Snowboard boot heat molding near me

Every snowboard boot is different, depending on both brand and model. It also depends on if your boot has a heat mold-able liner or not.  So, how much breaking in is required before the boot feels like it’s just an extension of your foot, will really depend on the boot.

Heat Mold-able Liners

Thankfully a large majority of boots these days have heat mold-able liners. All of the boots I come into contact with do, anyway. But some cheaper brands and models won’t have heat mold-able liners.

The liner is the main thing we are talking about here. The shell of the boot will break down over time and can pack out a bit over time, but this is over a longer period of time than the liner, so the liner is the main thing.

Machine Heat Mold or Natural Heat Mold?

Assuming your boots have heat mold-able liners, there are two ways you can mold them to your foot. You don’t necessarily have to do anything except snowboard.

You can either:

• Just ride with your boots until they mold to your foot
• Actually have the boots heat molded in a store

Just Riding

A lot of boots will be fine and will break in, just by riding with them for a couple of days. Some even quicker. Some boots just feel good right out of the box. Others take longer.

Typically stiffer boots and boots with higher quality liners tend to take longer to break in. You can still break these in by just riding in them, but it will usually take a little longer than softer flexing boots and lower quality liners.

Boots without heat-moldable liners will still mold to your foot when riding to some extent. You just can’t do the next option.

Machine Molding

Not sure if “machine” is the right word to use, but for lack of a better word, let’s call it that.

If you feel like your boots are taking a while to naturally heat mold, or if you are eager to give them a head start before you get out on the mountain, you can speed up the process by heat-molding them in a store.

This process consists, essentially of the liner (with footbed removed) being heated up, and then you put your feet in your boots (with footbeds replaced) and do them up as you would normally. And then you stand in them (preferably in roughly your snowboard stance) for 10-15 minutes.

If you feel like there’s a lot of pressure on the top, front or sides of your toes, you could also where a toe cap over your foot, whilst you are heat-molding to help that area pack out more.

Heat Molding at Home

Most stores, in my experience, will do this for free, but if the store your looking at charges (and you don’t want to pay for it) or if you can’t or don’t want to go into a store, you can do this at home too. I usually just go into a store, but the video below shows how you can do it at home.

My Recent Experience

I recently had boots heat molded in store. I bought them towards the end of the 2017-18 season and rode them for 7 days during that season. But after 7 days they still weren’t feeling hugely comfortable and there was pressure on my toes.

The boots are Vans Infuse 2018. These are slightly stiffer than average boots and come with Vans highest quality liner, so no big surprise that they were taking longer to break in than the previous softer Vans boots I had owned. I also own the 2016 Vans Aura and they broke in very quickly – just a couple of days riding in them.

So I had them heat molded in store, including using a toe cap to try to relieve a bit of pressure in that area.

The results?

Certainly there’s a bit more space in there now. But only subtly. Noticeable but subtle.

Depending on your feet and the boots, heat molding will certainly speed things up, but just don’t expect it to massively change the shape of the boot. Which is a good thing, as the boot will pack out more over time, and you don’t want things to pack out too far too soon – and also to prolong the life of the boot.

Socks

If you have boots that are on the tighter fitting side, even after heat molding and riding for a while with them, then getting the thinnest socks you can, can really help.

In my opinion, this isn’t going to affect the warmth in your feet. This is because if your feet are too snug in the boot, then there is less circulation going on. With the thinner sock, there may not be as much insulation, but it should increase the circulation, which should warm things up and counteract, at least to some extent, the reduced insulation.

Then as your boots pack out more, then you can wear thicker socks if you choose.

For comfort reasons, I still recommend getting snowboard specific socks, which tend to have cushioning and strengthening in the areas you want them in a snowboard boot. Just go for the thinnest one you can find.

Other Things You Can Do Apart from Heat Molding

Outside of heat molding there are some other things you can do, to help to break them in, before you hit the mountain.

One of those things is simply wearing your boots around the house.

Walking in Your Boots

Simply put on your boots, wearing your snowboard socks, and tighten them just as you would if you were going snowboarding, and just walk around in them. If you have time, you can do this for a couple of hours, and if you’re not going to be wearing them on the mountain in the next few days, then you could do this everyday for a few days.

Strapping In

The other thing you can do is strap in to your bindings on your board and simulate some turns.

Outside, or on a surface that isn’t going to be damaged by your snowboard’s edges, strap into your bindings as you would as if you about to ride, with your boots done up just how you would ride in them.

Then push up onto your toe edge and hold there for like 20-30 seconds.

Then push back onto your heel edge and hold there for like 20-30 seconds.

Repeat for however long you want to.

These two things can help speed up the process and make things quicker once you get on the mountain, but of course there’s no substitute for actually riding in the boots.

Summary

Those are things that I do or have done in the past to break in snowboard boots. I’m sure there are other things you can do. If you have any other methods/strategies for breaking in boots, feel free to leave a comment below. I’d love to hear some other ideas.