Old boots resoled with car tyre!

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johnnytheboy

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Aug 21, 2007
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I felt a little inspired by the thread the about resoling old shoes with tyre rubber. I had just had a pair of works brogue resoled on the high street and wasn’t particularly impressed with the job they done given the price, so at the time of the thread I had been searching eBay to find the necessary supplies to do repairs to other shoes.

I have an old pair of Timberland boots, they are now 17 year old and showing their age. They are still waterproof, but the heel support and the sole are pretty knackered. The sole has delaminated from the main boot, and is very thin in the centre part. The heel block is well worn due to the way I walk!

I don’t think you can get a better boot for dodging about than Timberlands, they are waterproof and the waterproofing lasts, unlike Cats, Rockport etc I maybe wouldn’t do a hike in them but for everything else you would ever need boots for they fit the bill. These ones are my old work boots now, I could have chucked them and bought a £20 pair of Cats from the bay, but I want to have some fun and see if I can restore them!!

So here is what I have done today

Part 1

Here is my old boots, covered in cement and all the other junk they have been through

Boots1_zpsf4cd44a8.jpg


I eventually got the sole off, and here is some tyre tread I removed from a Dunlop Grandtrek I found lying around at work. The tyre was virtually brand new it must have had some side wall damage as the tread had loads left on it which was fine for me. Getting the tread off was a right nightmare. I was originally going to use the mid section of the tyre cutting down the bands in the tread pattern and removing the centre section, but it was to narrow for my shoe so I had to remove the side section as well. This is what really took the time as the side section had a very thin metal mesh in it. I had to cut around this like fish bones which was time consuming. If I do this again I will find a much wider tyre. The tyre under the tread has a fabric mat, once you have cut around this it will virtually peel off, hence the reason I’ll use a wider tyre.

Boots4_zpsb43a31ee.jpg


This is my soles shaped out roughly, you can see where I marked it out with a sharpie, I nearly made two right soles, oops!


I have a wee cheapo sander; I used this to flatten the sole bonding area. I have watched a few YouTube videos and the glue seems to be contact adhesive, so I want the two bonding areas to be as flat and clean as possible. My wee knife from Bushwear tackled the job pretty well but that will now need sharpened, these tyres are heavy going. I like the fact that Bushwear advertise these that they are so cheap you can just thrown them away rather than sharpen them. I’m not made of money so it will be getting sharpened!

Boots5_zps04b3973a.jpg


The boots and sole are pretty filthy, so any owner of these boots knows the best way to keep them clean is soapy water and the wee Timberland brush, which is just a overpriced nail brush. I have scrubbed the upper and the sole as clean as I could get them. The soles started to come off when we were on a work day at our shoot, so they got pretty filthy underneath; I need this glue surface to be very clean.

Boots6_zpsc805ac6d.jpg


Through the miracle of time, they will dry out and be ready for the next stage!

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I bought some Evostick Impact, has anyone used this product? All the YouTube videos state to use contact adhesive, and eBay basically sell contact adhesive for the job of resoling. However Evostick Impact is a retail product sole through B&Q will this be up to the job, or should I find something more industrious?
 
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johnnytheboy

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Aug 21, 2007
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Thats where is seen how to remove the tread, If i had a thicker tyre like they had, you would actually be able to rip the tread off rather than all that farting about cutting the tread off. I removed the tread the same way as that video but i used a 18mm break off knife as the point of all knifes dull very quickly when dealing with tyres!

I'll know next time how to remove it much easier!
 

johnnytheboy

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Aug 21, 2007
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Part Two

The boots scrubbed up pretty well considering their age, I borrowed some clamps from work, yes there are a bit overkill but they are free to borrow so beggars cant be choosers.

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I put some Evostick Impact on the sole of the boot

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The worked it all over the surface with a bit of tissue until the whole sole was covered. This cures pretty quickly so it is well worth doing this quickly, tissue is probably not the best thing to use as it could stick, but I worked quickly, just in case.

