Club Obi Wan

Sooo might be an obvious answer to this question...time to get this heel replaced?



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LOL yep, I'd say so.

Ship those puppies to Alden for an overhaul!

Or, if you don't want to spend a fortune, you can order a new pair of 405 heels directly from Alden for about $15, and have them installed by a local shoe repair shop for less than ten bucks.

OR, given your location, bring them to a local shoe shop, have vibram soles installed, and make them WAY more functional!

Just don't make the mistake of giving your boots to a cobbler with instructions to "replace the heels", or you'll get them back with generic, no-name brand rubber heels and an irreparable scratch on leather from botched operation, making you so lividly furious that you nearly hydroplane your car in a rainstorm driving home from said accursed cobbler and being forced to mail boots back to Alden for expensive refurbishment. Spoken from experience!

The thing is I've been having issues with those little wedge pieces since I purchased the boots back in 2003. Anyone else have any problems with them sliding out of place?


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Hi, how did this happen?

Those pieces seem to want to move outward little by little, and I was always able to just push them back in to place until I noticed that piece slid out more than usual and fell off with ease once I tried to push it back in the heel. That's the issue I've been having with my boots since I owned them. With wear those little wedges move out from the heel.


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I've had my aldens for about five years and never experienced this problem.Are both your boots having this heel trouble? Looking at my aldens the rubber heels are nailed in to those wooden pieces-could it be a couple of heel nails were missing on your boots allowing this wood slippage to occur ?

Yeah I've been having this issue with both boots. Here are pictures of the other one. You can see it moving outwards noticeably, and I can easily put it back into place with my hands.


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I had my boots for a year and a very quiet squeak started to be heard so I called the Alden store (where I got them from) and they had me send them back to them and I got a new pair a few weeks later. Alden has great customer service and Should have let them take care of you which I have no doubt they would have, if you got them from an official retailer,

So, I ended up taking them to a cobbler with whom I've worked before, and right away he laughed at me for giving them so much moisture damage. According to him "these are not the type of boots you get wet" he looked at both heels and said they would eventually need to be replaced in a matter of months. So, I opted for the vibram souls, as he promised I'd get another 11 years of use out of the boot and not have to worry about moisture or traction. Im anxious to pick them up, also I am very interested in acquiring a pair of the adventurebilt aldens. From what I've seen, they look amazing!


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Good call.

I was about to post you could see you have had them wet quite a bit more than usual, and the 'white' looks like salt to me...another substance that's hard on leather.

Be sure to post photos of them when you get them back.

Regards! Michaelson

Well, I picked up my aldens with vibram lug soles yesterday and I'm pleasantly surprised with the results. Although I probably won't be going back to that cobbler considering I noticed some scuffs on my boots that we're not originally there, I'm surprised by how comfortable they are and how well the soles grip to surfaces.






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They're alive.........ALIVE!!!!!

Tundrarider wrote:

RedburnIV wrote:I probably won't be going back to that cobbler considering I noticed some scuffs on my boots that we're not originally there

Hey, just look at it as a little more Indy distressing! Your cobbler could've charged you extra for it!

The boots look great!

Although I've grown accustomed to seeing Alden's with the flat soles and heels, before I became such screen-studying-fanatic, I always imagined his boots being more rugged looking like yours.

Nice that they have become more functional for real life adventures!

Thanks for sharing!

Michael

I know how you feel about screen accuracy, believe me it wasn't an easy choice to have the vibrams on my boots, but after slipping so many times I figured hey why not try something different? Also, I've ordered another pair of 405's


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WOW! You went from street use shoes to 4 wheel drive!

He did a good job!

Regards! M