 Poster: A snowHead
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My wife and I have 1 pair each of Head Ezon 9.0 and Salomon Performa 9.0 boots, bought around 10 years ago and used every year since. In the meantime they have been stored at our house in Oman, where temperatures routinely reach 40°C+ during the day (if you don't have the AC on).
On the last couple of trips I have reached the point where all calf fasteners were on their tightest setting, so perhaps we need new inner foam things. I went to my local ski shop (we've moved to Oz) and they said I would need new boots. They claimed the way to test for this is by gripping the boot by the toes and slamming down hard on a hard surface, to see if the boot shatters. If it doesn't, then it is OK. I was surprised by this seemingly blatant sales ploy but I wonder if there is any truth in it ?
Do we need new boots or just new foam inserts ? (by which I mean moulded to our legs). Can the old inserts be reheated at home with a hairdryer and remoulded ?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Plastics do degrade over time. I've seen pictures somewhere either on this site or another ski site where someone's boots have exploded (for want of a better expression) whilst they have been skiing.
I'll let someone better informed than me answer the question about remoulding the inners. My gut reaction is that if the shell is the problem and you can't move the clips to tighten them then remoulding the liners will probably not do much, you can get replacement liners but if your going to do then you might as well replace the whole boot.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Blewyn, there's yer problem, right there, mate. Boots are designed for skiing yeah? So when you ain't skiing, yer gotta keep 'em in the chiller with the prawns and tinnies.
Sorry, my inner, repressed pseudo Australian got all the better of me.
"If they don't break they're OK".
What a pile of BS.
1. Never go back to that shop ever again.
2. Find a proper boot fitter and ask advice.
Your shells may last a bit longer, but the marginal cost difference suggests to me that properly fitted boots are probably a better way forward.
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If you really want to try a home rebake on liners then Telemark Tips used to have some home oven videos.
However they weren't top of the range boots so I'd question whether they even had properly thermofit liners in the first place, and ten years on, assuming you've had reasonable use are probably due for a change.
I'd reckon 130 days out of a boot easily = 1 season but liners might be knacked before then. However 10 years worth of heat degradation on the plastic???
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Until I found a thread on here a few months ago, Id of said they will last forever (I ski on Salomons which are 20 years old), however apparently Im completely wrong and the plastic degrades with UV light and mine are way over due to shatter. Id never even heard of this before Id read it on here.
I do keep mine in a wardrobe in a boot bag so they are only exposed to UV when I go away and are at a pretty constant temperature other than that.
Im going to keep on with my boots though as I love them but keep a massive roll of Ducktape in my rucksack incase it actually happens.
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Blewyn, Buy new ones. The plastic would have degraded through plasticiser migration, exactly the same reasons that car windscreens have a milky white film on the inside and the dashboard eventually cracks. The plastic element of the compound leaches to the atmosphere leaving behind just the fillers in the plastic moulding. I've personally seen ski boots explode into many small brittle pieces. Your situation would accelerate their degradation due to the heat. Best way to keep them is in a cool, dark, air tight environment.
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Spyderman, isn't that what I said? Bottom drawer of the fridge.
They will smell a little of prawns but, hey.
Blewyn, as mentioned above, you are looking at a reasonable cost to replace liners - I am going to guess around GBP 250 including fitting and footbeds.
You are both almost certainly in shells that are too big anyway as that's the normal way for sub- quality shops to give you apparent comfort.
And the shells themselves would probably not even cost that much to simply replace with equivalents.
Anyone know a decent fitter in Oz?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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OK guys thanks for the advice - just blew $600AUD on a pair of Nordica Firesomethings (3 clips not 4, 3 pieces not 2)...... now does anyone want to buy a used pair of boots for $100 ?
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Blewyn, a morally questionable question surely??
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Why ? They might fit someone else better than me.....
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Boots do wear out. The plastic looses its strength due to sun exposure. My old moulded boots eventually started to bend when I edged hard. I too was the on tightest setting.
Colin at solutions4feet reckons 15-20 weeks. I got about 40 out of mine so probably somewhere in the middle.
Inners will get compacted quicker than that especially with heavy continual usage.
Always store out of sunlight. Room temp is fine.
I have my next set ready in the wardrobe. Very small feet. Colin had a spare pair same as mine and gave me a deal I could not refuse.
