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An obvious solution to a longstanding problem. Generations of crack climbers have fallen victim to shredded shoes as a result of excessive crack climbing. Climbers have developed many mostly inaffective solutions including tape, aqua-seal, seam-grip, shoe-goo, barge cement to no avail- the toe boxes of our favorite shoes always end up shredded…
Enter the new Five-Ten Stealth Paint. The folks over at Five-ten have just released this product as a remedy to those shredded crack shoes and likely a million other sticky rubber related fixes. The paint is featured on several five-ten shoes including the Jet7 and is much lighter and more pliable then gluing a rand to the toe area. I picked up a pack of this so called ‘Paint’ and figured I might as well document the process… Check it out below.
Although the product is touted as “Paint” it is in fact two ingredients and was certainly less user friendly than any paint that I have used.
#1 Tube of Barge Cement
#2 Rubber shavings
zest some old climbing rubber with this!
After spending the money and producing a descent specimen, I realize that there are ways to produce your very own rubber paint. The BARGE cement supplied is nothing special. Any hardwear store should have some. I would also venture to say that any climber serious enough about their shoes to embark on this process likely has a pair of old, blown out shoes. Use a grating tool or zester (like the one above) and make your own rubber shards out of those old shoes you don’t wear, add some glue and Voila! Rubber paint!
I’ll let you know how it all holds up after some mileage.
Mike
May 2, 2009 at 12:27 pm
After about two weeks of climbing, the stealth paint seems to be holding up quite well…
I have noticed some minor peeling on the edge of the rubber, especially on the shoe that I botched it a little by applying too much (too thick) of a coat.
June 15, 2009 at 6:30 am
over a month of climbing on the stealth painted shoes and there is some more significant peelback, mostly on the more sloppy shoe… I’ll get a new post up when I get a chance.
August 29, 2009 at 6:56 am
The stealth paint on my Scarpa Force is doing okay. Check out the video at http://www.climbinggearonline.com/Five-Ten-Stealth-Paint/p/IX67ZEAM from fiveten for a more pro looking job!