How to Heat Mold Powerslide Boots

Thermo Forming of Boots

SHMR-Technology

SHMR is also known as Super Heat Moldable Resin. This new technology is used in modern race shoes. The shell constructions are completely different compared with boots using thermo sheets. We are using a special heat moldable epoxy that is combining the different layers of carbon fibre. Race shoes featuring the SHMR-Technology can be heat moulded at ANY spot of the shell, because of the epoxy that is used everywhere in the shell and between each layer of carbon fibre. Another advantage is that the epoxy can be heat moulded as often as you want without loosing its function. The molding temperature for racing shoes with SHMR-Technology is around 80-90 degrees Celsius, which is quite low. Another side effect of SHMR is the slight reduction of weight of the shell.

The following racing shoes featuring the new SHMR Technology:

Powerslide: Double X, Vision, Vision Junior, Infinity, C8, PH9
Core Racing: Vi-Pro, Icon, Triple X2

Thermo Sheets

This „old school“ technology is still common technology in most heat moldable speed boots. Thermo sheets are thin layers of heat moldable composites that are placed in between the carbon layers of the shell. Usually, thermo sheets have been used around the ankle area of the boot. The boot can be only moulded in the area where the thermo sheet is used and ONLY there, because carbon fibre itself is not heat moldable at all.

Disadvantage of thermo sheets: The material gets brittle after heating several times and the molding process is limited. Thermo sheets are NOT used at all in Powerslide or Core Racing shoes.

How to heat mould my skates?

The complete range of Powerslide and Core Racing carbon boots is fully heat moldable thanks to our superior SHMR technology, aka Super Heat Molding Technology.
Please follow the steps below in order to get the best result.
Our boots can be heat moulded using your oven or a heat gun.

Attention! The boot can be heat moulded at any part of the shell. We recommend keeping the frame assembeled to the boots and to fit your boots while sitting. Never put your full weight on the skates during the heat molding process!

remove the wheels and open the laces and buckles
pre-heat the oven to 80 °C - 90 °C
place the boot in the centre of the oven
leave the boot for about 10-15 minutes in the oven until the shell in the cuff area gets soft

Caution: Do not place your foot in the hot boot or you might burn your feet!
Metal buckles or metal eyelets also might burn your finger!

let the boot cool down a little and test the temperature with your finger before you step in
tighten the laces and buckles
make sure your leg is in the correct skating position
wait for the boot to cool down
you can use the plastic end of a screwdriver to press out any part of the boot causing discomfort
repeat the process with the other boot

You can heat mould your boots as many times as you want if the result wasn’t perfect.

Caution: Make sure to keep a safety distance of about 20 cm to the upper leather when using the heat gun in order to avoid burning the material.

Which speed boots are heat moldable?

Almost all manufacturers offer heat moldable speed boots. Please ask your local dealer or the manufacturer if he uses so called “thermo sheets” on the carbon fibre boots or a similar technology lie used in Powerslide and Core Racing shoes. Remember, carbon fibre itself is not heat moldable. The boot is not heat moldable without a layer of this material. An exception is the new SHMR Technology used in the Powerslide and Core Racing carbon fibre shoes.

How often can I repeat to heat mould my boots?

You can do it as often as you want with the SHMR technology.

Boots which are build incl. thermo sheets start to get weak after several times. We recommend to heat-mould only as often as necessary. It might make sense to think about custom boots if you cannot stop the fit problems even through heat-molding.

Why does it take longer time for Powerslide and Core racing shoes to get soft?

The quality of the epoxy that is used for the shell production is the point! The epoxy gets softer at lower temperatures if its quality is poor - therefore the shell gets softer more easy and faster. Most skater think this is good, but the opposite is the case. We use only high quality epoxy for ALL our Powerslide and Core Racing shoes. This means that we need higher temperatures to liquefy the epoxy and therefore it takes longer time to soften the shell.

Shoes featuring shells that get soft at really low temperatures might have the problem that they already start to get heat-moulded by accident by just storing the skates in the car with direct sun exposure.