UKC

http://www.joe-brown.com/outdoor-equipment/510_stealth_paint

Anyone able to vouch for the cost effectiveness and general effectiveness of this product? is it basically like a puncture repair kit for climbing shoes?

I went to the expense of having some shoes re-soled recently and that was a big false economy: 30-50% of the cost of new shoes only for the new rubber to completely stretch 'em out and ruin the fit. Some kind of hole patch kit seems much better...

Your thoughts are regarded as lushmate.

Cheers - Adam

In reply to adstapleton:

I tried to use it to repair mine. It doesn't work. It's good if you wanna make the top of the toe box sticky for shoes that don't have rubber there, though.

In reply to Alkis:

So it's best to just get new shoes?

In reply to adstapleton:
I don't think anyone has had anything good to say about the stealth paint other than using on the top for added toe hookability (I'm sure that's not a real word)
Can I ask where you had your shoes resoled, I had mine done at Cheshire Shoes without any problems and I know others that have gone to Feet First again with no problems

In reply to ashley1_scott: It was Cheshire. In fairness, they were 5.10 spires, my first shoes ever; they were already not as tight fitting as I'd go nowadays; and the re-sole occurred at the exact same time I got good enough to really work boulder problems with tiny edges and tiny holds, so I really needed some technical precision. The slight increase in size was very noticeable, so too the break in the sole in the middle where the new rubber was joined to the old, reducing stiffness in the sole and compromising force transfer from legs to toes.

In the end I just bought some Anasazi whites.

In reply to adstapleton:
Hmm interesting. In the past I have used rubber solution to repair my rock boots, but this was the general stuff for any shoe and they seem to have stopped making it. Generally I found it to be good as a stop gap when you have a small point of wear which you don't want but can't be arse to send off for repair or not enough to warrant the expense of buying a new pair. I can not speak for the stealth stuff (I may try it) but the rubber solution repairs usually lasted for about 20 - 30 climbs under moderate use before requiring a reapplication. The solution itself wore quite well but tended to peel away from the rock boot, maybe due to being a different consistency to the boot rubber. Also as it was in liquid form and came from a tube it was fiddly to apply and once opened degraded over time unless great care was taken to stop air entering the tube (clean top etc.) and would result in not getting full use of the whole tube.

In reply to adstapleton:

As far as I know, I and everyone who has used it unanimously agree that it is utterly useless.

Even if you manage to apply it in a non gloopy, gacky mess, it will have rubbed off within five minutes of climbing on it.

In reply to adstapleton: I gave it a try but found the stopgap repair wore through very quickly. worth a shot but in future I'll just keep on sending my shoes off for resoles

In reply to adstapleton:

Stealth paint - the idea is a good one but the application is weak. The kit contains a plastic spoon (that you will only use once and then discard because it's unnecessary), a plastic rod (used for mixing the rubber and adhesive and also for pressing the mixture onto the shoe and making it an even spread), a tin of stealth rubber shavings and a tube of barge polychloroprene cement.

The cement is a common shoe repair cement. Polychloroprene cement is a synthetic rubber adhesive (original trade name is neoprene by DuPont) and cures to a rubber material that won't crack or split. That is mixed with the stealth rubber resulting in a final grade of rubber that is neither stealth nor neoprene. The stealth shavings are a very heavy grade and so the resulting finish on the shoe looks awful and doesn't smooth (feather) at the edges of the repair very well at all. The repairs feel rubbish underfoot on the sole.

So stealth paint is indeed a bad purchase as people suggest, however... The idea is sound and it is something that you could achieve yourself for less cash. I have a pair of la sportiva approach shoes that split in the leather where my awful gait had been sawing at it with the tread of the other foot. I produced some rubber dust and used the cement from my stealth paint kit to make a mixture for covering the repair stitching that I did on the leather. It looks great, protects the stitching well (I doubt my gait has changed since doing it and I cannot see the rubber repair being worn through in the near future and I wear the shoes a lot in town and out and about at crags).

I am now sourcing some cement of my own and am going to produce some climbing grade rubber dust by using a 40 or 60 grit sanding attachment on a die grinder (I'll use an air tool at work, but a dremel or similar or a drill sanding attachment or an orbital sander would do fine also) on an old pair of climbing shoes.

If you want to get yourself some cement then check out this page http://www.algeos.com/html/products/adhesives/renia.html
or look for some Barge cement (that is the brand in the stealth paint kit and note that you only get a 2oz tube for your money in the kit).

So in recap, do it yourself and be happy or pay through the nose for stealth paint and have an expensive grainy ineffective mess. If you email me I'll gladly send you the instructions that come with stealth paint so you know the process if you think you will have a pop yourself. (if I can't find the instructions then I'll write a description myself)

I'm also going to have a pop at resoling my scarpa force with some vibram xs flash sheet rubber (from here: http://www.vibram.com/vibramrepair/catalogo.php?id_categoria=21&livello... ) using the same cement. I can't see that it will be that difficult.

In reply to adstapleton:

I've found it's most useful smearing on polished holds to make them useable again.