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Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season
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I bought an Xterra Vortex full-sleeve wetsuit last winter and swam with it in open water from March to the end of October, a total of 46 swims, with each swim being about a mile or a bit more. I started getting some small tears in the armpits during the summer, and now there a lot of tears. The water temperature at the end of October was 47 deg F which was the same as when I started in March. However, I find the water now unbearably cold because the water goes in through the armpit tears and chills my back.

I read a thread on this forum about someone getting a replacement from Xterra due to armpit tears. I contacted Xterra and their warranty doesn't cover tears. They said to contact their repairs dept on advice on how to fix these tears. I haven't gotten a response from them on repairs.

I've only owned a sleeveless wetsuit previously so am not sure if this is normal. I have heard of others replacing their wetsuits every other year. I can imagine that the armpit is high stress with all of stretching from swimming front crawl. But I would hope that the neoprene used can withstand many such stretch cycles. Think about our lycra clothing for example which we expect to last several years.

So, the Xterra Vortex just a poor quality wetsuit? Would I get more durability from a different brand/model?

Can armpit tears be repaired? I imagine that using the typical repair compound in the tear wouldn't work since the area is constantly being stretched.

If this wear is normal, it would mean that I'd have buy a new wetsuit every year, or I'd have to dedicate a second wetsuit for colder temps and use it sparingly.

Any insight would be much appreciated,
Stan
Vancouver, Canada
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [stanjang] [ In reply to ]
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Hi Stan:

I've been wearing Xterra wetsuits for about six years now, and it's a love-hate relationship.

My first Vortex lasted just two seasons of Ironman-distance swim training, even with lots of armpit repairs. Then I upgraded to the Vivid greenie meanie - it was very comfortable, really warm, lots of buoyancy but I started getting tears almost right away. I used it for IMC Whistler in 2016 and it was a bitch to take off without tearing. Xterra replaced it free of charge and it lasted another season.

I then tried the Vengeance fullsuit and absolutely love it. The short calves make it easier to get on/off and there's fewer leg tears. The speed increase with this suit is simply amazing. They've also done a better job of reinforcing the shoulder seams with heat-on tape, and this suit lasted 2.5 seasons, including training for and doing the Skaha Lake 12km swim, but the armpits are now quite torn. I plan to get another Vengeance in the spring for IMC 2021.

As for repairs, I use Aquaseal+Neo Contact Cement for Neoprene, as it is quite flexible even after it dries. Don't think about using a regular Aquaseal product as it is too hard. Remember that while a tear repair will work, you're just moving the stress to somewhere else nearby.

I guess I'd say that you get what you pay for with Xterra (if you buy suits when they are deeply discounted).

"It's Ironman - it's supposed to be hard!"

Author of "Letters to a Driving Nation: Exploring the Conflict between Drivers and Cyclists." http://www.brucebutler.ca
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [stanjang] [ In reply to ]
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Wetsuit cement (Aquaseal, etc.) will mend the neoprene tears, but the area will still be weak (esp. if the inner jersey material is torn).

You can use IronMend to reinforce the jersey material under the arms. This will reduce flexibility slightly.
https://www.treefortbikes.com/...eoprene-Repair-Patch
https://www.amazon.com/...tsuits/dp/B000GT471S

ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [stanjang] [ In reply to ]
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Tears after a year don't sound right.

Can you explain further about the tears ?
Eg is it on a seam ?or on 'plain material? How long ? Which direction , etc. Are they fully through? Or partial depth? Etc.

Are they from when actually swimming or from fingers / nails when putting on ? How tight is it ? What are your finger nails like ?

I've not got an Exterra.
But have just bought my 3rd wetsuit in about 10 years.

1st (middle range Huub) just wore out under the armpits and inseam of my legs after about 5 years. Literally down to the inside liner fabric. So just as you, in autumn/ winter I get cold jets of water right in my armpits.

2nd. Orca 3.8.
After 4.5 years, the shoulder panels and the panels under the arm/ down the side of my body (the thinnest panels that are most stretchy and get stretched every single stroke) are all still intact but the surface is very broken up / fatigued (almost looks like perished but its not). But still no splits or tears.


3rd...another Orca 3.8 I had a couple of big swim events and got the new suit as I didn't like the risk of the old Orca splitting half way along the length of a big lake !

