This is my approach to fixing peeling shoe sole layers. I cleaned and even Dremeled the inside layers of rubber to help glue adhere, but I was like “How the hell should I apply pressure while glue dries?”…
So I figured I should easily be able to do that with some thumb tacks in the sides of the sole, and temporarily stitch it down with dental floss for a day or two while the glue dries.
Wish me luck, I used silicone glue. Not sure if that’s the best glue or not for the purpose, but it’s tough and flexible. Of course I did both shoes, just figured it would be more obvious what I did with one shoe showing the initial damage.
Anyways, thumb tacks and dental floss for the win to hold it together while it dries!
Edit: Confirmed, my fix is solid, even holding better than the original factory glue! Haters gonna be haters though, carry on with your downvotes if you want. Just sharing my technique of salvaging shoes for less than $5 of glue and stuff around the house.
Very clever! If I were confronted with the same task, I would have filled it with a hot pad bean bag then put something heavy on top.
My first instinct was to put something heavy on top as well, but the heel has a slight curve to it. So like how do I keep a pressure on a curved surface?
Then the answer became clear to me, just tack into the original curve of the shoe! It’s only there temporarily anyways.
I just hope I used an appropriate glue for the purpose. I know many might suggest Gorilla Glue, but I went with generic silicone glue.
Fingers crossed on the glue, but I think I got a pretty solid method to keep pressure applied while it dries…
There is a glue that is stinky and not advertised much: e6000. I use it for misc projects like this. Yup your method works…
Also I have a mild grammar pet peeve: a chemical reaction that makes a liquid become a solid is not “drying” but is rather called “curing”. If you got your glue wet and it reverted to a liquid, then it would only be " drying".
If glue was strictly a chemical reaction, then it would cure itself in the tube on a warehouse shelf before you even purchased or opened the glue. But nope, it takes exposure to air before glue actually dries.
Sounds like you’re thinking of epoxy, which is distinctly different than glue and comes as two separate chemicals meant to be mixed just before use and actually can cure without exposure to air.
Edit: Silicone glue breaks down and becomes a liquid again with solvents such as acetone. Same with E6000 (which I’ve also used before). Water isn’t the only liquid substance that makes things wet ya know…
I use that same silicone stuff all the time to make repairs and non-permanent attachments of things to other things. I’m guessing it will work OK for this, but over time it might peel apart as shoes flex and move a lot. The silicone is flexible, as you said, but the adhesion may weaken with constant movement.
They make some stuff for this exact purpose called Shoe Goo… that may or may not work better. I’ve used it for off-label purposes like reinforcing the thin plastic shells of RC cars. It dries much harder but is still semi-flexible. It adheres strongly and won’t peel off without a lot of force and a scraper tool. (Silicone can peel off using just your fingers).
Good luck, it might work out.
