Tire Sandals–Painful Kick

I know I should hold off on the tire sandal stuff until friday, so you all can get a long and fun-filled post, but I couldn’t help giving a couple of I’ve-been-there tips about using Elpel’s instructions on a steel belted radial.

The main problem I had with the steel bands (aside from the painful–literally–process of cutting through them) was that, when I was finished, there were all of these little, incredibly sharp metal pieces sticking out from my sandals just waiting until they could harm someone in a game of soccer (fútbol, for my international readers…if there are any of you…). Not that there aren’t times I would mind having spikes on the outside of my shoes…but that’s another story for another time.

The way I fixed that problem was to trim the little ankle-biters (who’d have thought there was a way to use that phrase literally?) as close to the sandal as I could with wire cutters. Then I took a file to the sharp parts until they no longer poked out of the rubber. I can’t promise this is fun the whole way through–but it was gratifying toward the end, when I knew that I wasn’t going to maim anyone I happend to trip over.

If, however, you wanted to leave the points (perhaps you are in some sort of Mortal Combat situation), you could just leave the metal sticking out and hope you don’t trip over your own sandals in the night?