Sportiva Delam Issues - Advice?

Hey everyone,

So I can't say I'm surprised that my TC Pros have started delaminating, but I'm very concerned about this particular delamination because I mostly use my TC Pros for crack climbing and the delaminated rubber seems to be getting trashed by jamming. What do you guys recommend I do? They're about 8 months old, so I doubt Sportiva would do anything about them. Should I send them in to a resoler for a rand repair? Anyone know whether Rock Resole fixes delam issues? The sole itself is doing ok, not quite ready for a resole yet...but that rand damage is concerning.

Every used pair I've seen does that. Covering it with some Seam Grip or barge cement or something can help a bit.

Get them resoled with rubber of your choice. 8months isn't a bad run for a pair of shoes, and dropping 30-40$ will be well worth your while. For reference, I've resoled a pair of shit-old katana velcros about 4 times with C4, and they still perform like a perfectly worn in shoe after each repair.

I've had my TC Pros for 1.5 years and I have had the same problem. I just got them resoled (at Rock and Resole in Boulder, A+ for service) and they used some liquid rubber to fix the flaps of rubber. In about 5 pitches of crack climbing, they began to do the same thing.

I think that the "delamination" does not affect performance and you shouldn't need to worry about it. It is a bit ridiculous that a 180$ retail shoe does this, but you are shoving it into cracks and twisting right at that location.

I don't think that the rubber attachment methods really are great for locations that you are trying to provide that sort of force to. The sides are being really cranked on when you jam, so it makes sense that because they are so thin they are not attached well.

I guess this is mostly my 2 cents as to the TC Pros, but I do love the shoes, and I don't think that the side issues affect the awesome performance of the shoes.

TLDR: Just use some liquid rubber mentioned above. A good resole will also take care of it, but it's not a permanent fix as they will "delaminate" within a good day of climbing.

Dan

Shoe Goo

You can find this many places. Works well.

cabelas.com/product/Sof-Sol…

Barge cement works great, make sure to clean the delam area well and get the glue down in as far as you can. After the first application cures and you've got the rand bonded again put a thicker layer over the top. That kept mine down through their second resole.

The rand on mine right there is pretty much gone and it doesn't have any effect on performance of the shoe. I wouldn't even waste time with seam grip or anything. Resole as normal and forget about it.

I used shoo goo as well and its been working great.
I've also been using it to keep my POS 5.10 approach shoes alive as well...can't believe how bad they are, less than a month before the soles started splitting from the shoe. :(

To echo VRP: I've been through 3 pair, same issue with all of them. Have tried all the home remedies, barge cement, had one pair "glued over" with rubber by Rock'n'Resole as part of a resole job that held up well,

But I just let the most recent pair go without doing anything...eventually just wears through and stops receding and causes no issues climbing. I'd recommend just leaving them be

Barge.

Clean clean clean... get into the gap and scrub with an abrasive (sandpaper,steel wool or scotch green scrubbie abrasive pad), just enough to be sure it is fresh clean rubber. Do not touch surfaces to be glued, you skin oils will impair adhesion. Blow out the debris. Smear the cement in there and let dry. Contact cement should be dried after application before pressing surfaces together. Press together and put weight on it.

Problem solved.

Barge cement to glue it down, then cover that with aquaseal to protect it. Bomber.

Cool, thanks guys.

Looks like general wear and tear, shockingly torquing you'r foot into a crack over and over again will eventually cause a bit of delamination mine are doing the same, but i use them for all most exclusively crack climbing.

Yeah, but you'd think they would take that into consideration when designing a shoe that is meant for shockingly torquing your shoe into a crack.

I think every climbing shoe I have ever had does that in some way. You can use shoe glue or other things to fix it if you want, I don't think I have ever had delamination affect the performance of any of my shoes.