The Official: "What is wrong with my boots?" Thread

onenerdykid

onenerdykid

Active member
This thread should be seen as an accompaniment to the "How To Buy Ski Boots" thread, more specifically aimed at solving a problem with your existing ski boots. Rather than clog up Gear Talk with countless repeating threads, please dump your boot-fitting related questions here and we will do our best to help you out.

Remember, nothing is a substitute for going to a real boot-fitter; they can see your foot, we can't. So if you can't get to a boot-fitter, or are frustrated with your current one, we can help point you in the right direction. Try to be as descriptive of your problem as possible and post pics if you can. The more information we get from you, the more successful we will hopefully be in helping you out.

Ready, set, go.

 
What tsk94 said, Biggest thing is make sure your ankle is secure, or else you could get a knee injury. foam or soft sponge works pretty nicely.
 
Nothing will truly "fix" this problem and you should eventually get new boots once you are able to. Until that time is able to happen, like others have already said, you should always have a footbed to securely hold your foot in place, and certain pads can be custom shaped by your boot-fitter to help take up excess volume in certain areas.
 
My heel comes off the footbed a little when I nollie. Does this happen to everybody or are my boots a bit big? I just try to tighten them down a lot to stop it
 
A little bit of heel lift here is to be expected since your foot is always more flexible than the boot. This means when you lean super forward and push off with the ball of yor foot, your foot will naturally lift a little bit. Ideally less is always better but don't worry unless it is causing some sort of pain or friction or other issue. If you are experiencing a lot of heel movement, first try buckling the boot a bit tighter, and then if that does not help see if your local boot-fitter can put on some special j-bar or other pads designed to increase the hold around your ankle.
 
Thanks guys. I got padding put in but still get toe bang and have too much room in the top of my foot near where the tended ankle area are. All this started to happen when I got foot beds that I needed to solve horrible canting and arch pain.

Going to go with lange rx130 lv(currently have dellbelo rampages) when I can but not sure if I should go with those first or get skis that will keep me afloat(92 waist is the widest I got and I'm out in utah). Would be sweet if I got a straight trade.

Jbars do wonders to keep your ankles from lifting a ton while buttering.
 
Definitely spring for new boots first since stopping toe bang is way more important that getting a bit more flotation. Worst case scenario is that your feet get happy and you get more face shots because you aren't floating as much.
 
Just wanted to say hello in here. It's a great idea from one nerdy and hopefully this can keep gt a bit cleaner but also be a great resource for boot advice. I'm going to start a thread about more specific questions about footbeds ect. But yeah hopefully me and onenerdy can help you guys out.
 
Nice thread, just in time.I have no access to a bootfitter now and I have a question.

The fitter put me in 26 krypton shell (I wear 9.5 street shoes if it matters). The boots fit very well, no toebang, no shinbang, awesome heel hold. I'm happy with my boots but somehow I think I could go with a smaller size. Now I have to buckle my boots really tight so sometimes my feet are numb and after the liners have packed out there's some more space than I would like in the toe box (still no toebang yet). I've tried on some new 25.5 Kryptons (with unmolded liners and stock insoles) at the shop and they were very tight (about 1 cm shell fit) but still bearable so I think I can be in 25 shell. But should I? I like my boots tight but I'd like not to overtighten them, will a smaller shell help, should I give it a try?

 
I have a question regarding liners for my boot, i have yellow Atomic Volts (onenerdy might be able to help me out here) still with the original ASY pro liner. I love the boot and feel that i got fitted for it perfectly, however the liner is old and worn after seasons of removing and replacing the liner, im looking for a replacement liner but am not sure weather to buy a traditional tongue or wrap around liner. I have a rather skinny ankle/back of foot and large calf muscles, im wondering if someone would be able to provide some information and maybe a recommendation on what liner type i should look for? Thanks.
 
Without seating your foot in the shell it's really hard to advise. Also not knowing the stability of the foot and what footbeds your using is an issue. But by the sound of it a smaller shell could maybe work. You could always blow out the toe box if it was tight. But unfortunately without seeing a foot in a shell it tough. But in general always go small for boots.
 
Well it will depend what liners your shop carry. Your 3 main options are standard overlap tounge liners, like you had, wrap liners like an intuition and full foam injection. Up until last season I would have recommended a foam injection but others liners are catching up. Intuitions can be great. I'm not a fan of the wraps myself but they can work very well with larger calfs. Intuition do standard liners too though so you can still have the intuition foam even if the wrap liner does not work. Foam injection liners can be amazing but they give a firm fit so better for performance fits. However thy can be effective in taking up volume in a boot so if your shells are somewhat roomy they may be good. Go see if you can try a few on and see what you like the feel of.
 
You got toe bang and too much space after having a footbed made? That sounds very odd as they are both things footbeds should help. What type of footbed did you get and where were they made?
 
