[cartman]

Had the rubber sole detach from the midsole/leather upper on my recent trip up Jack. These boots were only a couple of years old; had always been allowed to dry either at room temp or on a Peet boot dryer right after every trip. It appears that delaminating soles has been a problem for their boots for at least the past five years. Asolo is an Italian company; don't know where they used to make their boots, but now many of them are being made in Romania, so quite possible their quality and QC has gone downhill. I've used 520s for 15 years, and this is the first pair I've had a sole fall off. Then I pulled another used pair of the same model boots out of the closet and Nikwaxed them, then placed them on the boot dryer. A few hours later, the soles on both boots were falling off; it appears the midsole--the part attaching the rubber sole to the leather upper--just disintegrated. Looks like I'll have to find another boot model and manufacturer. Too bad, since the 520s are one of the few boots I could wear right out of the box with no break-in. But for $300, I'm not going to take any more chances on these if the manufacturing materials are this shoddy.

[DIYSteve]

I am surprised a guy who gets out as frequently as you do expects to get more than two years from a pair of mountain boots. Are you rotating in other pairs of boots? I have experienced and seen lots of upper/midsole glue failures on Asolo boots, more than any other brand. OTOH, yesterday I gave to Goodwill a pair of Asolo Titans that endured very well for nearly two years of hard mountain travel. IME, LaSportiva and Scarpa are the toughest lightweight general mountaineering boots I've used. Have you tried on a Scarpa Active SL? Unfortunately, AFAIK, no local shops carry them. They have become my favorite mountain boot of all time. Fit is similar to 520 (e.g., medium volume, a bit wider than normal footbox, good heel hold). No GoreTex membrane to rip. High quality leather upper. Treat with Obenauf's LP.

[RichP]

My wife's Asolo 530's mid soles turned to dust as well after three years of very light use and the soles fell off. Apparently Asolo was aware of the problem but kept selling this model which is now discontinued. It sounds like other models are having problems too. http://www.trailspace.com/gear/asolo/afx-530/

[cartman]

[graywolf]

[DIYSteve]

[DIYSteve]

[tigermn]

[cartman]

Very interesting. Where did you have them resoled? Page is retiring anyway, so we'll all need a good cobbler to go to in the future. Is Obenauf's LP sold locally? If not, where do you like to order it from?

[Magellan]

Tigerman used some shoe guy down in Renton with good results. Maybe he can chime in.

[DIYSteve]

[graywolf]

Ski raves about this place: http://www.ardessons.com/

[Blue Dome]

I owned a pair of Asolo, non-Goretex, light hikers -- they fit my somewhat-wide feet quite well and wore out normally (no sole delamination). I liked them.

[Songs2]

I am reading this thread carefully. My Asolo boots GTX 55 are 13 years old and have been through 2 resoles, the last by Dave Page. They now weigh about 2 tons each, but are still the best-fitting boot I have ever put on my feet. Some friends invested in Esatto boots. http://www.esatto.biz/ They are pricey, around $1,000, but apparently the charm that works.

[GaliWalker]

After trying various brands of boots, I've eventually settled on the Asolo TPS 520s as my footwear of choice. They have been the only boot in which the waterproofing has never failed, and due to their old-school styling, have not split where plastic has dug into the leather. I did notice however, that maybe 5yrs after heavy hiking use the sole began to separate from the boot. The boots was generally still in good shape, despite the ~500mi per year that I generally subject them to, and the 5yrs life I got was still way better than other boots I'd previously owned. Right now, I'm on my second pair, about 3yrs in. With my generally good experience I recommended these boots to others, only for them to get back to me and say that quite a few reviews were negative, mentioning "catastrophic" failure, with the soles delaminating from the boot, even if very lightly used. This wasn't quite my experience, so I started to investigate. It seems that all modern boots have this problem, which is caused by hydrolysis attacking the mid-sole. The moisture causes the mid-sole to develop tiny cracks and eventually leads to failure. This begins to happen right after manufacture, and peaks 6yrs or so later. And, funnily enough, the less you use the boots the quicker the failure happens! In fact, Asolo recommends switching your boots 5yrs after purchase. Here's a (non-Asolo) boot maker's explanation: https://stories.hanwag.com/en/hiking-boots-sole-coming-off-what-to-do/