It is essential to properly break in your boots before you wear them to snowboard.
Why? Because new boots with unmolded liners are stiff, uncomfortable, and run a high risk of injury. While most shoe stores are happy to mold the boots for their customers, you can do it yourself if you don’t want to pay the extra price.
If you don’t know how to heat mold snowboard boots, you might find our guide helpful. You can read on to find out!
Should I Heat Mold My Snowboard Boots?
The answer is yes! You should heat mold your snowboard boots if you want a comfortable snowboarding experience with peak performance. The comfier you are, the better is the ride, right?
Although you should note that not all boots are moldable, and it is crucial to run a background check on the material of your footwear. Technically, it’s not the pair of boots you’ll be molding; it’s the inner liners where the action will be happening.
Thankfully, most snowboarding boots have moldable liners these days, so you’ll most likely be good to go ahead with the procedure.
Why Heat Mold Snowboard Boots?
Heat molding snowboard boots is certainly not a necessity, but it can make things convenient for you to a large extent. By convenient, we mean it will become easier for you to move around in your shoes. When the inner liners are heated, they become flexible enough to “mold” around your feet.
Moreover, molded boots are more comfortable, stable, and provide extra control over movements as compared to the non-molded ones. This also tones down the chances of injuries and accidents by a great degree. What’s more, you won’t have to deal with shoe bites or corns in your feet owing to the improved fit.
How To Heat Mold Snowboard Boots? (Step-By-Step Guide)
Once you are absolutely sure that your boots can bear direct heating, you can move on to heat molding them. There are two different ways of doing this; let’s look at them one by one.
Using An Oven
You can bake your snowboard boots at home to mold them to your foot size. However, you must understand and accept that this can go both ways. You might end up worsening your shoe fit, so proceed with caution.
What Do You Need?
You’ll need:
- Three to four pounds of short-grain, uncooked rice (three pounds if you are a size nine or smaller and four if you have bigger feet)
- A pair of socks (preferably cotton)
- An oven
- A cutting board
- A rubber toe cap (you can use scotch tape too)
Step 1
Take the socks and fill them with rice, leaving enough room for tying a tight knot at the opening. Please, be attentive and do not use a synthetic pair of socks for this purpose.
As you must have guessed by now, it will be heated inside the oven, and you wouldn’t want any fire accidents, would you?
Step 2
Take the filled socks and place them on the cutting board or any flat surface. Even out the rice throughout the fabric until you have an even tubular or sausage-like structure. Once you’re happy with the shape, you can put them in the oven for heating.
Step 3
Now, the tricky bit, how long do we keep the oven running? Well, let’s tackle this question.
Most ovens have a wattage lying in the range of 800 to 3,000. Here’s a simple guide for you to decide the heating time according to the wattage:
- 100 W to 900 W – Heat for seven minutes
- 1,000 W to 1,100 W – Make it five minutes
- 1,200 W to 1,250 W – You’ll be done in four minutes
Step 4
When you’re happy with the temperature of your rice-sock structures, put on the rubber toe caps over one end, while smoothing out all the folds and wrinkles. Now, you’re ready for the most important step of the process.
Step 5
Put the socks inside your boots, perfectly fitting one end towards the toe area and one towards the heel. Tie the laces or buckle up the shoe as tightly as you can. Next, tap the boot firmly on the floor, and keep tapping until the socks settle in.
Afterward, let the sock stay inside the boots, mindful of your liners’ heat-bearing capacity. This typically ranges from four to twelve minutes. Once the waiting period is over, you can try on your boots and move around.
Using A Hair Dryer
You can also heat mold your snowboard boots using a hair dryer by following most of the above-mentioned steps. The only difference is, instead of separately heating the rice-filled socks in the oven, you’ll need to heat your boots with a hairdryer while they are stuffed.
FAQs:
How much does it cost to heat mold snowboard boots?
The prices for heat molding snowboard boots vary from one ski shop to another, but usually, fitters keep their price between hundred and four hundred dollars. The price is subject to change depending on your desired customizations.
Can you heat mold snowboard boots more than once?
Molding your boots once should be enough to make them fit better, but if you’re not happy, you can remold them. However, doing this will hamper the quality of your shoe and is not advisable.
Final Thoughts
Heat molding your snowboard boots is an excellent method of making them snug, supportive, and comfortable while gliding over those snowy slopes. The combination of perfectly fitting gear, easy-to-navigate snowboard, and comfy shoes will take your snowboarding experience to the next level.
We’ll sign off with one final tip: do not go overboard by multiple remoldings because this can seriously deteriorate the quality of your boots. Try to get it right the first time around, or you can always get it done in a ski store.
