Hey, anybody still use a GLUE GUN to level off WORN HEELS/SOLES?

A glue gun will work. The glue is very hard and will be slippery, however. A better option is Shoe Goo. It's a little softer and it can be scuffed so it provides some traction, unlike glue gun sticks.

You have to wait 24 hours for Shoe Goo to harden. The outsole must be clean or it won't stick well. You can't apply more than about 1/8 inch at a time or it will run off the location, but you can wait a few hours and then apply a second coat. Just scuff it a few times on asphalt or concrete and it will not be as slippery.

I'm currently running in Atreyus and they wear pretty fast. I add a light layer of Shoe Goo every few days. A tube of Shoe Goo costs about $9 and a tube will last a year or more.

Shoe Goo, baby.

THANKS.

Haha, I remember my old school high school coaches talking about when they did this during their running careers in the 80's. We were not such a throwaway culture then.

Shoes also didn't have as much to them. At that point, the shoes were really just a little cushion and protection from the ground. Now the material in the shoe tends to collapse after a certain point, even what is still left.

Another issue I have is the fabric uppers start to team apart around 500 miles on most of my pairs. So even if I were to try a fix like this the rest of the shoe is coming apart, this was not the case a decade ago.

" I'd like to use a glue gun to build them up, if that's even a thing nowadays."

Not sure why if it was a thing back then, why wouldn't it work today? As noted, most of us used Shoe Goo back in the day, but I prefer the glue gun.

Yes, I did this all the time in the 70s and 80s, because the shoes were pretty much the same the day the upper felt apart as when they were new.

And yes, we were FAR less a consumerist culture back then. We bought stuff, and kept it a long, long time.

Any more, though, you're paying for innovative midsole technology, and the shoes seem to be worthless after a few hundred miles. You don't need an outsole, or Shoe Goo, when you can't wear the shoe anyway.

Yes, my coach wayyyy back in the olden days taught me how to repair running shoe soles.

First you'll need masking tape 3/4 inch will do.

Second you'll need either shoegoo or the glue sticks you use with a glue gun. You won't need the gun.

Third you''l need either fine sand or Black Beauty sand blasting sand.

Step 1: Use the masking tape to wrap around the outer part of the shoe needing repair. This wiil serve as a dam to hold your repair in place until dry.

Step 2; Either melt glue sticks in an old tin can then mix with 50/50 sand or Black Beauty. Or use shoegoo and again mix 50/50.

The reason for sand or Black Beauty is it doesn't abrate as fast as glue sticks or shoe goo.

Good Luck, H.J.

P.S. Maybe use a wire brush on your soles before repairing.

Some good info here. Thanks, all.

I haven't figured out how to make the Shoe Goo dry the correct way, maybe it is multiple thin layers as you suggest. Using IPA before you apply it helps make sure it is clean. I tried buying shoe rubber off Amazon thinking it would last longer than Shoe Goo and it didn't. It annoys me to spend $180 on the newest high technology cushioning only to have the heel wear through to the softer foam after only a few workouts. It seems like certain shoe models wear much better if you are a heel striker - NB1080 and Saucony Triumph work very well for me. Would it kill a shoe manufacturer to add a really hard rubber just at the heel?

A. Moran wrote:

Shoe Goo, baby.

Yep, I've been doing this for a long, very long time.

I've got a pair of Brooks GTS 15's that have well over 2k+ miles on them. ShoeGoo lets me literally "retread" them like tires in the worn areas. A large tube of ShoeGoo usually lasts me about a year.