Stretching My Shoes - Sucess

I finally had success stretching my Kubos. I tried this a few ways, but this finally worked. My right foot is about 1/3 show size bigger than my left. You can go to a running shoe story and have your feet scanned. As such, my right toe was always sore from that shoe being too short. I tried a cheap stretcher, but it basically fell apart.  The $60 one is worth it. I put my oven on the keep warm setting, put a paper bag on the oven tray to keep the rubber from directly contacting the shoe, and let the shoe heat up for an hour or so. Then, I added the stretcher, with a little bump attachment on the big toe top. Let it sit in the oven for another few hours, finally turning off the oven and letting to cool down for another few hours. I've climbed twice now and the stretch seems to be holding.

FootFitter 2-Way Shoe Stretcher Premium Professional, Men's Small (US 5.5-8.5)

I use a cheapie version of that in new Mocs to take some of the aggressiveness out of the slingshot. It makes a huge difference.

Andrew:

Thanks for posting this. I bought a similar stretcher and had no luck with a 48 hour cold stretch on my left TC Pro. Maybe I'll risk the oven now! People have also suggested getting the shoe wet first, but I need to stretch the rubber not the leather. I've been worried about heating up the shoe due to glue failure, but it sounds like that was not a problem. 

I've done 3 oven cycles now, only using the stretcher after warming the shoe did the stretch work. I haven't seen any issue related to glue breaking hold or anything.

Gunkiemike wrote:

I use a cheapie version of that in new Mocs to take some of the aggressiveness out of the slingshot. It makes a huge difference.

I also bought a pair of the cheapies and one broke pretty quick from being too aggressive on cold rubber. I use an electric heat gun now on the sole while I thread the stretcher and it works way easier. I will say that it does shrink back if you dont use the shoes enough. 

Big fan of the oven. I heat my shoes to 180 for 10 minutes and then walk around on carpet with them until they cool. A few cycles of this and they are good to go. Never had any problem with glue but Ive never gone above 180.

Dallin Carey wrote:

Big fan of the oven. I heat my shoes to 180 for 10 minutes and then walk around on carpet with them until they cool. A few cycles of this and they are good to go. Never had any problem with glue but Ive never gone above 180.

Note to the rest of the world - he's talking Fahrenheit degrees

OK, just popped my shoe in the oven, hope it's done by dinner time!

Success also with stretching downturned shoes turning the shoe horn upside down! Drilled extra holes in it to make room for toes. I wound up taping additional folded up paper to make enough of a dent for my big toe. Also used tape on the threads to mark where I stretched the shoe to for repeatable stretching, worked nicely