Shoe Repair Suggestions???

[dittoz]

Back when I was in track, there used to be a product called "shoe-goo". It was a rubbe-cement like product that you basically rebuilt the shoe soles with. It hardened into a semi-plyable substance and we could then continue to wear the shoes for another several hundred miles. The stuff wouldn't come off for nuthin'...

Is there something like that still out there? My son plays baseball and I understand the pitchers are doing something like that on TOP of the toe of their shoes to preserve them from the wear of a baseball pitcher.

Gotta do an internet search I imagine...

[softballmomma]

Mal, please if you or anyone else finds a solution we would love to hear from you. My daughter and 2 other pitchers on the team have the same problem. Our travel coach requires our girls to wear Mizuno cleats only. We have gone through 3 pairs of Finch cleats in the past 2 months. Last pair got so bad after her first game pitching (only 2nd time wearing them) that it went through her sock and a rock actually impeded into her foot. Awful.
I did talk to her pitching coach and he did suggest taking her cleat in and having it custom dipped. I have not had a chance to do that yet. We too have tried, pitching toe, tough toe, some plastic sealant, none have worked. We have tried Ringers and she says they are to big and bulky. Now the last pair I bought, they look real similar to the Finch model but are the boys, seem to be lasting a little longer. My daughter has worn them 5 days a week, for 1 month (about 42 innings pitched) and she is just starting to get a hole. Bonus they were only 50.00 instead of the 79.00 I paid for her Finch's.

[bradrhod]

The epoxy based Tuff Toe works much better than Shoe Goo. It is much easier to apply and always sticks. Make sure that you sand the shoe effectively. I have never seen a well applied Tuff Toe come off.
http://www.tufftoe.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=TTPro

For pitchers the Ringor cleats with a pitching toe are definitely worth the money. There are two models; Play Maker is the old heavy design. Diamond Star is a new light design, more in line with size of regular cleats. Both come in pitching toes.

Mizuno cleats are nice because they are very ligth weight. But like you have found, they do not hold up for pitchers. The way the toe is design seems to wear more than any other cleat, and when you get down the metal stud, the sole comes off pretty quck.

The Epoxy based Tuff Toe seems to work the best. When it wears a bit you can reapply. Just sand the areas that have not worn and reapply.

You can also go to the automotive repair shop and by the standard epoxy mix. It is a lot cheaper. It works just as well. The only issue is the color, it only comes in black.

[Sftbll4ever]

Mal,

My dd had (doesn't do it now) the same problem. She would have a hole starting in the same place after 1 game. We bought the Ringors with the pitching toe and now we do not have this problem. As a matter of fact, the cleat now wears out before you can hardly see a scuff on the toe.

As for coach requiring her to wear another brand, I told them if they were willing to pay for the new cleat every 2 months, she would wear what they wanted her to wear.

[Tucson]

I am with sftbll4ever. DD wore ringors while pitching and they were great. I wear them while coaching (the field shoe).

I played some slo-pitch for a friend Sun. night and she let me borrow a pair of Mizunos - what a difference there is between those and Ringors. There was no padding in the sole of the shoe and no arch or toe protection.

Have you seen the new Patriotic Ringors? I haven't been able to order through their web site for some time, now.

[3'sDad]

I applied the Tuff Toe saturday to DD's right spike, trimmed and sanded down the patch to insure there were no ridges to cause blisters on the inside of the shoe, before practice on Sunday.....she has worn them since for both All-Star practice and the softball camp she is attending this week....can't even see a scratch in the epoxy yet....if it starts to wear out, I'll sand and reapply.

[mal]

Small followup...

We ordered a pair of the Ringor Diamond Star cleats with the pitchers toe from Ringor's website. They came in today and they are very nice looking. They appear to be very well made, not too heavy, and the pro-tec-toe covering looks like it covers the right areas to help a lot, especially in addition to being leather uppers.

I'll post another followup once she get playing again and we see how they hold up.