[Vibram] Vibram let me down...ish.

[ejvogie]

What if it had been Blizzard plastic?


opcorn:

 

[Tmart]

Taken from 2012 Consumer Reports reliability study:


Best
Scion
Toyota
Lexus
Mazda
Subaru
Honda
Acura
Audi
Infiniti
Kia



Worst
Jaguar
Ford
Lincoln
Ram
Dodge
Chrysler
Mini
Buick
Volvo
Jeep


Even the cheapo Korean cars beat American cars now.

 

[MrGlass01]

not wanting to start a flame war, but beyond putters Vibram durability is a joke. No matter s,m,f they are all terrible as compared to other manufacturers. The only advantage is grip in crappy weather.

 

[rd.bittle]

OP. I can't believe you hit a tree when you were playing Noble. /sarcasm.

I have never thrown vibram, but, I will try to avoid trees when I do.

 

[Monkeypaws]

I'll disagee.

X-Link seem a lot more resistant to road rash than plastic discs.

I also have flung my Vibram discs pretty hard into trees, and cant detect a mark afterwards.

Opto is about the only material I've seen that I would say comes close to or exceeds Vibram for durability, but then my experience is fairly limited.

 

[Hlasianguy06]

All of my vibrams have been relatively fine. My firm lace hit concrete once and left a ding in the wing, still stable, medium has hit a few trees and a lot of spike hyzers still running fine. If the stability ever drops I can always run very hot water from the faucet and it's right back again. My fairways have large tree impact marks and they all were fixed with hot water. The firm is just all around bad in the woods especially with the drivers, which why I don't drive with them there. I use my vibram mids and I don't repair them unless they get thorns or rips like the OP has shown so they are beat to crap and they still fly almost the same as new if not better(some of my newer ones aren't as glidey as a broke in one). I use a small piece of metal that I heat with a lighter, I bet a hot knife would be better, smoothing out and filling the spots with the excess pushed rubber. In your case you need something very thing almost like a credit card but metal, heated up and placed between the separation you should be able to melt both sides with the metal and slide out to seal then smooth out the surface.

 

[Brodysseus]

I have had no durability issues with any of my medium or soft Vibrams, but the firm Xlink is significantly less durable. Any firm I've bagged for some time has picked up battle wounds. Personally though, I like that they have an Xlink that you can break in and season.

On a side note, that Trak use to be mine, so I'm sorry to see it dinged up and sorry it wasn't as durable as you expected.

 

[nolangherity]

my lace was run over by 3 different cars, which includes the big road hits that brought it
there, and looks brand new.

 

[onemilemore]

I think, like dehaas (I think!) said, the issue here is that it was a firm Trak. It is pretty widely known that Firm Vibram is more along the lines of plastic durability. This same kinda thing could have happened with Star plastic or Gold Line, too.

Honestly, you probably could have been better served starting this thread AFTER you contacted Vibram about it to see if they would fix it. Steve Dodge is very active on these boards and seems to be a pretty reasonable guy. At the same time, coming here to document it all first isn't going to score you any sympathy with the Vibram fans or their head honcho, if I had to guess. Just my two cents for the future.

 

[All Day]

I've been nailing trees with my firm Ibex for probably 60-70+ rounds now, and it still only has a couple tiny nicks/blemishes. I've used it almost exclusively for anything wooded 200' or longer. I guess I can't speak for everything Vibram, but it has certainly lived up to the hype for me.

 

[mickas]

I've never seen anything destroy a vibram disc, impressive.

 

[Discette]

On a side note, that Trak use to be mine, so I'm sorry to see it dinged up and sorry it wasn't as durable as you expected.

Is the OP complaining about the quality of a used disc?

 

[Radiomuted]

My firm ascent has nicks and dings all over the rim. My medium ascent is like new and has way more tree hits than my firm. This is due to more rubber in the medium than firm I assume.

 

[Tmart]

Is the OP complaining about the quality of a used disc?

He said he got it from a birdie bash, so I doubt it.

 

[kutz167]

He said he got it from a birdie bash, so I doubt it.

No, he said that after playing in a Birdie Bash he fell in love with it. The one that he got at the VBB was new and took a swim. The replacement that he didn't specify where he got it was a firm and got sliced.

 

[Discette]

He said he got it from a birdie bash, so I doubt it.

OP said he lost the Birdie Bash Trak and the damaged disc was the replacement he got a week later.

 

[MrGlass01]

He is not knocking a used disc, just saying he is disappointed in vibrams durability. Nothing to do with the face it's a used or traded disc.

 

[kutz167]

He is not knocking a used disc, just saying he is disappointed in vibrams durability. Nothing to do with the face it's a used or traded disc.

We are aware of that. Just clarifying misinformation stated by Tmart.

 

[MrGlass01]

^Gotcha. Sorry

 

[Dan H.]

There is a pretty big difference in durability between soft, medium, and firm. Even my medium discs have been punctured by tiny thorns but all of the vibram discs I've owned held their flight consistency since day one. The Laces do get dinged up on the edges more than plastic, but they still won't warp like plastic does. Vibram material is certainly not indestructable and I doubt the firm is much more durable than most plastics, but they still have better grip and the medium and soft are VERY durable.