Old, Cracking Sticky Rubber Rands

Hey MPers,

I have a question about repairing old, cracked rubber. For perspective, I just bought a cheap pair of some used, very aggressive, scarpas. The shoes are unlined leather and while they look nearly unused, the previous owner must have left them in the sun/cold for too long. The leather is fine and the fit should be perfect after some breaking-in, however the sticky rubber is beginning to split in places. Its not that the sole is splitting from the rand, rather that the rubber seems to have lost its elasticity and is forming stress cracks in the rand and in certain places along the heel. I'm hesitant to resole since the sole itself is in perfect condition but I'm also afraid that after very little use, the toe and heel rands will go and with it, the perfect down-turned shape of the shoe. Aside from a costly full-resole, do you have any wisdom on prolonging weak rubber?

I'm going to experiment with filling the cracks with shoe goo and hoping that that bonds well enough with the rubber. I considered buying the 3x more expensive paint-on stealth rubber but figured that since the damage is in areas that won't impact friction much, shoe goo would provide similar structural benefits. Any advice is welcome, otherwise a resole is imminent.

Don't bother with shoe goo. Use them until they stop working then get them professionally resoled. I had my mythos resoled and the rand repaired by Rubber Room and it was ~$55 as I recall. They were then brand new again except broken in.