By Justin in Reviews — 10 Dec 2010

Vibram Five Fingers Sole Repair Using Shoe Goo

Guest post by ChadIt was an unhappy day when I threw out my first pair of Vibram Five Fingers KSO shoes. I had gotten them for Christmas in 2008 and they served me faithfully throughout many miles of running in 2009, including the Hatfield & McC…

Guest post by Chad

It was an unhappy day when I threw out my first pair of Vibram Five Fingers KSO shoes. I had gotten them for Christmas in 2008 and they served me faithfully throughout many miles of running in 2009, including the Hatfield & McCoy Marathon. By fall the soles had gotten thin to the point where a hole developed in the left one. I tried patching it with a bicycle tube repair kit, but that fell off after only a few miles of running.

Chad's worn KSOs with a hole that needs to be filled in.

When my next pair of KSOs showed signs of wearing out I resolved to come up with a solution. While wandering through a local sporting goods store I picked up a tube of Shoe Goo adhesive. I had used Shoe Goo many years ago, when I played high school tennis to keep my shoes in usable condition.

The Process

It turns out that Shoe Goo works terrifically well in rebuilding the thin spots of Five Fingers' soles. Application is as easy as spreading peanut butter onto a slice of bread.

Read the directions. Clean the area before applying.

Use a coffee stirrer or tongue depressor to spread the Shoe Goo.

Apply over the area in a medium thickness.

If you want to apply an additional layer, wait a couple of hours or more then apply as before. The manufacturer’s website says to allow 24 to 72 hours to cure completely, but I’ve found that overnight will suffice.

I’m happy that I’ve found an inexpensive way to extend the life of my KSOs and will use Shoe Goo on my other Fivefinger models, including my Classics, KSO Treks, and Flows.