I learned this from another NSer and it works! When you land be in a stance like you are about to catch a ball (Knees bent and feet shoulder width apart) It also works with toe bang. I did this last time I went skiing and it proved 100% effective!
 
Thanks for the info, im in Whister, so there are a few shops that carry a range of Intuition including both the overlap and wrap in different volumes aswell i think. So i might just take my shells down and try find something that works. Also i might ask around about foam injection. I definitely want something that works with my big calves and skinny ankles as that is my biggest problem area. Thanks for the help!
 
getting some major toe bang in my t-wall full tilts. they are heat molded and fit like a glove. I got measured as a 28.5 at the first shop i went to and a 28 at where i bought my full tilts. My full tilts are a 28. I'm going to test out cranking the toe and heels super tight after the bruising goes down. any suggestions?
 
I have chicken legs so when I tighten my top buckle (Hot Doggers) there is a huge gap at the bottom of the tongue and it always fills with snow
 
Do you have any kind of footbed in the boot? Even in the correct size your foot will extend under load such as landing and impacts. A footbed can help minimise this as well as inprove the overal fit by putting your foot into a more neutral position. Full custom are the best by a long way but trim to fit options may help in some situations.
 
For one put your pants over your boots but in terms of fit there are some things which can be done. Foam can be added to the liner to help take up volume for a tighter fit. A spoiler in the boot may also help as may repositioning your foot in the boot with a foot bed and maybe a heel lift.
 
The bottom of my feet gets extremely sore after just a few runs or a bit of hiking? I have full tilt classics and I have super feet insoles, with heat molded liners.
 
impossible to give you any read advice without knowing more (e.g. what kind of pain you're feeling, what your feet look like, what the boot looks like), but try rolling out the bottom of your feet/stretching calves and hamstrings. If it's a muscle cramping problem in may help.
 
I have a pair of Nordica Double sixes which I love, but I have a problem with my navicular or talus(whichever bone sticks out the top of your foot) having serious pain from wearing my boots. I have had this problem with almost all of my boots except a pair of junior boots a few years ago. Up until this year the problem was not really bothering me, but this year my navicular/talus hurts 3-4 days after skiing. I have tried grinding down the footbed in the boot to allow more clearance, but i didnt expect taht to work, and the only logical decision to me is to punch out the foam lining where im having pressure point and punch/grind the toungue of the boot, but since this pressure is variable on my buckle tension which I change constantly, would this be the best decision? I can see some problems arising from messing around with the toungue, but I am not completely sure and the bootfitter I bought the boots from is not great.
 
I'm flat footed and got sidas customs made at incline in salt lake city(all they do is boot fit). After having footbeds made for me I went from a 27.5 to 26.5 and I could squeeze into a 25.5 with boot work.
 
My toes are getting mashed against the front of my boot. My big toe's are both bruised pretty badly. What can I do to fix this? The rest of the boot fits pretty good, and my feet don't slide around in the boot (the boot is basically the right size according to the boot fitter at my local shop).
 
ok so im 14, 5'11 and 165 pounds and Im a pretty good skier I ski all mountain and park and I got new boots this year and they are Nordica patron team 65 flex is this too soft for me?
 
ok so I am 14, 5'11 and 165 pounds, I am a pretty good skier (11 years), and I ski all mountain and some park and I recently got new ski boots, I got Nordica patron teams with a 65 flex, I was wondering if they are too soft for me or what I can do to make them stiffer
 
I'm seeing a lot of "the bottom of my foot hurts" threads this time of the year, which makes sense- for a lot of you, these are first days skiing of the season. If you do not wear footbeds in your everyday shoes, and then wear your ski boots for 4+ hours which have footbeds in them, your feet will cramp out.

There is a major piece of tissue called your Plantar Fascia that runs from your heel to your metatarsals. As you walk in normal footwear that do not have any arch support in them, this tissue tightens out with every step. And when you wear your ski boots which have footbeds in them, this tissue now has to readjust to being supported and realigned. This is the cramping and burning which you are feeling.

So, I would start there- make sure you either wear your boots enough before you go skiing (around the house for 20-30 minutes for a few days before your next ski day) or get something for your everyday footwear. The latter is the better option as it will actually strengthen and condition your foot and leg alignment.
 
This is the instep area of your foot...no need to name the actual bone, and the others you named while they are real bones in the foot are nowhere near this area ;) Insteps are very difficult to work on and sometimes boots with a 3-piece tongued design aren't the easiest to work on in this area. However, there is always a fix. Your issue could be that you don't have enough space between your instep and the foam/plastic above it. One thing you can do is take a Dremel to the plastic area above your instep where you have pain and slowly and carefully grind down the plastic to make it thinner and more pliable in this area. Be careful that you don't cut through the tongue or destroy the stitching that binds the plastic to the other material, then it could all fall apart...

