Making boots fit on a Budget

[IBAM]

Hey Gear Talk, (and tomPietrowski?) I need you thoughts on what I should do about my boots. They are Fischer Viron V8XTRs fro two seasons past that were previously rentals which I picked up for dirt cheap last season. I didn't want to invest in an expensive, fitted pair of boots until I was sure that they would fit me for a few solid years. I think that next year will be the one to get a real pair of boots and proper work done, but for now I need to make do with these guys. The problem is that they have serious fitment issues. They are somewhat stiff for me at 6'2" 150lbs, which I like, and they fit nice and tight around my calf. Unfortunately, I have very narrow and shallow but long feet, so I'm in a size 32 shell with a toe box and heel cup that are way to big for my foot. This means that I get some mean heel lift and the boot can't really grip my foot even when tightened to its maximum settings. The liner is quite packed out, but not completely gone, and I'm not quite sure if this liner is compatible with Fischer's vacu-forming tech. So, in essence, I need to make these boots fit me for a season without dropping a ton of dough. What are my options? I was thinking some not-so-custom footbeds would work to better fill out the toe box and heel, but I would really like the opinions of some more experience people on here. $100 is probably my budget, but I don't know how much I can do for that little. Should I go to a bootfiter with my requirements and get their opinion, or could I just get a shop to make me a footbed? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Hodor]

Try getting some of those foam dr. shoals shoe insert cushions that are like 4mm thick and put those under your footbed. I did this when a pair of boots packed out and it filled up the extra room pretty well.

 

[tomPietrowski]

Hey op. So what do you have in there so far, just the stock insoles? If that is the ADR getting some form of footbed will help make the boot fit a little better but it won't complelty cure your problems. But they are a good place to start. I would argue if you can save just a bit more get full customs. You can use them in your new boots so you may as well get them now rather then buyin a trim to fit and then buying customs next year for the new boot. From there it will be a case of seeing what the volume looks like after the foot is put back to neutral. Heel lifts, and volume reducers under the liner could be used. Foam could be adde to the heel and instep of the liner too. It won't make the boots fit well but should get you through a season if done right.

 

[IBAM]

Thanks for the thoughts. Now to find a decent bootfitter that isn't 4 hours away...

 

[nikkinopoles]

My boyfriend worked as a boot-fitter for a while, and is pretty cheap when it comes to this stuff. He has an X shaped piece of like old mouse pad material glued with spray-on adhesive to the outside top of his liners. The X kind of wraps around his ankles on the front. Definitely get a footbed, and if that still isn't enough you can use high density cardboard/foam sheet cut to the shape of the bottom of the footbed to take up more room. Good Luck!

 

[onenerdykid]

They are Fischer Viron V8XTRs fro two seasons past that were previously rentals which I picked up for dirt cheap last season. I didn't want to invest in an expensive, fitted pair of boots until I was sure that they would fit me for a few solid years. I think that next year will be the one to get a real pair of boots and proper work done, but for now I need to make do with these guys. The problem is that they have serious fitment issues. They are somewhat stiff for me at 6'2" 150lbs, which I like, and they fit nice and tight around my calf. Unfortunately, I have very narrow and shallow but long feet, so I'm in a size 32 shell

I see a couple of issues with your setup that will never be truly fixed (but improvements can be made). For starters, the Viron series of boots is cavernous and that is only compounded in a rental version since the liners are ultra basic and have almost no heat-moldable foam in them. Secondly, I doubt you are truly a size 32. Do this test: take the liner out, put your foot in the shell, slide your foot to the front of the shell so your toes just touch, and measure the space from your heel to the back of the boot. 1cm is a high performance fit, 2cm is normal, 3cm (or more) is the wrong size.

Report back on how much space you have.

From there, there are tricks that a boot-fitter can do to add foam pads to certain areas, footbeds have already been mentioned, but it will probably never fit you well (especially if your shell fit is over 2cm.

 

[IBAM]

I see a couple of issues with your setup that will never be truly fixed (but improvements can be made). For starters, the Viron series of boots is cavernous and that is only compounded in a rental version since the liners are ultra basic and have almost no heat-moldable foam in them. Secondly, I doubt you are truly a size 32. Do this test: take the liner out, put your foot in the shell, slide your foot to the front of the shell so your toes just touch, and measure the space from your heel to the back of the boot. 1cm is a high performance fit, 2cm is normal, 3cm (or more) is the wrong size.

Report back on how much space you have.

There's a little less than 3cm of space.

 

[Negromancer]

There's a little less than 3cm of space.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but with that much space it is going to be pretty much impossible to ever get them fitting very well. As previously said footbeds will help secure your foot a little bit more and maybe a bootfitter can add in some extra padding in certain areas to eliminate some room and give a little bit more of a snug fit but really with over 2.5cm of space they're just never going to hold your foot in place very well.

Best bet is to go get some custom footbeds and see if a bootfitter can't add in some extra padding. Start saving for next season so you can get into some properly sized and fitting boots, trust me the difference one size can make is insane. I dropped a size this year and I feel so much more in-control of my skis and I never get bad shin bang anymore.

 

[tomPietrowski]

There's a little less than 3cm of space.

They are at least one size to big and I would guess that once you get the foot aligned you may find there is even more room. Like Matt above said they at not going to fit well ever as they are just too big but hopefully you may be able to get through a season in them if your not skiing to often.