My girlfriends LeChameau walking boots and her casual Merrell ugg boots both had major problems so I decided to fix them with ShoeGoo and Mcnett Freesole footwear adhesives. The Mcnett Freesole is £7.50 and the ShoeGoo is £2.75, both bought from ebay. I was interested to see which performed best.
The rubber rand around the walking boots was cracking badly and on one of the boots the toe of the sole had a 5mm gap. The Merrell ugg boots had a severely worn-down heel and toe area of the sole.
First thing I did was very rigourosly and thoroughly cleaned both pairs of boots using Nikwax footwear cleaner and a strong nylon brush however I found any old soap to do just as good a job, I reccomend mild hand wash soap so as not to damage the leather. Use plenty of warm water and clean multiple times however don't fall in to the trap I did by mistaking the dirty looking water for dirt... it is the leather tainting the water! It took me the dogged determination of no less than 10 or so vigorous cleaning sessions to realise this was the case.
Dry the boots in a cool area, a warm area will shrink the leather and weaken the glue that fixes the sole to the upper. Not good. Once the boots are dry, the repair can begin.
I used rubbing alcohol to clean all area where I was going to use the glues.
I filled the cavity with ShoeGoo and then applied pressure using my cycling trouser clips and strong gorilla duct tape
I also smeared ShoeGoo over the rubber rand to stop it from cracking further. On the other boot I used Mcnett freesole for comparison.
You'd never know the toe of the sole ever had that dreadful gap.
As you will agree the Mcnett freesole looks a lot nicer than the ShoeGoo below. I found the McNett freesole to be much easier to smear and manipulate. The ShoeGoo is very difficult to work with and I will now only be using it as a cavity filler, and use the McNett for jobs that will effect the aesthetics of the boot.
Now for the Merrell ugg boots...
The problem with these was the toe and heel area of the sole were badly worn, so I thorughly cleaned the uppers and soles and filled the cavities with ShoeGoo as well as used the ShoeGoo to "build-up" the worn treads then left to dry for 24 hours.
I then began work building up the worn area of the sole. I could of simply used the ShoeGoo to do this but instead I ordered a 20x20cm square of 2mm thick rubber from eBay and cut shaped pieces to fit the areas of the sole that had worn down.
Roughen up the sufaces of the sole of the boot and the piece of rubber. Make sure to abrade both sides of the rubber as well as all sides becuase you will have to "bury" the rubber in the ShoeGoo once it has been stuck down in the place it needs to be. Thoroughly clean with rubbing alcohol before applying the ShoeGoo
Rinse and repeat for the front of the sole and any other badly worn areas
Bury the rubber repairs in a generous serving the the ShoeGoo and take you time to ensure there is lots of glue on all the sides and corners for better durability.
Leave to dry for at least 24 hours so the glue "cures" proeprly. The carpenters pencil is there to apply extra pressure the piece of rubber on the toe area of the sole. I ended up using about 6 of my fingers to hold down each corner of the other rubber repairs for as long as I could bear, which succesfuly stuck them down just fine.
Will let you all know if the repair lasts!
The rubber rand around the walking boots was cracking badly and on one of the boots the toe of the sole had a 5mm gap. The Merrell ugg boots had a severely worn-down heel and toe area of the sole.
First thing I did was very rigourosly and thoroughly cleaned both pairs of boots using Nikwax footwear cleaner and a strong nylon brush however I found any old soap to do just as good a job, I reccomend mild hand wash soap so as not to damage the leather. Use plenty of warm water and clean multiple times however don't fall in to the trap I did by mistaking the dirty looking water for dirt... it is the leather tainting the water! It took me the dogged determination of no less than 10 or so vigorous cleaning sessions to realise this was the case.
Dry the boots in a cool area, a warm area will shrink the leather and weaken the glue that fixes the sole to the upper. Not good. Once the boots are dry, the repair can begin.
I used rubbing alcohol to clean all area where I was going to use the glues.
I filled the cavity with ShoeGoo and then applied pressure using my cycling trouser clips and strong gorilla duct tape
I also smeared ShoeGoo over the rubber rand to stop it from cracking further. On the other boot I used Mcnett freesole for comparison.
You'd never know the toe of the sole ever had that dreadful gap.
As you will agree the Mcnett freesole looks a lot nicer than the ShoeGoo below. I found the McNett freesole to be much easier to smear and manipulate. The ShoeGoo is very difficult to work with and I will now only be using it as a cavity filler, and use the McNett for jobs that will effect the aesthetics of the boot.
Now for the Merrell ugg boots...
The problem with these was the toe and heel area of the sole were badly worn, so I thorughly cleaned the uppers and soles and filled the cavities with ShoeGoo as well as used the ShoeGoo to "build-up" the worn treads then left to dry for 24 hours.
I then began work building up the worn area of the sole. I could of simply used the ShoeGoo to do this but instead I ordered a 20x20cm square of 2mm thick rubber from eBay and cut shaped pieces to fit the areas of the sole that had worn down.
Roughen up the sufaces of the sole of the boot and the piece of rubber. Make sure to abrade both sides of the rubber as well as all sides becuase you will have to "bury" the rubber in the ShoeGoo once it has been stuck down in the place it needs to be. Thoroughly clean with rubbing alcohol before applying the ShoeGoo
Rinse and repeat for the front of the sole and any other badly worn areas
Bury the rubber repairs in a generous serving the the ShoeGoo and take you time to ensure there is lots of glue on all the sides and corners for better durability.
Leave to dry for at least 24 hours so the glue "cures" proeprly. The carpenters pencil is there to apply extra pressure the piece of rubber on the toe area of the sole. I ended up using about 6 of my fingers to hold down each corner of the other rubber repairs for as long as I could bear, which succesfuly stuck them down just fine.
Will let you all know if the repair lasts!
