Lube Boots to make them easier to buckle?

[TroySmith80]

I have Dynafit TLT7 touring boots. I'm a relatively big/strong guy. To buckle those babies down as tight as i'd like is fucking HARD and i'm worried i'm going to break them.
Is it common or advisable to lubricate the overlapping parts of the boots (or other parts) so that they are less resistant to being buckled?

I'm a little reluctant to try in case it somehow turns them into sloppy, squeaky, creaky jalopies. I'll probably give it a go soon though. Any advice?

[XXX-er]

I seen somebody doing that ^^ with Hansons which is a VERY long time ago

[Marshal Olson]

how used/old are your liners?
generally the more packed the liner, the more you have to crush the boots down and over-tighten

[PB]

Ski boot buckle lever.

If you do lube, go with just a kiss of silicon grease; petroleum based lubes might damage plastic.

[TroySmith80]

They're about 4 years old but don't have a lot of days on them, maybe 20-30 days. I don't think it's that the liners are too packed out. I might put some spacers in the soles though to take up a little volume.

Ski boot buckle lever.

eh??

[Djongo Unchained]

Sometimes you can rub a little ski wax on the most frictiony spots and that helps it slide easier or at least not grab so much.

[PB]

They're about 4 years old but don't have a lot of days on them, maybe 20-30 days. I don't think it's that the liners are too packed out. I might put some spacers in the soles though to take up a little volume.


eh??

https://skimums.com/2021/11/25/ski-b...l-review-2022/

[Gepeto]

...eh??

https://skimums.com/2021/11/25/ski-b...l-review-2022/

[Gepeto]

^^ yesh... you think you don't know a guy - and then

fwiw, Ballentine Brewery Bottle Opener works too

[XXX-er]

If its hard to get the boot tight enough Its more common for a shell to be TOO big cuz it was comfortable in the store SO I wonder if its the right sized boot shell to begin with which is easy to check by taking the liner out slide foot in boot till toes touch front of shell & measure the gap between heel & shell, the official scarpa guage is a rectagular 9-16mm stick to measure that gap, or use a sharpie marker which is 15mm

[PB]

It's not that the OP can't get their boots tight enough, it's that he's too weak to flip the buckles at the boot tightness they desire. Admittedly, this raises lots of additional questions .......
Last time I had a similar problem it was because My GERD wouldn't let me bend over far enough to get the necessary leverage on the buckles; buckle lever was the stop-gap solution.

[pfluffenmeister]

Perhaps his boot caddy is ill?

[Eastside]

I seen somebody doing that ^^ with Hansons which is a VERY long time ago

I had a couple pairs of Hansons when I was a kid. I couldn’t get my foot in the boot without silicone spray. I should bust out a can to make my zip fits slip right into my boots.

[XXX-er]

I alwasy wondered as in did I really see that girl spraying her liners with silicone or was I on the booze & drugs ?

[XXX-er]

my buddy Joe the snow shoveler showed me how they did it in minesota 60 years ago

grab the buckle with one hand and use the other hand for the lever from behind the leg no tools needed

[TroySmith80]

Lol, this got kind of funny. Too weak to flip them... I mean, you're on the right track but it's more that the force required is approaching what will eventually break something on the boots.

Levers or tools to increase the force applied to the buckle would be a Very Bad Idea. Guaranteed destruction.

I was messing with them last night and oiled up the cables and realized that was the main problem. There was just a lot of friction in the cable. They feel a lot better now. I'd assumed the cable was like bike cables, with a liner, but the sheath is just a metal coil, no slippery plastic liner. I'll lube them regularly now and expect that will make a huge difference.

[TroySmith80]

Confirmed. Just tried em out. Night and day difference. I feel dumb for letting it get that bad. I guess I was the frog in the slowly boiling water.
I lube the cable and also rubbed some ski wax on the various parts of overlapping boot shell that have to move against each other for it to cinch up tight. Added the optional power straps as well. Going to have a lot more control now!