The other 2 are still in use (I keep the worn huub for when I know its warmer !)

(I did have a brand new Huub Archimedes for 1 swim. Same size as the 1st Huub. Got a huge seam split 2nd time putting it on. Huub replaced with new without question. Sold the new one and got the 1st Orca 3.8)

I swim in a wetsuit probably 70-80 times a year (a couple of OW sessions a week May-Oct, + year round 1x in summer or 2x in winter in an outdoor spring fed pool).
And the distances are typically at least 2-3k a swim, many at 4 or 5k and a handful at 6 or 7 k + one or two 5k or more events (longest this year 11k).

So based on my n=2 with a lot more use, tears don't sound right - unless you're doing them with fingers or drying the wetsuit over barbed wire
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [BobAjobb] [ In reply to ]
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Hi Bob, I've attached a photo. You'll see that the many tears vary from 1/8" to 1" and are not at a seam. They were definitely caused just be swimming front crawl. I just don't touch that area when putting on or taking off the wetsuit, nor when cleaning or storing.

The wetsuit fit nicely snug at first, though I felt that the shoulder mobility was limited. I attributed that to just being new to full-sleeve wetsuits. After about 10 swims, it started to feel really good, though after about 25 swims, more water was getting in.

Even worse, is that Xterra seems to be ignoring me. They sent me an initial reply to say that tears weren't covered under warranty and to email their 'repairs' email to get advice on how to repair it. But I never received any subsequent replies from any of their email addresses. Its been 2.5 weeks.

At this point, I'm trying to decide whether I should just forego cool temperature swimming and just stick with the Xterra Vortex, or to spend more money on a wetsuit from a manufacturer who offers better service and whose wetsuits will last several seasons.

Thanks for the replies on how to repair. I was worried that most cements wouldn't be stretchy and the tears would just continue next to the cement.

On the topic of new wetsuits, there seem to be lots of happy Roka and Desoto owners. Whereas most of the ST members' priorities are speed and customer support, for me, it would be customer support and the wetsuit lasting 5 years of regular swimming (not sure if this is considered being 'durable' or 'normal', or 'extreme'). I've read that Roka consider their wetsuits perfomance centric, and not as durable. Would the Desoto T1 be considered reasonably durable?

Thanks,
Stan
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [stanjang] [ In reply to ]
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You might not be putting it on all the way, hence limited shoulder movement. You really need to pull all the loose slack from back and arms up into the shoulder areas. Somewhere there is a topic discussing this and how many people are swimming poorly because they don't put their suit on rights. If its not able to flex right that would likely cause tears in tighter areas that should otherwise be more free moving.
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [stanjang] [ In reply to ]
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stanjang wrote:
On the topic of new wetsuits, there seem to be lots of happy Roka and Desoto owners. Whereas most of the ST members' priorities are speed and customer support, for me, it would be customer support and the wetsuit lasting 5 years of regular swimming (not sure if this is considered being 'durable' or 'normal', or 'extreme'). I've read that Roka consider their wetsuits perfomance centric, and not as durable. Would the Desoto T1 be considered reasonably durable?

n

I wrote a similar post about how wetsuit makers do not care anymore about durability, specifically ROKA, and didn't get much feedback, but here again is a customer complaining about it.

I have a ROKA suit that cost $500 that I've worn 4 times that already has tears like these in the legs, from putting it on. I use gloves to put it on and followed their instructions for how to best put it on and still got tears in the suit. I think the general swimming population is not going to get upset that they swim 1 second slower per 100 with a suit that is more durable, at least this is how I look at it. Or maybe it's that people don't mind buying a new wetsuit every year???
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [cestmoi] [ In reply to ]
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I'm with you with one additional point to make. Buying new stuff every year isn't just a financial burden. There is also this:


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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [Dilbert] [ In reply to ]
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Dilbert wrote:
I'm with you with one additional point to make. Buying new stuff every year isn't just a financial burden. There is also this:


TOTALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for bringing that point up.
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [stanjang] [ In reply to ]
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Those tears look normal for an Xterra.

"It's Ironman - it's supposed to be hard!"