And it's not true what they say; small feet ...........small shoes or something like that
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Well, since boots can wear out so fast, I have a question on this matter: I have always wanted my own boots when I finally knew how to ski (without accidentily going off-piste hitting trees with my face), and people always recommended that if the boots that I rented fitted well, I should make an offer to the rental guys. I actually did that various times, but they claimed that they were quite expensive, and that I was the second person to wear them. Right. However, is this smart to do? Because you won't know how old they are, what they've been through, etc. etc. Anyone ever did this?
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You know it makes sense.
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No, never done it, but hire shops care not usually keen to sell as they make more out of renting the equipment out.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Alistar, i will make a prediction that the rental boots you thought/thing fitt(ed) well did nothing of the sort.
I also suspect there is these days a commercial clause in the contract saying that shops can't sell boots off cheap when you would have to pay much more for a product with a similar cost of manufacture but in funkier colours.
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Poster: A snowHead
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They may want to sell at end of season. In which case don't buy. If you do a lot of skiing have a pair properly fitted. Boots don't wear out quick. For most people 40 weeks is a decade. If I was out all season I would get a new pair for the next one unless I felt they still retained their strength.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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stanton, well, you say that, but I saw the mess they made of a chums ankles and shins while on a very expensive heli ski trip last year. Luckily she's made of plucky stuff. Maybe not such a good idea to get them made the weekend before heading to the helipad...
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| under a new name wrote: |
| Maybe not such a good idea to get them made the weekend before heading to the helipad... |
Feckin stupid in any boot unless you've spent all week breaking them in and fettling.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Most folk make the mistake of buying boots in the summer or not exercising ( a lot ) before a boot fitting.
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V tasty  How much??
Do they come in sky blue?
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stanton, and just what difference is exercising (a lot) going to make? Or not? 
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fatbob, well, you know, etc. Quite. For someone who has skied really rather a lot and at really rather a high level, a bit of a school girl error.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| under a new name wrote: |
| stanton, and just what difference is exercising (a lot) going to make? Or not? |
Some folks (more so woman) feet & ankles swell during the summer or when its warm.
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When I was skiing every day of the season I found that about 200 days was all I could get out of a pair of boots. But I was young and skied hard so lots of wear and tear. I did have a couple of pairs that lasted longer but that required replacing the inners. Plus there is the break down of the plastic due to time irrelevant of the amount of use. Safety equipment such as climbing helmets and ropes have use by dates because of this so somewhere between 8 and ten years is standard.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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stanton, so the correct advice would be, "if your feet and/or ankles swell in the summer, don't buy ski boots in the summer" 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Never owned a pair but taught many who have. Big market for them in Australia.
The two things most consistently reported by wearers and observed by me :
1. Comfortable with a capital C
2. You need to be built like the Herminator to work them.
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| Mike Pow wrote: |
1. Comfortable with a capital C
2. You need to be built like the Herminator to work them. |
Ans
1. Yes
2. Yes, Stiff, but you find with most flexi boots they wearout fast & the flex can only be controlled by tightning up the buckles until there is nothing more to tighten. Result ankles lose in boots an injury's.
Supermarket Boots & Skis i.e Salomons,Atomics,Nordicas etc are only designed to last about 10 weeks or 1 week a season (10 seasons). Thats enough for most folk.
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You know it makes sense.
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stanton,
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Supermarket Boots & Skis i.e Salomons,Atomics,Nordicas etc are only designed to last about 10 weeks or 1 week a season
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Really. I think you can expect to hear from their legal departments.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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stanton, no, in my experience a full working season, so, say, 120 days.
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Poster: A snowHead
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cheap liners will last about 1/2 a season (10 weeks) decent liners should last a season (16-20 weeks) maybe longer, boots should last longer than 1 season if you don't crash them into rocks too much.
If they don't fit then they should last about 1 hour before they are replaced...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| under a new name wrote: |
| stanton, no, in my experience a full working season, so, say, 120 days. |
Yup. Somewhere around 70-80 days this season, I'm replacing the liners for next but expect the shells to last at least the same again.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Flaine skier, clarky999, yup.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I got approaching 150 days out of my old Nordica supercharger boots. My new Atomics should last even longer as I have custom foam liners for on piste skiing but will also use the original ones for says involving short skins to access lines. I would think that having packed down liners and cranking the buckles up very tight would place more stress on the shells than having decent support.
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