You can also remove the bootboard and grind it down a few millimeters on a bench grinder. Just make sure not to accidentally cant the bootboard in the process or grind away too much so that your foot will rest on the part of the shell where the bootboard should be.

Lastly, if these fail, you should look into an aftermarket liner to help solve your volume issue. There are a variety of Intuition liners that have varying thicknesses over the instep which can help.
 
Assuming you are in the correct shell size, do you have proper footbeds in your boot? If you do not, then this is your job #1. The human foot is usually quite flexible and just under your standing weight your foot can elongate up to a full size! While this is imperceptible in street shoes, it really causes issues in ski boots usually resulting in big toe problems. So, definitely go get a footbed and if you currently have one, have your boot-fitter check that it is supporting you properly enough.
 
Choosing the correct flex in a ski boot boils down to the following: your ankle mobility, your weight, and what you have been used to skiing in the past. These are the 3 key ingredients to having a boot that works well for you. As far as your ankle mobility, we have no idea (that's one of the things a good boot-fitter will asses) but we do know your weight, which is not light. On paper, you would not be a good candidate for a 65 flex boot, but it is hard to tell without seeing how much you flex the boot.

Ankle flexibility tests are best done by someone who knows what they are looking for- lots of variables at play. But generally, if you stand up with a slight bend in your knees (without shoes on), keep your feet flat on the floor, how far forward can you flex at the ankle before your heels lift up? Can your knees get over your toes? Or do they stop short of your toes? Or do they continue past your toes?

Stopping short of your toes means you have a limited range of motion and you should generally be in stiffer boots (but a stiffness you can still flex). If your knees get to your toes but no further, then you cannot be in a boot that is too soft for you. If your knees go past your toes, then you can be in a soft or stiff boot- it doesn't really matter based on your flexibility. My knees can go past my toes and while I can ski a soft boot, I would personally much rather be in a responsive, stiffer, more efficient boot.

In terms of defining "how much flex is too much?", hop into your boots, buckle them up and flex forward. If you can flex the boot so much that the cuff comes in contact with instep buckle or the lower shell is bellowing out like crazy, then the boot is far too soft. If you can't even move the cuff and are not able to get your knees over your toes, then the boot is too stiff. An ideal amount of flex is one that allows you to get your knees over your toes but is not so soft that the lower shell bellows out or you cause the cuff to come into contact with the shell buckles.

If you need to stiffen your boot, your boot-fitter needs to drill holes through the cuff and shell and then essentially lock the cuff to the shell with screws & t-nuts. The cuff will no longer pivot at the hinge, but the plastic itself will still give. This will essentially boost the stiffness by roughly 15-20 points.
 
in all seriousness, is there a good fix to this? my toes get cold sometimes in my booters,even with thick socks on.

like any particular socks you'd recommend to keep my toes reeealy warm? thanks haha
 
don't try boots on in the morning, your feet will swell as the day goes on as you walk around, and you'll get a more accurate fit if you wait until the late afternoon.

when you're at the store, walk around with the boots on for at least a half an hour. a boot might feel perfect when you put it on, but might become really uncomfortable after a short period of time. better to find this out in the store than in the lodge at lunchtime because your feet hurt so much that you can't stand up
 
Some rather misleading advice here. Don't worry about what time of day you go. Feet swell do to extra blood. Blood is warm do as your feet swell your feet warm up. Heat mold liners account for things like this so don't worry about it.

As for walking round in a boot for 30 min don't bother. For one don't walk around. They are ski boots so stand in a ski position as this is how the boot is designed to fit. And as for time in the boot if you have a decent fitter you don't even need to put the boot on. The shell check tells is all we need know about the fit. Often I have fitted people without ever putting them in a boot until the end just to check it fits. The fitter will know what the volume I like without you telling him.
 
Thinner socks usually work better depending on the fit. Cold toes is often a lack of circulation which can be from a tight fit which thick socks may make worse. Footbeds are always good too as they surport your foot to aid blood flow. And finally keep your core warm. If your core I cold it's fingers and toes which get cold first.
 
great and yea i dont really know the bones in the foot. I also forgot to mention this pain is not noticeable when my feet are weighted, only when im on the chairlift and skiing powder without rockered skis and basically anything where i have to pull up my boots. if i dont have to pull up there is no pain and it is comfortable.
 
i got fitted for some Full Tilt First Chair boots. everything went great with the fit and they felt like money but i used them twice this weekend and on my left foot both sides of my ankles are just digging into the shell of the boot. like severe pain while riding and complete soreness after i take the boots off. i did not feel any pain when i got fitted, it started showing up after about 3 hours of riding on friday night. sunday was almost unbearable for that foot. my right boot has zero pain and fits like a glove. should i have the boot fitter look at the shell in the areas of my ankle, get refitted, get new liner??? i was planning on going tonight to see what their thoughts are.
 
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