EF164B90-1C20-4C68-B895-75EB41859E1A-1268-00000258294213DD.jpg


The same with the new sole units I made

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Everything gets left to dry for 10minutes before sticking everything together, it is a contact adhesive so bonds as soon as the two items touch each other so lining them up is pretty important as its a one and only attempt!

DDE7D12A-AD87-4A14-8738-F056848B55D2-1268-000002583BDB26E2.jpg


I clamped the sole unity on to the boots and I have left this to dry, the glue said 24 hours so I’ll leave them over night, the clamps need to go back to work in the morning so I hope this is enough time. I’ll use the laces to tie it together for tomorrow one the clamps come off. The boot is pretty flexible with the old sole unit off and the tyre rubber is pretty solid, so it’s a good idea to use clamps to get the full contact surface to adhere.

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I hope this glue works after all this farting about :-D
 

johnnytheboy

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Aug 21, 2007
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I have storm sure somewhere lol, I just used the impact as this is a trial run for dealing with brogue shoes, I go through heels like there is no tomorrow. I have glue at work that will bond these soles on indefintely but i didnt want to use that so I can get a feeling for how the impact works. There is glue on ebay (link below) that is actually the glue shoe repairers use, but there is postage on top of the price, Evostick impact is off the shelf in most shops.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Klebfest-...ing_ShoeCare_Shoe_Care_LE&hash=item43af172550
 

galopede

Forager
Dec 9, 2004
173
1
Gloucestershire
Funny I should find this post!

I'm sixty now but when I was a nipper, my father and grandfather used to resole shoes with old bicycle tyres. Probably a lot easier to cut and prepare than the car tyres you're using. Think they were nailed in place rather than glued back then.

My father used to resole shoes and boots for all the family and friends. Pretty good for a telephone engineer!

Gareth
 

Squidders

Full Member
Aug 3, 2004
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The question is, do you select tyres for ice braking, handling, hydroplaning, snow traction and wet/dry grip or do you opt for tyres that offer better ride comfort, noise and rolling resistance? :p

Great thread by the way, those are going to look great when done... maybe next time get some white walls!

There is also the obvious nod for making do and mending... not seen enough.
 

johnnytheboy

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Aug 21, 2007
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The soles were all glued up by the time I got home from work, so its time to trim the excess. I bought some hooked stanley knife blades to help run it around the edge of the sole neatly, in hindsight I dont think they were necessary but worked nonetheless!

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The finished product!

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I want to test these and ensure the sole wont peel off, however its no biggie if it does as I have industrial glue at work. I dont think I'll get another 17 years out of these boots, but a few more would be just fine.

The todo list to finish them

Fix the heel unit
Fix the heel inner strengthener
Find something to nourish the nubuck type leather without making it shiney

Cost so far

£3.08 Evostick Impact
£2.28 hooked Stanley Knife blade
Time - comes free to me plus I learned loads
£5.36 Total, plus loads of glue left and blades
 

Opal

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Dec 26, 2008
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I can just see a police car pulling you up for speeding on the motorway, tell him you're training for the 50k walk in Brazil. :)
 

johnnytheboy

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Aug 21, 2007
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The way I did it it was a right pain as I cut into the side wall tread pattern a little, it had a very fine mesh in the shoulder area very like the canvas, this was not the wire as I knew it, but something in the tyre I wasnt aware of (the yellow bit in the diagram). I planned to take the surface of the tread but I realised when it was to late that it wasnt wide enough for my foot, hence i had to cut into the side tread. The best option would be to find a wide tyre and not go near the shoulder. The tyre has canvas just under the tread. You could cut this canvas round with a blade then pull the tread off easily in hindsight. You are effectively pulling the tread and the canvas of which is the red and the green bit and leaving the rest on the tyre!

TyreConstruction_zps73137376.gif
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
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Mercia
Brilliant thread - never tried this - but I will - I wore through the leather uppers on my old Timbies recerntly :(

Anyway - try "Shoe goo" as an adhesive - brilliant stuff, sticks like hell but bends without cracking
 

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