UKH

I have a much-loved pair of Salomon Axe 8.0 downhill boots which have given me sterling service over thirteen years. However, I am beginning to think that the inners are getting a bit tired. For example, the face material on the inside of the inners seems to wearing out in places. One result of this is that the rough surface on the inners is grabbing my ski socks, making it very difficult to get my feet in to the boots each morning (the inners are always removed and dried each night).

The outer shells are fine, with all clips fully working and minimal wear on the sole (I use Cat Tracks to protect the soles when needed). Also, the right boot has been 'blown' slightly to accommodate my marginally wider right foot. So I'd quite like to keep the outer shells.

Hence my question: is it possible to get replacement inners which would work with these boots? Would it make financial sense, or would it actually be cheaper just to buy complete new boots? The original inners were heat-moulded to my feet (not foamed) when I bought the boots and I imagine it would make sense to get something similar, if possible.

Any ideas or suggestions would be most welcome!

In reply to Martin W: Check out Zipfit liners. Not cheap but last well.

In reply to Martin W:

And Intuition

In reply to earlsdonwhu:

Snowlines http://www.snowlines.co.uk/ in Brunstfield may stock zipfit: http://www.zipfit.com/dealerlist.html

Graeme is the ski boot guru and will give you an honest opinion as to whether you can renovate/ should replace your current boots.

In reply to Fiona Reid:

Martin, another possibility is to find someone selling your old boots and see if the liners are in good nick. ebay, gumtree, freegle etc are all worth a look if you have a brand/model that was popular in the past. I nearly had to resort to that to get new soles for my old boots but managed to source some new parts via snowheads.

In reply to Martin W: after 13 years new liners is probably a good idea! just take them into any good boot fitting shop and they will sort you out. Definatly cheaper than new boots if the shells are fine and your happy with them.

In reply to Martin W: Thanks all for your suggestions. Fiona, thanks for the local info - I've never actually been in to Snowlines, although I've bought stuff in Footworks and been perfectly happy with them so I'll definitely pop in to Snowlines sometime soon and have a word with Graeme.