Custom White's Boots ... Thoughts?

[linafelt]

That pair needs new rubber heel caps now ! Sadly, after 10 to 12 miles of walking on concrete I've worn out the back edge of rubber heel caps and they need replacement. My boot collection has grown mostly because rotating pairs defers each pair's visit to the repair shop for heel cap replacement.

I suspect these have plenty of wear left. I find that the rubber heel cap gets worn down close to the leather stack but tends to stall there for a while.

 

[wordfool]

That pair needs new rubber heel caps now ! Sadly, after 10 to 12 miles of walking on concrete I've worn out the back edge of rubber heel caps and they need replacement.

I hope they lasted more than 10 to 12 miles. I assume you meant 10-12 months, or if magic rubber then perhaps 10-12 years!

 

[DG123]

I hope they lasted more than 10 to 12 miles. I assume you meant 10-12 months, or if magic rubber then perhaps 10-12 years!

10 to 12 miles. On city sidewalks if I do 6 walks of 2 miles each the back edge of the rubber heel cap is worn down to roughly 1/8th of an inch remaining. The balance of the rubber heel cap is fine, revealing little to no wear.

 

[DG123]

I suspect these have plenty of wear left. I find that the rubber heel cap gets worn down close to the leather stack but tends to stall there for a while.

Interesting. I've always replaced caps with no less than 1/8th remaining, thinking if I did not I would start to wear away the leather heel stack. If you say the rubber deterioration stalls I believe you, but I've never tried it.

 

[linafelt]

Interesting. I've always replaced caps with no less than 1/8th remaining, thinking if I did not I would start to wear away the leather heel stack. If you say the rubber deterioration stalls I believe you, but I've never tried it.

Well, to borrow from William Munny in Unforgiven, “Don’t go believin’ me too much.”

 

[klank74]

Interesting. I've always replaced caps with no less than 1/8th remaining, thinking if I did not I would start to wear away the leather heel stack. If you say the rubber deterioration stalls I believe you, but I've never tried it.

I think it’s all relative to the way your foot strikes the ground or your stride. I’ve found the same thing as linafelt to be true with all my boots and shoes. The outer edge of my heels wear down pretty quick the first few months, then the wear drastically slows down. I assume I’m just barely dragging my heels when I walk and once they wear down a bit, they’ve self clearance and don’t drag as much anymore.

 

[chicagoan2016]

I think it’s all relative to the way your foot strikes the ground or your stride. I’ve found the same thing as linafelt to be true with all my boots and shoes. The outer edge of my heels wear down pretty quick the first few months, then the wear drastically slows down. I assume I’m just barely dragging my heels when I walk and once they wear down a bit, they’ve self clearance and don’t drag as much anymore.

I like your thought process, you should have studied Engineering in college.

 

[DG123]

I think it’s all relative to the way your foot strikes the ground or your stride. I’ve found the same thing as linafelt to be true with all my boots and shoes. The outer edge of my heels wear down pretty quick the first few months, then the wear drastically slows down. I assume I’m just barely dragging my heels when I walk and once they wear down a bit, they’ve self clearance and don’t drag as much anymore.

This makes sense. For example, I've had crepe wedge soles where the back edge of the heel wearing away eventually discontinues. But, for my leather heel boots, even though it may not be necessary, I don't want to risk it and will continue replacing the rubber heel cap

 

[DG123]

Well, to borrow from William Munny in Unforgiven, “Don’t go believin’ me too much.”

Words to remember !

 

[klank74]

I like your thought process, you should have studied Engineering in college.

Thank you for the kind words. I briefly considered it in high school. I have an uncle who is a mechanical engineer for Air Products. I spent a day at work with him back then and decided it wasn’t for me. I’ve been a diesel mechanic for 22 years since then and just have a knack for looking at stuff and figuring out how it works. Besides, I’m pretty sure I’m undiagnosed ADD and I always had to go over math problems 2 or 3 times before I understood them. I enjoyed it, but I was never as far along in math courses as I would have needed to go to college for that.

 

[iamntbatman]

If I had to replace my heel caps every 10-12 miles of walking on paved surfaces I would be replacing them every 3-4 days. That is abject insanity. What others have said seems spot on; the heel caps wear in a certain pattern to match your gait until they reach some kind of homeostasis. From there the wear goes much, much slower.

 

[Legal Eagles]

If I had to replace my heel caps every 10-12 miles of walking on paved surfaces I would be replacing them every 3-4 days. That is abject insanity.

I tend to agree... @DG123, have you considered having your gait checked or seeing a podiatrist? Is it possible something is off with your lower back, hips, knees, or ankles... something that perhaps an orthotic would help... do all your boots do this or only this pair?

If something physiological is "off", better to address it sooner rather than later... chronic knee and hip problems in later life are no fun...

Of course you should feel free to tell me to mind my own business!

 

[DG123]

I tend to agree... @DG123, have you considered having your gait checked or seeing a podiatrist? Is it possible something is off with your lower back, hips, knees, or ankles... something that perhaps an orthotic would help... do all your boots do this or only this pair?

For 40 years I've worn off the very back edge rubber of shoes and boots heels. It's a somewhat common issue and I've tried the hard plastic taps designed to eliminate rubber heel cap wear, but found them to be too noisy and also usually fell off the heel within a week or two of installation.

 

[Legal Eagles]

For 40 years I've worn off the very back edge rubber of shoes and boots heels. It's a somewhat common issue and I've tried the hard plastic taps designed to eliminate rubber heel cap wear, but found them to be too noisy and also usually fell off the heel within a week or two of installation.

No worries, I have seen many people wear their heels in the same area... just usually not in the span of 10-12 miles... even on asphalt.

 

[Jimk4003]

If I had to replace my heel caps every 10-12 miles of walking on paved surfaces I would be replacing them every 3-4 days. That is abject insanity. What others have said seems spot on; the heel caps wear in a certain pattern to match your gait until they reach some kind of homeostasis. From there the wear goes much, much slower.

I tend to agree... @DG123, have you considered having your gait checked or seeing a podiatrist? Is it possible something is off with your lower back, hips, knees, or ankles... something that perhaps an orthotic would help... do all your boots do this or only this pair?

If something physiological is "off", better to address it sooner rather than later... chronic knee and hip problems in later life are no fun...

Of course you should feel free to tell me to mind my own business!

I also agree @DG123; 10-12 miles seems an unusably short lifespan for a heel cap. There'd be times when I'd be getting my heels replaced a couple of times a day. 10-12 miles is around 3-4 hours of wear at average walking pace; are you really replacing your heel caps every 3-4 hours of wear?

Someone wrote a blog a few years ago where they wore the same pair of shoes for an entire year, including hiking in the Costa Rican rainforest. The blog details how the boots had hundreds of miles of wear put on them, and includes pictures from new, after three months, six months, and at the end of the year.

You can see from the pictures at the six month mark that the heels are pretty worn, but by the end of the year, the wear hasn't changed dramatically. Even after hundreds of miles at the end of the year, there's still plenty of life left in the heels.

This particular experiment was done in a pair of Viberg's, but any decent boot with similar soles would hold up much the same, and this sounds like an issue you're having with all your boots. Heels should be good for hundreds of miles.

It definitely sounds like there's an issue somewhere; consistently burning through heel caps after 10-12 miles would make owning boots completely unfeasible for most people.