Rand glue Aquaseal, Goo, or Freesole?

As the title says, which is best to keep rands from peeling. I am speaking of brand new shoe preventative care, not repair.

I've used all the aforementioned glues in the past, I am not sure if they're different at all or just in different tubes at different prices.

I don't normally glue rand edges and my rands don't normally peel but my new shoes will be getting a lot of cracks in a very low amount of time, I'd like to help them if I can.

Seamgrip, Aquaseal, and Freesole are all fundamentally the same thing, though Seamgrip will spread the most before it hardens, and freesole will spread the least.

Barge cement with effectivley applied pressure (clamps) and then a wait period for it to cure thoroughly has always worked best for me.

Your correct John. I didn't answer your question directly... I just prefer the more discreet outcome of using a sole type cement for both repair and preventive applications. I think the Goo and Seal stuff ends up looking a bit shabby even on new shoes because it often requires an excess amount to be effective.

I use Freesole on the outside of the rands as well to keep the rands from wearing through.

I would go to your local home improvement cube and pick up some sort of two-part epoxy. I've never used them on shoes, but I've used that shit on plenty of other stuff and it holds like nobody's business. I would stay away from anything that's softer when it dries.

funny you bring this up john, i just bought a used pair of slippers to use for my main desert crack shoes, and spent an hour agonizing over which stuff to put on them this morning. i ended up trying the freesole, mainly cause i haven't used it before.

i haven't found the perfect stuff yet. aquaseal and shoo goo seem pretty similar, and neither stick to rubber worth a shit, so you have to be careful about keeping a strict boundary between the rubber and the leather (i used masking tape). i would categorize their toughness as pretty good, but you have to leave the surface smooth as a babay's ass, or else that section will immediately blow through and you won't ever be able to really fix it. unfortunately, all of the goo stuff seems really vischous, and by the time you spread it on like peanut butter, its pretty tough to have an ultr smooth finish.

the 5.10 stealth would be great, but it doesn't hold up worth a shit. after pretty much every trip i have to touch it up. plus it is dark, so if it is sunny my feet tend to get hot.

JLP brought up in another thread the idea of just taking the shoes to a cobler and getting a layer of rubber over the top. the only drawback would be finding a thin enough piece of rubber. when you are trying to stuff your toes in off-fingers cracks, every 1/2 mm counts.

if you come up with something that works great, it would be cool to hear about it.

best of luck to ya and keep us posted!

Hey.. there ya go John. New product idea. A super thin sticky rubber membrane with a super sticky adhesive backing you could cut into shapes and/or strips and then wrap/enhance new and old climbing shoes in to extend the use and life of them?

johnL wrote:My feet flex. They twist a lot too. Wouldn't epoxy be too hard?

I guess I can see that being a problem for a softer, slip-lasted shoe. Probably not so much of a problem for a harder, board-lasted shoe. But again, I've only used to stuff on items other than shoes. Bottom line: I'm talking out of my ass and you should probably ignore me.