Author of "Letters to a Driving Nation: Exploring the Conflict between Drivers and Cyclists." http://www.brucebutler.ca
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [stanjang] [ In reply to ]
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Bringing thread back to life for a comment…
I bought an Xterra Vector Pro at the beginning of last year. I swam in it likely around 20 times last year and another 8 or so this year. I can’t recall when these started but have only been getting worse and more showing up - small tears across the seams in front and back of armpit area (on both sides, maybe slightly worse on one arm vs other). I will try to attach a picture of one side where I’ve generally tried to repair it with glue - will see how it holds up.


Generally, however, I’m pretty disappointed. This suit is a bit larger than my previous (intentionally ordered this way), so would have hoped being “too tight” wouldn’t be a cause. I also try to really get the arms pulled up well.

My previous suit was a base model (like $150) Quitana Roo from around 2008 and in all those years and uses never noticed anything close to this, let alone a few other minor tears I’ve found on spots of the Xterra likely from being slightly less careful (on lower legs) from fingernails when pulling it on.

I’m hoping to get some more years of use from it but feel like I got what I paid for here so in quality. Any other brand recommendations to try next time? Maybe it’s back to Quitana Roo again or Blue Seventy?
Last edited by: nord0296: Jul 26, 23 11:42
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [nord0296] [ In reply to ]
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Since I retired my Xterra Vortex due to the armpit tears, I've been wearing a DeSoto which are one a few companies that use an "arms up" sewing pattern to have less stress in the armpit area. I'm not sure this is the reason, but the DeSoto has been fine for 73 swims of 2-5 km. I just had one small tear in the crotch area that got fixed with Aquaseal.

Oh, and here's plug for Aquaseal. I had an old wetsuit that was cut in half at the waist (don't ask). I decided to make a shorty wetsuit out of it so I used Aquaseal to glue the two parts back together again and cut off the arms and lower legs. I was planning on reinforcing the waist area with glued fabric and a few stitches. But I ran out of time heading out on a road trip and just used the shorty wetsuit held together with Aquaseal only. I've now done 3 swims and its holding up fine.

Stan
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [nord0296] [ In reply to ]
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I may be biased, but going back to Quintana Roo may not be the worst decision ever. For what it's worth, we're like quite a few brands that use Yamamoto rubber. There are a few brands that do not use that tried/true rubber, and this may be part of the issue; perhaps it's more susceptible to lack of flexibility and degradation due to overstretching, dry rot, etc. Again, I don't know, I only know that Yamamoto is the gold standard. Lots of brands using it, including QR. Some just don't, and that may be your difference. Fingernails.. all we can do is suggest keeping them cut/filed and taking your time pinching them when pulling the suit up.

With that, Quintana Roo's new suit range have an element that we've worked hard on that certainly helps reduce potential damage: fit. A new genderless fit design has you choosing a suit not by gender, but by body type. There are too many body morphologies across genders, and have determined that it's worth our effort to have suits for women and men with broad upper torsos... as well as those without, across the full XS to XL size run. Pull it up properly, get no odd restriction/excess stretch (underarm gapping, etc.) and you reduce the chance of overstretching the suit and potentially causing damage.

-Jay

Jay Prasuhn
Marketing Specialist, American Bicycle Group (Quintana Roo//Litespeed//Obed)
twitter.com/jayprasuhn

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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [stanjang] [ In reply to ]
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to give you some perspective, in penticton, bc, my group swim 3-4X a week in the lake with wetsuit from june to mid september. that would mean 50+ swim in the summer. There isnt a single suit that make it pass 50 swim in our group without having some tears. Those can be minor or can be worst but for that kind of usage, i often tell swimmer we will get 2 years of usage out of a suit and after that, it will most likely be in very bad shape. i often recommend cheap suit for training and having a good suit that you use only for racing or key session. this isnt needed for those that only go to the lake once awhile but if you train a lot in the open water... it will happen.

i would consider Xterra on the low end of the qaulity spectrum for wetsuity. they make great cheap training suit but it will have some tears.

And for sure..homemade repair is easy and a good way to make a suit last longer. any polyurethane glue will do the trick.

Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
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Re: Wetsuit tears in armpits after first season [nord0296] [ In reply to ]
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You could give Aquaman Wetsuits a try. We're very focused on quality and long lasting wetsuits.
Don't hesitate to contact me if you're interested.
Thank you,

Kiwami North America
http://www.kiwamitri.com
http://www.aquamantri.com
contact@kiwamitri.com
http://www.facebook/kiwamitriusa
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