Boot Shell Cracks at Throat

[Tony S]

Maybe five years ago I had a boot that developed a crack in the overlap area between the lower cuff buckle and the upper clog buckle. @markojp stated at the time that he had never seen this except when the wearer was careless about positioning the flaps and accidentally cross-overlapped them, then attempted to buckle.

Earlier this season I noticed that the same exact thing had happened on the right boot of my new(er) pair. I was really mad at myself because I figured I must have done something stupid. Since then I have been super extra careful and conscientious about how I buckle the boots, etc. Then just the other day ... sure enough, new crack in the OTHER boot. See screenshot below. Now this time I KNOW for certain that I did not goof up in the way Mark speculated about.

Can it happen, do you suppose, while putting the boot on and/or off over my lace-up liner? (Note that I wore my old boots "conventional" style, so that was not the cause with them, at least.) If so, how to prevent? If not, that leaves the likelihood that this is happening while I'm skiing somehow. Thoughts? Experiences?

Thanks in advance.

 

[graham418]

I have had this on 2 pairs of boots, from 2 different manufacturers. Both times replaced under warranty. Apparently both were defects / material issues that were known to the manufacturer. Another benefit of buying your boots from a good store!!

 

[KevinF]

Can it happen, do you suppose, while putting the boot on and/or off over my lace-up liner?

I've been using lace up liners in my Lange RS130's for three or four years now. I use a heated boot bag to get them on, but getting them off is a combination of cursing, muscle, kicking and hair dryers when necessary. Either way, I haven't noticed any cracks in the shells.

There's plenty of people who utilize lace-up liners who ski far more than you and I do -- combined -- who I assume aren't cracking their shells every season. Seems unlikely that that stress would be the cause.

 

[Noodler]

The shot is so close up that I can't really get a sense of what I'm looking at. Where is this happening?

 

[Tony S]

The shot is so close up that I can't really get a sense of what I'm looking at. Where is this happening?

the overlap area between the lower cuff buckle and the upper clog buckle

 

[cantunamunch]

Yes; I was in orange translucent Tecnicas. First ski of the season, warm fall day, Intuition liners.

 

[anders_nor]

I've had this in boots before as well, replaced under warranty 2 times in a single season! then sold it when I got a new pair... the guy who bought them from me got a few new on warranty as well material defects, mfg was having issues...

 

[Marathoner]

This has happened to me on my 6 year old Salomon X Pro 120 boots. I suspect the reason that my boot has developed the tear is because I've pulled apart the plastic shell each time I put my feet into the boots in the mornings. I had a bootfitter drill a hole on one side of the tear so that the tear doesn't get bigger.

 

[Noodler]

View attachment 131182

Thanks. The position of the crack certainly looks to be a material defect and not due to any possible misuse. I have accidentally crossed up the "bear trap" overlap numerous times doing ZipFit liner fittings and I don't believe that error could lead to where this crack is positioned.

 

[Ken_R]

Thanks. The position of the crack certainly looks to be a material defect and not due to any possible misuse. I have accidentally crossed up the "bear trap" overlap numerous times doing ZipFit liner fittings and I don't believe that error could lead to where this crack is positioned.

Agree.

Are those older Lage RX's?

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Doesn't look like misuse to me. Either just old age or a defect.

 

[Tony S]

Are those older Lage RX's?

Yes, but they were NOS when I bought them. So only three seasons on them.

 

[Tony S]

Doesn't look like misuse to me. Either just old age or a defect.

It's interesting to me that the same thing happened to both boots within a few weeks.

 

[KingGrump]

I have had probably 15 to 20 individual boots that cracked in that location. It ranged between 5 to 60 days of skiing. All replaced under warranty.

 

[Jack skis]

Maybe you should buckle your boots. Just kidding.

 

[markojp]

Tony, this one is different than the ganked overlap deformity that we see from time to time like your old boot. Yes, I did it to my B3's. If you had this crack in a newer Lange that was still under warranty, I'm guessing they'd get replaced.

 

[Philpug]

Boots have a one year warranty from time of purchase, any replacement past that falls under goodwill. Bring them to you local dealer with receipt, state your case, plan for the worst but hope for the best. Manufacturers will tend to do what is fair, they are pretty generous with goodwill, we have seen it numerous times here from various brands.

 

[Doug Briggs]

You can try to stop the crack by heating a finish nail (for the size) over a flame and piercing the plastic at the end crack. People will drill the hole, but a drill's flutes can catch on the crack and make it worse. A drill may also not make a hole but just quickly penetrate further exacerbating the problem.

The crack is small in this boot and is the fine line to the right of the hole.

Fischer RC4s were prone to this cracking and my boot was covered by warranty. Fischer has change the plastic so it is not a large problem anymore.

 

[Tony S]

You can try to stop the crack by heating a finish nail (for the size) over a flame and piercing the plastic at the end crack. People will drill the hole, but a drill's flutes can catch on the crack and make it worse.

This is a great suggestion. Thanks.

 

[otto]

This crack is very common in polyurethane 2 piece overlap designs. It can be caused by mis-buckling the lower so that the edges "collide" instead of cleanly overlap. Some of you have commented that this is a material problem and that the suppliers commonly replace this type of crack under warranty. The situation that causes the crack is only sort of a material problem. The reason that so many boots crack over the instep is due to the way the mould injection points are situated. When plastic ski boots are injected with heated liquid plastic, the direction that the plastic moves through the mold causes the plastic to have "grain" just like the grain of a tree. Mould designers and builders vary the placement of the injection points to control and or alter the flow of the plastic through the mould to adjust the direction of the plastic flow in an attempt to have the grain line up better in high stress areas of the boot. One of the coolest mould design tricks, is when attempting to discover the plastic flow rates and directions, the designers will inject "short" loads of molten plastic into the mould, then let it cool, then open up the moulds to observe how far the plastic made it through the mould and the directional flow to it. When they can adapt the placement of the injection ports, they will try that new position and redo the flow tests. The bummer about this type of injection moulding is that the placement of the injection ports is not an unlimited proposition. Sometimes the grain just has to flow the direction it does across the top of the instep, which is why it is so common to see the exact same crack in many of these types of boots. It essentially is a split in the "grain" of the plastic that runs horizontal to the direction of the foot in the boot. Generally the suppliers honor warranty of this type of crack, because they know that it is part of how ski boots are made. Where the warranty might get challenged is if the manufacturer can see that the crack was caused by you if you ended up crossing the overlap of the lower. Meaning user error versus manufacturing error in terms of plastic flow through the mould.