Effectiveness of Aquaseal shoe repair?

I bought some but have not used it yet. Everything I have read here and elsewhere makes it sound like the best for shoe repair.

But…if your shoes are already having issues and you are going to be on a Utah water trip, no guarantees…just my opinion. Take a good camp shoe that you can finish the trip with.

Comes in different flavors…. best is Aquaseal+SR works GREAT…. but… like all glues and caulks, sticking is dependent on cleaning surfaces to be treated well… brush out dirt, the wipe well with alcohol, let dry, glue, assure lugs don’t separate while glue drying overnight…

Also… might contact Topo with photo of issue… they sent me a new pair…. very good customer service

I’ll be heading to the canyons of Utah in a couple months and expect to be doing a lot of walking in water and sand. I don’t want to ruin a brand new pair of shoes that way as I’ve done in the past, so I’d rather take these since they’re nearing end of life anyway. But, I don’t want to be worrying about losing my tread as I’m slab walking down steep slickrock if my repair job doesn’t hold.

My thoughts . . .

A quality trailing shoe shouldn’t be ruined by walking in water and sand — that is what they are made to do.

Your old shoe is coming apart which is a failure of some sort. This is a known. What if the repair doesn’t work? It might, it might not. Will a shoe failure ruin your trip or cause an injury? This what I would consider first and foremost. Plus, you mentioned they are nearing end of life anyway.

If it were me, I would buy new shoes and/or contact the manufacturer for a warranty issue.

I’ve gone through quite a few pairs of trail runners over the years and have never had a sole separation, maybe I’ve been lucky. However, I’ve worn many pairs out and replaced them when the soles became smooth and slippery. My “failures” have been in the uppers of the shoes, but nothing that would end a trip. If I feel the shoe might fail on a trip, it is replaced.

I may get ridiculed for saying this on BPL, but what about taking your new pair of trail shoes instead of camp shoes? You know… just in case?

The shoe lugs will not come free if you do a good job of gluing them. That Aquaseal+SR works GREAT.  But if the lugs are worn down to where they will not grip as well, I’d probably take the new ones… slipping and falling is not worth saving your new shoes from getting that red canyon mud and dirt on them :))… Save the old ones for easier day hikes. Either way, I probably would not take an extra pair of shoes… camp or otherwise…

When I’ve attempted repairs like this, I’ve often been able to get some more use from the shoes, but it’s a bit unpredictable. Sometimes they fail again pretty quickly. Personally, I would be inclined to use the repaired shoes for walking around or local hikes, where a failure wouldn’t cause a major problem.

IMO Vibram is not what they were years ago. The rubber is of lower quality, dries out fast, lugs peel off, etc. Regardless, I have had good luck with cleaning with rubbing alcohol, and using a high quality super glue-I like Loctite. I have repaired pealing lugs and the repair has lasted for hundreds of rough off trail desert miles. YMMV

I have not used Aquaseal .. I have used Shoe Goo for many years with great results though the stuff smells really bad for a long time – very heavy chemical smell so I leave those shoes in the garage.  I remove all grease/dirt/etc with a cleaning solvent like acetone

Thanks for the feedback. And to the issue of the shoes falling apart so quickly, I have had this experience with every pair of Topos that I use for backpacking (which usually includes a decent bit of off-trail rugged terrain) – never more than a short season before the tread starts to separate from the sole. I have gotten a replacement from them in the past via warranty claim and will probably try that again. If these weren’t otherwise the perfect shoe for my very hard to please feet I probably would have given up on them by now.

@lisa mine were Topo as well. Not sure what is going on with their soles.

Lug Peal happens with all brands I have tried… it’s not just Topo… they all seem to get a batch once in a while where the lugs were not glued properly… it’s really not a big deal… most companies will give you a new pair… and it is easy to re-glue them yourself…