Hi /diy/,
I'm a waiter at a restaurant and non-slip shoes save me from falling down several times a week. The kitchen at work is slick, greasy and I often tread over bits of melting ice on the floor. There are lots of shoes designed specifically for this purpose, but many of them are super ugly.
I have this super comfy pair of boots that I would love to wear at work, but they are definitely not slip-resistant. I would like to apply a little /diy/ magic to the bottom of these boots if possible.
I have tried buying adhesive supposed non-slip stickers on the tread, these were cheap from a drug store. Tried them on my own wet kitchen floor at home, they don't help at all and peel off easy. I read some pretty bad online reviews for products like "Bear Ground Shoe Grip Adhesive Spray."
It may be a lost cause, given the raised rubber tread these boots have on them. I might go look around a Home Depot and see if I can find some sort of better product for this purpose. Anyone have advise on this? Your experience would be appreciated, even if your solution is some kind of wierd homr baked method!
The tread in question
yes. advice is a noun, advise is a verb
if it keeps you from injuring yourself, wear ugly shoes
old bike tire tread can be attached to the bottom as kind of a re-treading...I did it on a pair several years ago with e6000 and they're still glued together
>>960188
shoes that have non-slip soles have something done to them called "siping", it is basically cutting lots of little slits into the sole of the shoe.
The slits just need to be 1/16" or so deep with a razor blade, maybe 1/8" apart, you don't have to actually dig out grooves in the rubber.
(the sole also has to be basically flexible; siping works less well on harder materials)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siping_%28rubber%29
The wiki article don't show shit, in this instance Google is better.
you can do it yourself tho it is somewhat tedious unless you build a thing to hold a few blades parallel.
They do it to car tires too, to improve wet traction.
>>960198
Well I do wear the ugly ones :D like I said, they save my arse all the time.
What did you use your modified shoes for? Was the result good for that usage? Did you remove or modify the old tread before you added the rubber? If so, how? What did you use as adhesive? It would be more helpful for you to tell me about your experience then to correct my English! thanks though
>>960204
This is awesome! thanks very much for this information. I will actually try this ad the rubber tread is not too hard. A razor blade, a bottle of booze amd a Friday night, no no it isn't what you think!!
>>960209
they were just for general use, I added them because pretty much all of the old tread had already worn down....otherwise I would have smoothed it out with a blade or hot tool
as I said, I used e6000 to glue them
(proper english, or at least an attempt at it, is important even on the internet)
>>960213
thanbk yu so moch for teh adv1$3 bro! cool storie :^) make sur to currext your waitor's pernunciation next tyme ur at a french restaurant too, so he will give u a special sauce off the secrit menu. let me start you off with a #1
>>960223
>me
Epoxy sand paper to the raised tread areas?. Asumming you could find the wet or dry variety in a grit that wouldnt beat the hell outta the floor. Although if only the kitchen area is tile, fuck it.
>>960188
My work has a shoe repair shop in the back. No matter what you might try to do, it won't work. Sanding won't work. Your non-slip stickers won't. Most glues won't bond to outsole materials. Cutting groves in the soles won't work, the entire it'll quickly start deteriorating.
Take it to a shoe repair have them resole with an actual nonslip, oil resisting, non-marking sole. If they charge more than 50, they're being jews.
>>960198
>old bike tire tread can be attached to the bottom as kind of a re-treading...I did it on a pair several years ago with e6000 and they're still glued together
sweet jesus, are you insane? you can't just go around making shoes, you are playing god
>>960618
just a deity's apprentice for now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMUoOL9X-3Q
>>960188
Its the law to wear nonslip shoes
>>960554
Actual shoe repair guy here.
Basically this, you'll need them to sand it off and put something not shitty on it.
>Topy masterrace
Drill 3/4" screws into the tread every half inch. Leave the screw heads sticking out a little bit. These will assist with traction.
Alternatively (or in conjunction with, if you choose), you can get a can of the spray on bed-liner and apply that to the bottoms. Bonus if you do it to the whole shoe for maximum traction and water resistance.
