La Sportiva Warranty - Tc Pros toe blowout

Tl;dr - ​air​​​ Tommy's blew out after medium use. Not worth the top of the line price. I am sending them into La Sportiva to see what they will do for me.

To preface this, I want to state that I have been very disappointed in my Air Tommy's. They've been fine shoes but being a La Sportiva fanboy I expected them to be the greatest and bestest shoe of all time. Not so. They've been good to me but not most expensive shoe on the market good.

I've had my Tommy's for about 6 months now. They've gotten their use and rand peal as all tc's do. After watching my boss blow out a toe and thinking he was just unlucky mine did the same. No not a "why did my rand wear through", a crack in the rubber. I do not even have mine sized tightly so there shouldn't be that much pressure on the rand at that point.

After that backstory, seems like this is a recurring issue with the shoes as I've never really heard of other top of the line shoes doing this. I'm going to send them into la Sportiva for warranty and see what they'll do. IMO not worth resoling a pair of shoes that the toe is going to blow out on again. That's just a money pit.

• Included is a picture of the blowout and a side view of the rubber so yall know how much use these have gotten. So long Air Tommy's
  
  

The toe on one of my TCs blew out after only a third of a pitch of heel-toeing.

Just blew out a toe last week - didn't even know it was a thing until reading this - I had actually just tried to repair it and then read this post - lol

Whoa...that’s weird.  Almost looks like a puncture...are you sure you didn’t accidentally kick something like a sharp edge?  FWIW I’ve had my first pair of TC’s for about 4 years and they’ve been resoled once without toe caps.

Ted Pinson wrote: Whoa...that’s weird.  Almost looks like a puncture...are you sure you didn’t accidentally kick something like a sharp edge?  FWIW I’ve had my first pair of TC’s for about 4 years and they’ve been resoled once without toe caps.

Nope nothing sharp. Like I said I've heard of it before. It's a straight rip. Not clean like a puncture would be

Mine did the same thing. Mine was more related to sharp Black Hills crystals. Rock and Resole did a toecap and haven't had any problems since. 

I’ve used 2 pairs of TC pros for almost ten years of multipitch trad climbing 35+ weekends/year. I have had 4 resoles on one pair and 3 on the other.  Ready to send both in for resole again.  Never a toe blowout until just now.  Come to think if it this is the first toe blowout on any of my shoes over 18yrs (nearly zero gym climbing btw).  Maybe you need to work on your footwork

Ted Pinson wrote: Whoa...that’s weird.  Almost looks like a puncture...are you sure you didn’t accidentally kick something like a sharp edge?  FWIW I’ve had my first pair of TC’s for about 4 years and they’ve been resoled once without toe caps.

This is what I think happened to mine - but not sure - headed out tomorrow to see how my fix holds up

I got a free pair of 46 TC Pros from a friend who had this happen to him after maybe a month of use.  I think between the toe blowout and sizing them too big he had enough.  I have a pair of 45 TC Pros that are awesome for edging but haven’t run into this issue yet. Looks like I won’t be the only one getting them resoled ;) I am just using it as an excuse to get some C4 on them.  

I just wish you wouldn't call them "Air Tommie's."

Good to know others are having this problem - had the same "puncture" blowout from Black Hills after 1 month on brand new Pros. Disappointing...

Maybe ya'll should work on your footwork and stop dragging your toes when you climb.

Tyler Bjorkman wrote: I got a free pair of 46 TC Pros from a friend who had this happen to him after maybe a month of use.  I think between the toe blowout and sizing them too big he had enough.  I have a pair of 45 TC Pros that are awesome for edging but haven’t run into this issue yet. Looks like I won’t be the only one getting them resoled ;) I am just using it as an excuse to get some C4 on them.  

Oh for Pete’s sakes. Your friend completely wore down the soles, and was climbing on the rand. All shoes will bust through the toe if you do that. The shoe in the photo should have had a resole a looooong time ago. 

Resolers I've talked to said TC Pros have a notoriously thin/fragile toe cap/rand. 

master gumby wrote: Maybe ya'll should work on your footwork and stop dragging your toes when you climb.

This.

Your premature wear is from toe dragging. La Sport probably won't help you. Pity.

Having owned multiple pairs and had the same thing happen to one I can safely tell you it's all in your footwork .

master gumby wrote: Maybe ya'll should work on your footwork and stop dragging your toes when you climb.

Its torn not worn through... I doubt it is my foot work with me already having 4 resolves on my katana's without any rand or toe cap work. Either way I'm sure I can work on my footwork just frustrating that of all shoes to wear out it's my supposedly beefy indistructable shoes not delicate no-edge flimsy pair

6 months is longer than I expect a pair of TC’s to last...I don’t resolve cause my shoes get filthy and feel grimy on the inside.

I don't resolve til New Year's Eve. That's when I make my New Year's resolvations.

Same thing happened to mine. Got them re soled with caps and have been fine ever since. 

Maybe it's a footwork problem for some folks, but there may be a quality problem here too.

I've been climbing with the same pair of muiras for about 2 years now without any problems, but I bought a second pair during one of those crazy Alpenglow sales and the toe nearly blew out of the new ones in less than 15 pitches.  Luckily I caught the damage before a total blow-out, and la sportiva exchanged them for free (minus shipping) after I sent them pictures.