Warm sits in the middle of the range, firmer than Cold and Cool and softer than Tropical. The texture is dense and elastic and does not crumble. Owners treat it as the finishing layer: normal wax or basecoat underneath, a few light strokes of FU on top. The result is the structure of the cheap wax with the stick of the premium one.
It is the bar in the line with the least to set it apart. In mild water a standard warm wax is already sticky enough for most surfers, so the price gap is harder to justify here than at the cold and hot ends.
Summer Tropical
- Water temperature: 79 to 90 F (26 to 32 C)
- Hardness: Firm
- Scent: Sweet and chemical
- Rating: 8.4/10
- Check the price on Amazon
Hot water is where FU makes the most sense, because standard waxes lose their structure and this one keeps working. In 80 F water it held its shape for two hours under a midday sun, with the little peaks of tack intact. On a few late drops where I did not stick the landing, it gave me an extra instant of grip to adjust my stance. It also resisted the oily sheen high-tack waxes get in heat, and I got three or four long sessions from one application.
Heavy hands waste the bar and leave a globby mess. Set up the bumps with a firm basecoat, then barely graze the surface with the Tropical, like painting a thin layer of glue.
Pro tip: Wax in the shade, even with a Tropical bar. Heat is the enemy of a clean wax job.
Base Coat
- Water temperature: All temperatures under a top coat, or alone above 89 F (32 C)
- Hardness: Hard
- Scent: Sweet and chemical
- Rating: Not rated
- Check the price on Amazon
The label says "No Grip", and it means it. Base Coat builds the hard bumps the top coat grabs onto. It is not meant to be sticky. I have not surfed this bar, so it has no rating here. Any hard basecoat does the same job, and many FU owners use whatever basecoat they already have.
Is It Worth the Money?
This is the question in half the FU threads. Some surfers say buy Sticky Bumps or Sex Wax at the right temperature and save your money. Others say it is the best wax on the market and the only one they will use. The common middle path: use a normal wax as the base and add FU only on top, so a bar stretches much further.
It also depends on your feet. FU suits riders whose feet stay planted, such as high-performance surfers doing airs and tight turns. Surfers who move their back foot up for speed and back for turns say they feel stuck wherever they land. The summary owners repeat is "it's stick, not grip."
Waxing and Care
Start with a clean, dry deck in the shade. Build bumps with a basecoat first: diagonal lines, cross them, then small circles. Then add FU with a light hand. Less is more, and using less gives better results.
Comb the deck before each session. When the surface goes grey and flat, scrape it with a plastic scraper, use a little citrus cleaner on the residue and start fresh. Keep the soft bars out of a hot car.
On a Snowboard Topsheet
I used the Cold bar as a stomp pad alternative. After a layer of ordinary wax, a cross-hatch of FU Cold beaded into small, very tacky nodes that looked nearly invisible from a few feet away. In the lift line my boot felt locked in, even with frost on the deck. It lasted about three hours before it packed down, so I topped it up each morning.
The patch picked up dirt and looked grey by the end of a three-day trip. A plastic scraper and base cleaner removed it, and after a month of use I saw no damage to the topsheet. The Warm bar makes a thinner, flatter patch that some riders prefer. Either way, it is not a replacement for a rubber pad for most riders, but it keeps the graphic clean.
Where FU Wax Falls Short
Price. It costs two to three times a standard bar, and spending that on a block of wax rubs some surfers the wrong way.
Too sticky for some. If you shift your feet a lot, it can feel like glue.
Skin. Without a rash guard or wetsuit top it grabs skin, and owners report it pulling on chest hair and chafing bare stomachs.
Smell. Opinions range from banana candy to cleaning product. It is not a coconut bar.
Availability. Some owners say it is hard to find in shops.
Verdict
FU Wax is not a bargain, and it is not for everyone. If you want the stickiest surface and you are willing to use a base layer and a light hand, it delivers. My picks: Cold Water Control for winter and Summer Tropical for hot water, the two ends of the range where standard wax struggles most. In mild water, a cheaper warm bar does nearly the same job.
