New Skates - Odd Issue

[MountainKing 10]

So I'm more posting here to see if anybody has ever seen an issue like this? This past Monday I went skate shopping to replace my Vapor 7.0's. Some recent foot injuries have widened out my forefoot just enough to where the vapor isn't a good fit anymore. Anyway after trying on Supremes, RBZ, Nexus going up and down sizes I finally settled on a pair of Tacks. The left boot felt amazing right out of the box, no heel left, foot hitting the toe cap ect, probably the best a skate has ever felt on my foot. I put the right boot on and it fits great but there's a slight hot spot where the big toe meets the foot. These were in 9.5d, I tried on 9.5ee and there was some slippage in both skates, we went down to a 9.0ee and the length was putting a lot of pressure on my toes. The sales guy said the hot spot should bake out, so he baked the 9.5's and both boots felt great while they were on my feet cooling.

Wednesday rolls around and I went to put them on, left one went on and felt great but the right one I couldn't get on, it felt like the toe box had closed in. I ended up skating that night in the old skates, I tried again yesterday and no go, when I got back home I took all the laces out and tried to force the foot in and it went but the pain was excruciating. What could have happened to cause this? The heel is good, the midfoot area feels like it caved in or shrunk...I'm at a loss. Total Hockey says they'll bake the skates again but beyond there there's not much else they can do since they won't exchange or return baked/sharpened skates (obviously that's policy so I wasn't really expecting much there). Has anybody heard of this..should I contact CCM about this? I could try baking and see what happens but I don't want to bake them again, I don't think that would solve this issue, I don't want to sell them as used either in case this is a skate defect and somebody else ends up with a pair of bad skates. Just looking for some insight......

[Davetronz 109]

Want to clarify: so you're saying that its like the toe box on the right skate isn't "tall enough" now and its preventing your foot from going in?

Does anything appear compressed? Obviously you've checked inside the boot for obstructions such as tongue, insole, etc.?

[MountainKing 10]

Want to clarify: so you're saying that its like the toe box on the right skate isn't "tall enough" now and its preventing your foot from going in?

Does anything appear compressed? Obviously you've checked inside the boot for obstructions such as tongue, insole, etc.?

It's right behind the toe box, it's kind of just below where the 2nd/3rd/4th eyelet on the big toe side of the skate. It feels like it has molded downward and inward, when I managed to squeeze it on last night you could see imprints of the skate on my foot from that area and a nice red mark on the outside of the foot from it being pushed over. So yeah not enough width or height in that area.

Visually I don't see anything but I'm guessing even 1-2mm makes a huge different in fit in skates. I took the footbed out to try and see and there still isn't enough space.

I heard back from CCM and they aren't willing to to entertain anything, their answer was to squeeze the skate on and skate with it and then bake it a second time if there's still pain. It Looks like I'm going to be eating $500+ on these things which really sucks.

[Larry54 243]

You say they both felt great while they were cooling. Did you let them totally cool before removing them?

[MountainKing 10]

You say they both felt great while they were cooling. Did you let them totally cool before removing them?

I had them on for 20 minutes. Our Total Hockey store wants to do all the work when they heat up the skates, they put them on our feet and remove them which I'm not totally a fan of but I get that they want to cover themselves on this.

You say they both felt great while they were cooling. Did you let them totally cool before removing them?

I had them on for 20 minutes. Our Total Hockey store wants to do all the work when they heat up the skates, they put them on our feet and remove them which I'm not totally a fan of but I get that they want to cover themselves on this.

[Chadd 916]

You shouldn't need a full bake if it's just that one spot that is causing a problem. You should be able to address it with just a heat and punch. A full bake on the skate shouldn't be a problem though.

My guess is that they were not cooled enough for the shape to be set and there was a little pressure on that part of the skate. It wouldn't take much to go from snug to painful.

[MountainKing 10]

You shouldn't need a full bake if it's just that one spot that is causing a problem. You should be able to address it with just a heat and punch. A full bake on the skate shouldn't be a problem though.

My guess is that they were not cooled enough for the shape to be set and there was a little pressure on that part of the skate. It wouldn't take much to go from snug to painful.

Maybe I'll see if i can do that then. My fear is something is messed up with the materials and a punch still won't take care of it or be enough. Like most here I'm always switching skates and I go through a lot anyway being in them almost daily and I've never experienced anything like this.

[MountainKing 10]

After doing some more messing with the skate tonight I think the issue is the toe cap where the tongue joins. It appears the toe cap is sunken down on the big toe side which is causing the cap to dig into the foot when I do force my foot in. I think this is also pulling the side of the skate in as well taking away from width on that side. Is there any safe way to get that cap back up to where it should be? Would heat/baking make it safe to move it up or would I risk damaging the skate by doing that? I guess that last question is kind of pointless since the skate is already damaged.

[shoot_the_goalie 281]

I'm with Chadd in that I don't think the first bake was "set". You should have them bake the skates (or just the one skate) again - if you bought them from Total Hockey, it should be free. Tacks are a very pliable/moldable boot when heated properly. I'm sure you know this, but once the skate is on your foot after a bake, don't move, don't put any weight on the skate, nothing. Wait til it thoroughly cools. CCM recommendation is that heat moldable models of Tacks be baked no more than 3 times... so you should be fine baking a 2nd time.

Also, and fairly important, bake the skates at the store at night if you can. The human foot expands significantly over the course of the day (can expand up to a full size), so if you initially baked your skates in the am, you're essentially fitting them to smaller feet. Then you play at night, and your skates all of the sudden feel tighter than when you tried them on because of daily expansion. Also, make sure when you bake, to use the same variables you would use when wearing them in a game - same insole, same socks, etc.

If a 2nd bake doesn't work, try stretching and punching the spot. I have Tacks too (top model) and they were still a touch too tight in width for my liking after the 1st bake, so I had them stretched and punched, and they fit great now...and with the exception of some cosmetic deformation, no issues at all with the skates structure or durability.

All else fails, and you can prove it's a defect, then CCM should cover it under their warranty and send you a set of replacements. Unfortunately, their no-risk promotion is over, so you can't take advantage of that anymore.

So many variables it fitting a skate, that the circumstances can be so particular when doing so. Not to mention, feet are hardly the same on most people. It took me skate fitting to realize that my right foot is about a half size skate bigger than my left foot.