# Carved so hard wearing out toe straps?



## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

I have 2014 Union Force bindings. They have these toe straps that kind of wraps around the front of my boots.
I used to fasten them over the boots like toe straps. Since I've using them like toe caps, after two days the strap started to fray at the bottom.
Anyone had that happened to them?
I mean it's not I have massive feet. I wear size 8 2014 Salomon F3.0 and my board is 2013 Salomon Villain 150. The boots are perfectly centered on the board.
I did I say this happened after two days?


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

Pics? Sounds like it could be a warranty issue. Is this happening to both straps?


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

chomps1211 said:


> Pics? Sounds like it could be a warranty issue. Is this happening to both straps?


Well they are wear items so...
Yes its happening to both straps and the front one has more wear.


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

speedjason said:


> Well they are wear items so...
> Yes its happening to both straps and the front one has more wear.


:huh: If that's the actual position you are wearing those while this is happening? I would've thought you'd have to get that deck up on it's edge damn near 90º before the snow could even begin to start wearing and fraying the strap like that!! :blink:

That _is_ strange. I'm not certain, but I don't think even my 4 year old Cartel's toe caps show wear like that to them. I'll check and get back to you. One thing,.. It does appear at least, that it's only a cosmetic issue. I don't think it should affect function in any way!


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## taco tuesday (Jul 26, 2014)

Can you adjust them so that they sit a little higher on the toe of your boot. I have chargers and i think my toe caps sit a bit more over the top of the toe. The ladders are set as far forward on the baseplates as they will go so the strap are more vertical when tigthened over the boot. I have a pair of old burton custom that sit more over the front of the boot and are very worn on the bottom like yours. I did some hard carving friday on the chargers and did not notice any wear on the toe caps


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## PlanB (Nov 21, 2014)

speedjason said:


> Well they are wear items so...
> Yes its happening to both straps and the front one has more wear.
> 
> 
> ...


This photo is particularly strange considering that the toe-strap is indeed frayed, but there isn't a single other scrape/scratch anywhere else including the board/boot/binding. If you were scraping while carving there would surely be scratches elsewhere. Even the ladder on the toe-strap isn't even scratched the slightest bit and it protrudes farther than anything else on the binding. 

This makes me believe that your toe-strap got torn while it wasn't done up. For example it was loose and hanging down outside the edge of your board and someone rode over it and/or you rubbed against something abraisive? * Even more likely, the exact spot on the strap which is worn out is where the toe-strap will constantly make contact with the edge of your own board when it is handing loose and undone. *

Guesses on my part. Not sure if that's a warraty though considering it doesn't look to be manufacture defect, just overly intense wear/tear in one specific spot. Luckily those are easily replaced.


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

It's common with all bindings. I'm guessing you've slipped out on your toe edge a couple of times and skidded down the hill on them.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Extremo said:


> It's common with all bindings. I'm guessing you've slipped out on your toe edge a couple of times and skidded down the hill on them.


I agree with this statement and the prior one. That and you probably spend too much time on the ground on your knees grinding your toes into the icey groomers/park.


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## 16gkid (Dec 5, 2012)

Looking at your lack of overhang i doubt you are dragging toes straps on a carve. Tip your board on edge with ur boots strapped in and you will be surprised how much angle you need to have to drag toe straps.


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

Well to be honest, I did carve over a small hill in the middle of the slop was able to almost touch my elbow.:embarrased1:

I also noticed one of my discs cracked by one of the screws. Having too much fun I guess.

The tear does not look like straight scrape. It looks like from front to back meaning it happens when I am moving.


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## Extazy (Feb 27, 2014)

I have 2014 Union Flight Pro and after 6 days this is what started to happen to my toes...


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

Wow, they really need to start making these parts out of harder rubber or plastic instead of fake leather.


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## Deacon (Mar 2, 2013)

Probably better switch to hardboots. :hairy:


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Lol, I assume you guys bitch about door dings in parking lots too but still park as close to the stores front doors as you can. 

You all realize that you use stuff and it wears down starting the first time you strap in right? It is no longer brand new. 


Extazy those bindings look really big for those boots and that scuffing is nothing more than a super minor superficial scrape. 

My boa broke on my 10 day old boots today, should I start a thread?


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Here are some of my bindings.

Flow nx2gt have 20 days, got them 3 weeks ago.
Flow nx2se have about 180 days on them, got them 2 seasons ago, they are retired now....
Trice navigator have 10 days on them.
Factory have 30 days on them. 

































They are all scuffed up based on their ages, they all work still. If you have time to bitch about bindings wearing down, you need to ride more. It's all disposable in my eyes, use it until it's all used up and get new ones. 

Oh my son stole my toe ratchets and put the blue ones on my factory


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## Extazy (Feb 27, 2014)

Argo said:


> Lol, I assume you guys bitch about door dings in parking lots too but still park as close to the stores front doors as you can.
> 
> You all realize that you use stuff and it wears down starting the first time you strap in right? It is no longer brand new.
> 
> ...


Yeah these bindings from last year and I was planning to use them with bigger boots, but they were painful to ride so I have new boots that smaller size.

The only reason I posted this is to show how crappy unions are. I haven't seen anything like this even with cheapest rome bindings.

A lot of people says unions are great. In gondola if I take my board with me everyone mentions how great bindings they are. I ask all of them if they actually ridden one and guess what no! They just heared that unions are great. And then I reply with - try riding them then judge.

I was planning to give them another try with their carbon bindings but I saw one guy on the hill with them and he said that he had to buy burton bindings and replace union straps with buttons because unions weren't comfy.

So yeah.. And I wasn't complaining. My post said - here are my bindings, and this is what happened to them after 6 days. Take a notice.

Sorry for bad grammar English is my 3rd language and writing from iphone.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

I don't think you got my point and I hate to tell you that I love the unions that I posted up and they have very little wear considering the amount of riding on them. The factory almost look new and my feet hang way off of them. I got both of these union bindings in September. 

I have had plenty of issues with flow bindings which are also comfy and I also really love them but they take care of me when I call/email them.


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

Extazy said:


> Yeah these bindings from last year and I was planning to use them with bigger boots, but they were painful to ride so I have new boots that smaller size.
> 
> The only reason I posted this is to show how crappy unions are. I haven't seen anything like this even with cheapest rome bindings.
> 
> ...


Mine happened in two days. I used to fasten them as toe straps, this happened since I started using them as toe caps. Oh well. Just figured it's interesting to point it out.
I like Union's and they have been pretty reliable so far. Just wish they would change some of the designs a bit.
Oh one of my discs cracked. I wonder how safe it is to ride. Ordered online, I wish I could get them locally.


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

I have an idea...stay off your knees.


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## 2hellnbak (Sep 21, 2012)

speedjason said:


> Mine happened in two days. I used to fasten them as toe straps, this happened since I started using them as toe caps. Oh well. Just figured it's interesting to point it out.
> I like Union's and they have been pretty reliable so far. Just wish they would change some of the designs a bit.
> Oh one of my discs cracked. I wonder how safe it is to ride. Ordered online, I wish I could get them locally.


I think it's just the fabric/leather façade tearing from being stretched around the toes. I'd be willing to bet that anything structural underneath what you show in the picture is perfectly sound. I have an old old pair of Ride Delta DFC's that look like they could crumble at any moment but if I put em on a board they would still ride fantastic. 

I think you guys have cosmetic things going on but the bindings are just fine.


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## benhoerle (Dec 13, 2013)

speedjason said:


> Well to be honest, I did carve over a small hill in the middle of the slop was able to almost touch my elbow.:embarrased1:
> 
> I also noticed one of my discs cracked by one of the screws. Having too much fun I guess.
> 
> The tear does not look like straight scrape. It looks like from front to back meaning it happens when I am moving.


If the crack in the disc is a problem, Union will replace it


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

benhoerle said:


> If the crack in the disc is a problem, Union will replace it


I think they only cover everything else for one year but the base plate which is lifetime. Oh well, discs are cheap enough.


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

I was able to get on the hill when they freshly groomed the slope.
Came down fast and carved hard to see my carve lines.
I notice when I am on heel edge, there is a thinner line about 1 in inside of my carve line. I think my heel was probably dragging a little. Or maybe the heelcup was dragging a little.
I do carve pretty hard most of the time and I get my board up big angles too.


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## ZeMax (Feb 21, 2014)

speedjason said:


> I was able to get on the hill when they freshly groomed the slope.
> Came down fast and carved hard to see my carve lines.
> I notice when I am on heel edge, there is a thinner line about 1 in inside of my carve line. I think my heel was probably dragging a little. Or maybe the heelcup was dragging a little.
> I do carve pretty hard most of the time and I get my board up big angles too.


1 inch inside of the carve line definatly means something is dragging. Had the same issue on toe or heel side. Played with the bindings setup, didn't want to change my angles much (20/-9) measured everything, I was centered... then went with a larger board. No more problems. 

But it looks like it's time to get yourself some Hardbooting gear. Join the Dark side, it's fun !


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## alchemy (Apr 28, 2014)

straps:
it's just cosmetic wear & tear. ride on.

disc:
email warranty/chat on C3-shop.com & get a new one ASAP.


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## booron (Mar 22, 2014)

Are you sure the caps aren't dangling over the edge of your board in the chair line and you're simply riding over them? All my Burton bindings do this, and I've never worried about it...


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## alchemy (Apr 28, 2014)

speedjason said:


> I think they only cover everything else for one year but the base plate which is lifetime. Oh well, discs are cheap enough.


lifetime warranty covers baseplate, heelcup & disc.


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## who_it_is (Feb 26, 2015)

booron said:


> Are you sure the caps aren't dangling over the edge of your board in the chair line and you're simply riding over them? All my Burton bindings do this, and I've never worried about it...


This was my first thought. I'm surprised my bindings don't look like that, I'm always running them over while skating


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Argo said:


> Lol, I assume you guys bitch about door dings in parking lots too but still park as close to the stores front doors as you can.
> 
> You all realize that you use stuff and it wears down starting the first time you strap in right? It is no longer brand new.


^this ...scuff is nothing.
Have had the disc blow up hitting a windlip...the screws were still in the board and the rear binding with my foot goes flying.

I did warranty the below...requested that they just send a new metal heel cup...but no they wanted the whole binding...and then would not send it back and they would only send a new top of the line "reload" model...that was crap . Rode the replaced bindings like 6 times and sold them.


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